What do we know about all-time highs? We know we don't usually see them happen in downtrends. As obvious as this might seem to some, you'd be surprised how many people don't realize that new all-time highs are a classic characteristic of uptrends.

I encourage you to go back and study the greatest uptrends of all-time. Along the way, do you see new lows being made? Or do you see a lot of new highs in those uptrends?

Well, here is the Nasdaq Composite closing at new all-time highs for the second consecutive month. I've done the work, these are things we usually find in uptrends:

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

For the week ended Friday, June 26, 2020:

Every week we publish performance tables for a variety of different asset classes and categories along with commentary on each.

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness."

It sounds like Charles Dickens could have been writing about today's market in his famous passage from A Tale of Two Cities.

Many areas of Growth and Technology are trading at or near record highs, and it's sure felt like the "best of times" for anyone who's been overweight these stocks in recent years.

On the other hand, cyclicals and Value were already hurting coming into the year and then endured serious structural damage during the Q1 crash. If you've been invested in these areas, particularly those groups directly impacted by Covid-19, it might just seem like the "worst of times."

In early May we outlined the "Five Bull Market Barometers" we're watching to identify the beginning of a new bull market in stocks.

If you haven't read our initial post linked above, we'd encourage you to check it out so you understand what the rationale behind these five indicators is.

Now, let's see where we ended this week.

We take a consistent intermarket approach to stocks. Not only do we analyze all the Stock indexes, both domestically and around the globe, but we also compare stocks to other asset classes. This is historically very helpful information to determine the direction of the primary trend for stocks.

Today, we're taking a look at stocks running into major resistance relative to its alternatives. More specifically, stocks are failing relative to both Bonds and Gold.

As you can see in this chart, we saw significant support near this gray shaded area in late 2018 and then once again in August of last year. This "Support" finally gave way and broke in early March, almost 4 months ago. This former "Support" has now turned into "Resistance" throughout June:

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

For the week ended Friday, June 19, 2020:

Every week we publish performance tables for a variety of different asset classes and categories along with commentary on each.

Despite some volatility in the second half, risk assets continued their steady march higher last week. The broadening participation from Equities was again evident as every major US and Global Index was higher with the exception of Dow Utilities $DJU.

We've written extensively about the strongest areas and those first to reclaim their highs. In this post, we'll highlight a handful of Equity ETFs/Indexes which are at or just beneath fresh highs. Whether these areas work through their overhead supply or get rejected at these key levels will provide important information into the strength and durability of the current rally.

Let's dive right in and take a look at our Sector SPDR ETF table.

In early May we outlined the "Five Bull Market Barometers" we're watching to identify the beginning of a new bull market in stocks.

If you haven't read our initial post linked above, we'd encourage you to check it out so you understand what the rationale behind these five indicators is.

Now, let's see where we stand after another strong week in the market.

This is the video recording of the June 2020 Conference Call.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

For the week ended Friday, June 12, 2020:

Every week we publish performance tables for a variety of different asset classes and categories along with commentary on each.

Last week was a big one for the bears as most risk-assets sold off aggressively to end the week after a strong start.

Many major Indexes in both International and Domestic Equity Markets printed bearish island reversal patterns, most of which occurred at logical levels of overhead supply. Read our post about it here.

We also just wrote about how the market's secular leaders are holding up best since market internals peaked about two weeks ago. We're going to use our US Index and Sector tables below to highlight the noteworthy relative strength from these areas amid the recent market weakness.

Let's take it from the top and begin with our US Index ETF table.

When stocks as an asset class are in a strong uptrend, or "bull market" as some like to call it, they don't just perform well on an absolute basis, but they also tend to outperform their alternatives. Two perfectly good alternatives to owning stocks are Bonds and Precious Metals.

As you can see in this chart, in early March the S&P500 broke key support relative to both US Treasury Bonds and Gold. All of that former support since 2018 "should" turn into resistance, based on our polarity principles.

And it did:

In early May we outlined the "Five Bull Market Barometers" we're watching to identify the beginning of a new bull market in stocks.

If you haven't read our initial post linked above, we'd encourage you to check it out so you understand what the rationale behind these five indicators is.

Now that the market has pulled back from its overhead supply, let's take a look at where these long-term indicators stand.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

For the week ended Friday, June 5, 2020:

Every weekend we publish performance tables for a variety of different asset classes and categories along with commentary on each.

This was a big week for market bulls as a myriad of consolidations resolved to the upside while the powerhouse Nasdaq 100 $QQQ finally became the first major index to reclaim its all-time highs. The only assets to post negative returns this week were the usual "safe-havens" such as Treasuries, Yen, and Precious Metals. Everything else was green. How's that for improving risk-appetite?

In this post, we'll highlight that this broadening participation and flight towards risk-assets is more than just a one-week phenomenon. We've seen this type of price behavior in some asset classes for over a month now.

In early May we outlined the "Five Bull Market Barometers" we're watching to identify the beginning of a new bull market in stocks.

If you haven't read our initial post linked above, we'd encourage you to check it out so you understand what the rationale behind these five indicators is.

It's also worth pointing out that last week we noted that despite the slight improvement in two of these measures, zero of the five were above their key risk levels. Despite that, the market was telling us that the short-term momentum remained to the upside and our long ideas were working well.

After a couple of strong weeks in the market, let's take a look and see how these longer-term indicators have fared.