When I think about bonds, credit spreads are always at the top of my mind because they provide an excellent gauge of market health.

We simply measure the yield difference between a Treasury bond and a High-yield bond with the same maturity.

Another way to do it is by looking at the prices of the High-Yield Bond ETF $HYG compared to the Treasury Bond ETF $IEI:

When bond market investors are confident and willing to take on more risk, they drive up the value of High-yield bonds, causing this ratio to increase or credit spreads to narrow.

Conversely, when investors seek safety, credit spreads widen, which doesn't not bode well for risk assets.

As you can see in the chart, this ratio is pushing up against its highest level of the year.

This action suggests that there's no systemic risk upon us.

As long as that remains true, we can feel comfortable that equities and risk assets, in general, will stay in good shape.

Hope you enjoyed this post!

Technology stocks have been underperforming for the last three months.

However, when I dive beneath the surface looking for relative strength, software stocks catch my attention.

Here you have the Software ETF $IGV on the cusp of breaking out of a massive base.

IGV soared higher, tacking on 2.14% today as it pierced through the upper bounds of this range.

If and when we get some upside follow-through, the breakout will be valid and the path of least resistance will be higher. We think this happens in the coming days and weeks.

Under this scenario, we should anticipate upside resolutions from individual software names. A lot of them look very similar to IGV right now.

Palantir Technologies $PLTR is one of my favorites setups in the space.

How could it not be? It's been the best one.

The notorious government contractor is just breaking out above its IPO high from 2021.

It has a lot of room to run.

Today, I joined my friend Patrick on Chart Request Live, discussing all the ticker symbols from the chat.

Click here to watch the replay.

One major topic we discussed at the end of the show was crypto and some equity vehicles to gain exposure to it.

One that stood out was MicroStrategy $MSTR, which continues to show impressive relative strength.

As you can see, MSTR is consolidating above its prior cycle peak as it flirts with new all-time highs.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin continues...

Chinese equities are surging like never before in history.

The iShares China Large-Cap ETF $FXI rallied over 18%, marking its best week ever.

We call this a "momentum thrust". Such extreme readings often precede rallies and tend to occur at the beginning of new bull cycles.

Here's the FXI chart with the 1-week rate of change in the lower pane:

As you can see, this is happening after a test of a critical support level, right at a shelf of former lows.

In addition, price is reclaiming the VWAP from the 2021 highs, which means bulls are back in control for the first time since then.

One thing we know for sure is that seeing the most beaten-down areas of the market spring back to life with such vigor is not a bearish development.

In fact, I think it’s time to embrace these high beta stocks.

They are on the rise.

And as technicians, we want to take advantage of these new uptrends.

Just look at what Sean McLaughlin,...

Precious metals continue to show strength as both gold and silver hit new highs in today's session.

First, it was gold leading the charge, and now silver is making its move.

Let’s take a look at this silver futures chart:

As you can see, silver is breaking out of a multi-year base, with momentum accelerating sharply to the upside.

After a failed attempt earlier this year, buyers are giving themselves another chance to push prices out of the box.

If this breakout sticks above $30, we want to be aggressively long not just silver, but the broader precious metals space.

There is a growing list of opportunities, as well as plenty of vehicles and various methods we can use to gain exposure and add leverage to this theme.

The options market is one way we can do it.

Strazza just put an options trade on a silver miner for Breakout Multiplier members this morning. If you're not already a member,...

It has been a great week in Chicago for the Portfolio Accelerator so far!

The entire All Star Charts team and friends are gathered, analyzing charts, having insightful discussions, identifying trade opportunities and delving into trading psychology.

A main theme from this morning's discussion was the importance of setting aside our home-country bias.

As investors, it's crucial to recognize that there are valuable opportunities abroad that we cannot afford to overlook.

One country in particular that stands out is the MSCI Argentina ETF $ARGT.

Let’s take a look at the chart:...

Gold has been getting a lot of attention lately as it presses against its highest levels in history.

This is an exciting time to be a gold enthusiast.

Just look at what the price is doing.

Here's a long-term chart of gold breaking out to new all-time highs:

After completing a decade-long base earlier this year, the price ripped higher, nearly in a vertical line, reaching the 161.8% Fibonacci extension level.

Following that rally, the price coiled in a tight pattern, absorbing some of its gains, but it’s now back on track with a strong breakout this week.

The bottom line here is that it’s...

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Last week, we held our June Monthly Conference Call, which Premium Members can access and rewatch here.

In this post, we’ll do our best to summarize it by highlighting five of the most important charts and/or themes we covered, along with commentary on each.

Let’s get right into it!

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Last week, we held our April Monthly Conference Call, which Premium Members can access and rewatch here.

In this post, we’ll do our best to summarize it by highlighting five of the most important charts and/or themes we covered, along with commentary on each.

Let’s get right into it!

From the Desk of Alfonso Depablos @AlfCharts

As equity markets continue to repair the damage from April’s correction, we continue to find more and more stocks -- and groups of stocks -- that we want to be buying.

A growing number of those groups are coming from the financial sector. 

Financials have made a comeback in the last week as a handful of financial indexes and individual issues are reclaiming their prior-cycle highs.

The relative trends are improving as well, with the large cap sector SPDR $XLF hitting new 52-week highs versus the S&P 500 recently.

When we think about the strongest stocks within financials, asset management and capital market stocks are top of mind.

In today’s post, we will dive in and outline some of our favorite charts in the space.

Before we do that, here’s the SPDR S&P Capital Markets ETF $KCE pressing against its former highs from 2021:

If and when KCE breaks through this resistance, we expect a strong reaction leg higher. We think it happens any day now.

If...

From the Desk of Alfonso Depablos @AlfCharts

2024 is far from being like 2023. 

While we’ve experienced some healthy sector rotation, the first quarter was characterized by waning momentum.

With these long-standing momentum divergences in place, so far, the second quarter has been characterized by selling pressure. 

Since last week, we’ve seen an increasing number of these divergences confirmed by price. 

Making matters worse is where this downside is taking place. We're also seeing a growing list of indexes and sectors lose key former highs.

Until the bulls can reclaim these polarity zones, markets will remain messy. 

Let’s talk about some of them.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

We held our April Monthly Strategy Session earlier this week. Premium Members can access and rewatch it here.

Non-members can get a quick recap of the call simply by reading this post each month.

By focusing on long-term, monthly charts, the idea is to take a step back and put things into the context of their structural trends. This is easily one of our most valuable exercises as it forces us to put aside the day-to-day noise and simply examine markets from a “big-picture” point of view.

With that as our backdrop, let’s dive right in and discuss three of the most important charts and/or themes from this month’s call.