It’s common practice to follow the major stock market indexes to get clues into what kind of market environment we’re in.

This is important because when considering trades to put on, I would be better served if my next idea aligned with the current market trend and volatility profile.

But sometimes, the market (as one defines it – could be “the S&P 500” or “the Dow” or “the Nasdaq”) isn’t giving me anything conclusive to make a firm decision against. I’m getting mixed signals. This is common.

One way I have found to get a better indication of the market environment is to simply use my own portfolio as a guide.

In today's Daily Digest, we'll review:

1. No new positions today.
2. Adjustment to GLD position (again)
3. Exited SMH position.
4. Current status of open campaigns.

Let's dig in!

From the Desk of Steve Strazza and Alfonso Depablos

The largest insider buy on today’s list comes via 13G filing by Southpoint Capital Advisors LP.

The hedge fund revealed an initial stake of 5% in Mobileye Global Inc $MBLY.

Everything changed in February.

You started to see the cracks in January, but the big changes in market dynamics really got going in early- to mid-February.

And then March came, when everyone else saw it.

Look at the Sector Performance last month, for example.

Energy stocks were up double digits.

Technology stocks were DOWN.

Consumer Discretionary stocks were DOWN.

This is the video recording of our April 1st Monthly Charts Live Strategy Session

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza.

Welcome back to Under the Hood, where we'll cover all the action for the two weeks ended March 29, 2024. This report is published bi-weekly, in rotation with The Minor Leaguers.

What we do here is analyze the most popular stocks during the week and find opportunities to either join in and ride these momentum names higher, or fade the crowd and bet against them.

We use a variety of sources to generate the list of most popular names.

There are so many new data sources available that all we need to do is organize and curate them in a way that shows us exactly what we want: a list of stocks that are seeing an unusual increase in investor interest.

Click here for a behind-the-scenes look at our process.

Whether we’re measuring increasing interest based on large institutional purchases, unusual...

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

People are asking me if gold's breakout is the real deal.

All I can do is smile, state my bullish outlook, and draw a line in the sand.

Of course, I can’t resist adding an obnoxious upside target or two (the higher, the better).

Hopefully, it sounds simple. That’s the goal! It never pays to overcomplicate price action…. 

If you’re still wondering whether precious metals are a viable investment despite gold’s new all-time highs, let’s identify the underlying trend…

Steve Strazza brought up charts of the energy, materials, and commodities sectors on today's Flow Show. These are "peer indexes," meaning they often trend together.

And the current trends suggest we need to add more bullish positions in these areas.

The one name that stood out the most was Freeport McMoRan $FCX:

But given the run we've already seen here, we need to allow for the possibility of some digestion which may put a governor on the speed on any breakouts from here.

To position ourselves for this possibility, we're going to utilize a Call Calendar spread.

Here's the Play:

In today's Daily Digest, we'll review:

1. No new positions today.
2. Adjustment to GLD position.
3. No exits since the last report.
4. Current status of open campaigns.

Let's dig in!

From the Desk of Steve Strazza and Alfonso Depablos

The largest insider buy on today’s list comes via Form 4 filings by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.

Buffett and Berkshire revealed a total purchase of $294 million in The Liberty SiriusXM Group $LSXMA.

Small-caps are an interesting bunch.

When you add up the value of all the stocks in the Russell2000, it may as well be nothing.

There companies in the United States that alone are worth more than all 2000 companies combined.

I think it's important to put things in perspective.

These companies don't actually matter that much. Besides, they always kick out all their best players, by definition.