From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

Interest rates are climbing worldwide. The US dollar is dominating the pack.

And commodities are kicking off the next leg of a bull run that began in 2019.

The primary trends that opened the decade are showing no signs of reversing. As long as they remain intact, we must lean into them.

I can’t think of a stronger trend to ride than the dollar-yen…

The USD/JPY pair is posting its highest level since June 1990:

Now that’s a big base breakout.

Fresh 33-year highs ignite the imagination. But, from a tactical perspective, I’m more concerned with the completion of a 17-month cup-and-handle.

Here’s a closer look:

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Welcome to The 2 to 100 Club.

As most of you know, we use various bottom-up tools and scans to complement our top-down approach.

It's really been working for us!

One way we're doing this is by identifying the strongest growth stocks as they climb the market-cap ladder from small- to mid- to large- and, ultimately, to mega-cap status (over $200B).

Once they graduate from small-cap to mid-cap status (over $2B), they come on our radar. Likewise, when they surpass the roughly $30B mark, they roll off our list.

But the scan doesn't just end there.

We only want to look at the strongest growth industries in the market, as that is typically where these potential 50-baggers come from.

Earlier today we discussed the NYSE Oil Index breaking out to new all-time highs.

I really like this Index because, since it's NYSE-based, it includes energy stocks from all over the world.

As long as it trades on the NYSE, who cares if it's TOTAL in France, or Petrabras in Brazil?

These are the most important Oil stocks in the world and the index is hitting new all-time highs.

Here are all the stocks in the index relative to a variety of moving averages (getting longer-term moving from left to right on this chart below):

Think of Gold as the stable asset. And then stocks and other forex markets are just trading up and down relative to the price of Gold.

This week we discussed the fact that currencies all over the world have been losing their value, particularly relative to the price of Gold.

But this month now even the US Dollar has broken down relative to Gold.

You can get all those details here.

So if we're going to take the value of stocks and other fiat, and price it in Gold, then we should treat Crypto the same way.

Here are Bitcoin and Ethereum priced in "Real Money":

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Welcome to The Minor Leaguers.

We've had some great trades come out of this small-cap-focused column since we launched it back in 2020 and started rotating it with our flagship bottom-up scan, Under the Hood.

For the first year or so, we focused only on Russell 2000 stocks with a market cap between $1 and $2B.

That was fun, but we wanted to branch out a bit and allow some new stocks to find their way onto our list.

We expanded our universe to include some mid-caps.

To make the cut for our Minor Leaguers list now, a company must have a market cap between $1 and $4B.

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

New all-time highs have a funny way of shifting perspectives.

Not too long ago, many considered gold a “dumpster fire,” a “hot mess,” or an “opportunity cost.”

All were fair assessments. 

Everything changed last month when gold rocketed to its highest recorded level.

Yet, for some reason, investors weren’t buying into its strength.

But a 12% gain over the past five weeks has quickly turned reluctant investors into ravenous speculators.

In today's Flow Show, me and Steve Strazza came out swinging with an opportunity to add to an already winning options trade.

Back in late January, we entered into a bullish longer-term bet in Wells Fargo $WFC. You can read about it here. That original position still has until January 2025 to play out (another nine months).

But take a look at this high & tight flag forming on the eve on their next earning release scheduled for this Friday morning:

The NYSE Oil Index includes the leading companies involved in the exploration, production, and development of petroleum.

This index dates back to 1984 so it's got some history to it.

It also includes a lot of Energy stocks headquartered outside the United States, giving investors a much more global perspective, as the NYSE tends to do.

On Friday, this index closed at the highest price ever.

Did you see Gold just close at the highest price in history?

This is something we've never ever seen before - Gold closing out a week above $2300/oz.

It's the highest valuation for Gold in its entire history.

This is what that looks like:

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.

The most profitable part of a new market regime is how long it takes most investors to come around to it.

Humans are creatures of habit.

It's not easy to just shift an entire mindset, especially one that was over a decade in the making.

"I'm a Growth Investor"

"There is no reason to invest outside the United States"

"Stocks & Bonds. What are Commodities?"

"Why would I invest in Gold, when I can own more Tech?"

"The government will never let Crude Oil get to $200"

These are all things people say and actually believe.

It's taken a long time for people to convince themselves of these.

But over the years, I've learned (the hard way) that there is a time and a place for everything.

The bet we're making is that people will continue to believe all those things mentioned above, until it's too late.

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

Commodities are hot.

Even the most ardent tech investors can’t avert their gaze from Gold’s eye-catching new highs. 

If you find yourself unprepared, don’t be alarmed. We have a plan…

Buy base breakouts.

Check out coffee futures ripping above a shelf of former highs:

We often joke that catching base breakouts like this gets us out of bed in the morning. (It’s the best part of waking up.)