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.
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.
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.
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.
Consolidations tend to resolve in the direction of the underlying trend. But when they don't, that's the signal!
An oldie but goodie from the past, that I always think about when this comes up, is the US Treasury Bond Fund back in the Fall of 2016. I remember chatting with Liz Claman at the time about it on FOX. The $TLT was consolidating in a classic, textbook continuation pattern above former resistance from the early 2015 highs:
The bet we were making (for many other factors as well at that time) was that this was not a continuation pattern, and instead a massive failed breakout.
Every weekend we publish performance tables for a variety of different asset classes and categories along with commentary on each.
This was a special week as Friday marked the end of May which means fresh monthly candlestick data. Analyzing these long-term monthly charts every several weeks is a great exercise as it forces us to take a step back and identify the structural trends that are in place.
As such, this week’s theme is the continued outperformance over both the short and long-term from those areas sporting the strongest primary uptrends.
Tech $XLK is by far the best performing sector over the trailing year. It is also the 2nd best over the past month and quarter, behind Communications $XLC and Health Care $XLV, respectively. Not surprisingly, these same sectors are also the next best performers over the trailing year.
Earlier this month we outlined the "Five Bull Market Barometers" we're watching to identify the beginning of a new bull market in stocks.
In this post, we'll update those charts without going into as much detail as to why they're important. So if you haven't read our initial post linked above, we'd encourage you to check it out.
With that said, let's jump in and see how these charts have developed since.
