Almost every Small-cap sector is down since the highs in late December. That was 2 months ago.
The day the US Dollar Index bottomed was the exact day that Small-caps stopped going up in price.
That was also the same day that the US 10yr Yield bottomed.
I don't believe that was a coincidence.
You're welcome to.
What I see is a group of stocks struggling to make any progress. It's hard to underperform the Small-cap indexes, but somehow Financials found a way.
Here are Small-cap Financials, which are loaded up with regional bank stocks, rolling over and making new 4-month lows relative to the Small-cap 600 Index.
Crypto markets continue to work their way higher, with Ethereum closing last week up +8% following a notable rally in weekend hours. The trend for crypto assets remains unequivocally higher, as we’ve alluded to in the past. As Nvidia beat earnings estimates, the equity market indexes have continued to rally higher, ignoring a number of bearish data points in the context of a seasonally weak period. It appears as if the bulls have full control of this tape.
Cotton is forming a bull flag following last week’s breakout. Coffee futures are coiling below a critical polarity zone. Cattle and hogs are running wild. Even Dr.Copper is perking up, posting positive returns over the trailing five days.
And don’t forget about cocoa futures as they continue to print fresh all-time highs.
With all this action heating up, let’s turn our attention to one of 2021’s most explosive markets…
Lumber.
Remember all the lumber memes on Twitter?
Dudes were posting their W’s sitting atop stacks of 2x4s and plywood. I’ll never forget it.
As a trader, I prefer to avoid lumber futures. It’s a thin market. But I can’t ignore the yearlong base forming on the daily chart:
Our Hall of Famers list is composed of the 150 largest US-based stocks.
These stocks range from the mega-cap growth behemoths like Apple and Microsoft – with market caps in excess of $2T – to some of the new-age large-cap disruptors such as Moderna, Square, and Snap.
It has all the big names and more.
It doesn’t include ADRs or any stock not domiciled in the US. But don’t worry; we developed a separate universe for that. Click here to check it out.
The Hall of Famers is simple.
We take our list of 150 names and then apply our technical filters so the strongest stocks with the most momentum rise to the top.
Let’s dive right in and check out what these big boys are up to.
You know the old saying that Bull Markets are more fun than Bear Markets?
It's true.
And not because you can't make money in a bear market. You can. In fact, you usually make money much faster in bear markets. That's just how the market behaves.
But the truth is that bull markets are definitely more fun.
I can tell you from first hand experience over the years. The parties in bull markets are more fun and they are more frequent, than in bear markets.
Last night was definitely a bull market party. Josh Brown turned 46 and I turned 42.
Strazza even flew up to New York for the festivities.
With bullish setups continuing to climb this week, I like the cushion this gives me to continue putting on some bearish bets to help smooth out any possible portfolio volatility that may be on the horizon.
Today's bearish "hedge" is a short bet in a technology name that is most definitely not keeping up with its peers.
