From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Check out this week's Momentum Report, our weekly summation of all the major indexes at a Macro, International, Sector, and Industry Group level.

By analyzing the short-term data in these reports, we get a more tactical view of the current state of markets. This information then helps us put near-term developments into the big picture context and provides insights regarding the structural trends at play.

Let's jump right into it with some of the major takeaways from this week's report:

* ASC Plus Members can access the Momentum Report by clicking the link at the bottom of this post.

Macro Universe:

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Our Top 10 Charts Report was just published.

In this weekly note, we highlight 10 of the most important charts or themes we're currently seeing in asset classes around the world.

New Leaders Meet Resistance

Another group that has enjoyed the recent rally has been biotech. Biotechs have been among the strongest groups since stocks rebounded off their summer lows. 

As you can see in the chart, IBB is now running into a significant resistance level as prices pull back at their year-to-date pivot highs. This 133 area also coincides with key prior-cycle highs from 2015. With so much price memory here, this is a logical level for some corrective action, and that’s exactly what’s taken place since last week. We’re seeing similar price behavior in other sectors and indexes. For the most part, it is constructive as stocks have earned a breather following the rally over the past few months.

Today's trade comes from the latest Young Aristocrats report. And today's dip offers us a chance to get into this trade with a very nearby risk management level (today's low). Either this stock is going to make a run or it's going to fail, and we'll likely find out quickly.

As such, we're taking a long position in October call options.

We had a resting GTC order filled at our profit target in the Paid-to-Play portfolio today:

The next new trade in our Paid-to-Play portfolio is:

Late last week, we argued that short-term caution was warranted.

With equities pressing against key supply zones and the dollar beginning to reassert strength, we made the case for patience.

And, over the weekend, we've seen risk-off action persist.

The largest insider buy on today's list is a Form 4 filing by Bill Gates, who revealed an additional purchase in Ecolab $ECL worth $19 million.

This is the third Form 4 filed by Gates in the last five days, as he continues to add to his position.

The market has set the stage.

From a seasonal perspective, the back half of the year should be strong.

When you consider the bearish sentiment readings we're coming off of this summer, a massive shift in sentiment into year end makes perfect sense.

We've seen the breadth improvement, as we get more and more stocks making new short-term highs, and now sector rotation has started to kick in.

SO WHAT'S THE CATALYST?

This is the weekly post that aggregates all the charts we put together throughout the week and organizes them all into one, easy to flip through deck.

Is Ethereum going to be worth more than Bitcoin one day?

Yea probably.

I think so.

And remember, I really don't care either way. I would just like to be on the right side of the trend, that's all.

In this world of crypto, especially in Bitcoin and Ethereum, people are very passionate about their opinions.

At Allstarcharts we are not.

All I know is that Bitcoin is now worth around $400B in market cap while Ethereum is closer to $200B. So ETH has some work to do.

And when I look down at this base, in my experience, this is precisely the work that it's needed to be doing...

This is the weekly post that aggregates all the charts we put together throughout the week and organizes them all into one, easy to flip through deck.

From the Desk of Steven Strazza @Sstrazza

Stocks have enjoyed a powerful rally off their summer lows, as bulls have been in control for about two months now.

A lot of technical damage has been repaired during this time. 

The outlook from sentiment and seasonality assure us the environment is ripe for a bottom. 

Breadth thrusts are stacking up and suggesting we could be in the early stages of a new bull market.

And risk appetite is gradually reentering the market, supporting the bullish price action.

Today, we'll review one of our favorite intermarket relationships, the discretionary versus staples ratio. 

By comparing these two consumer segments, we garner valuable insights about the current market environment and risk appetite in particular.

Here's the large-cap Consumer Discretionary $XLY versus Consumer Staples $XLP ratio: