Nothing will frustrate stock market bears more than European Stocks breaking out to new all-time highs!

Do you know anyone who has anything positive to say about European Equities? Are conversations you're having and articles you're reading preaching strength and growth out of this area? I don't.

Prices, however, are telling a different story! Let me point you to the WisdomTree Europe Hedged Equity Fund, which prices European stocks in local currency. This is similar to the $DXJ vs $EWJ Funds in Japan.

The way I see it, this looks like a consolidation within an ongoing uptrend and most likely the beginning of a NEW uptrend, and not near the end of an old one:

I've been following the work Willie Delwiche for years. As both a CFA and CMT Charterholder, I think it helps him really put things in perspective for the Advisors he works with at RW Baird. I really enjoyed the conversation we had about the markets and his process. Willie incorporates a number of breadth and sentiment measures that I've always been a fan of. He helps the Investment Advisors at the firm work with their clients and manages several portfolios as well. In this podcast episode we discuss a number of different things...

In this Episode of Allstarcharts Weekly, Steve and I make the bear case for US Stocks. I think we've been pretty clear about the fact that we believe stocks resolve this consolidation since 2018 higher, not lower. But I always think it's important to take the other side and consider the alternative. What will the market environment most likely look like if we're wrong, and we should be selling stocks rather than buying them. I think we brought up some good points here.

We are back with another episode of The Money Game Podcast with Phil Pearlman. Today we talk about the inability for some people trade US stocks from the long side due to biases stemming from past experiences. This is a real thing that we see constantly. So we talk about the causes, being aware of these feelings and what can be done to overcome these hurdles. I'm lucky that I've been through enough bull market and bear market cycles to not get stuck into betting on just one side or the other. But some people have a real fear of admitting they're wrong and turning bullish at, what they think might be, precisely the wrong time. Some of this is driven by ego and some is just irrational anxiety. This is a really important conversation and one that I will likely listen to again several times over in the future.

We've all been there and we've all seen others do it to. We get one data point and then all of sudden we're drawing direct conclusions based on that number. Think about how silly it sounds to make decisions based on a government report or even single chart or "technical pattern".

The first thing we need to do is take a deep breathe (We live better when we're breathing). Then we want to ask ourselves, "Ok, this is new data. How does this fit within the context of all the other data points". We also want to identify how much weight we want to put on this particular data point.

It's funny, when I first started studying for Sommelier exams, I caught myself doing the same thing. Instead of looking at the wine, smelling it, tasting it, thinking about what it could possibly be and then coming up with a guess, I was already making guesses just by looking at it. Light body? Pinot Noir!!! Heavy tannin? Napa Cab!!! Low acid white? Viogner all day baby! Wrong, Wrong and Wrong again!

I was making the same mistake people in the markets do every day....

Raoul Pal is someone whose work I've admired for years, both for his global macro perspective on the markets and the amazing job he and his team have done with Real Vision. I like how they've removed a lot of the conflicts of interest that come with traditional media reporting and the sensationalizing that comes along as a result.

As a Macro Analyst, he does a lot of intermarket, or "cross-asset", analysis. Raoul and I see the world through a similar lens. One area where we differ is in our experiences throughout our careers and how that's shaped our view points and biases. I really enjoyed that part of the conversation. As far as current markets are concerned, Raoul thinks that negative rates in the U.S. are a real...

If you've been in our world long enough you've heard someone say, "Technical Analysis Is Voodoo". As far as I'm concerned, the more people who think that the better it is for us! As Technicians we are analyzing the behavior of the market and its participants. Our human emotions are driven by fear and greed and therefore markets trend, by nature. This is why Technical Analysis works. Today I sit down with Sebastian, the wine maker at Rancho Maria Winery in Sonoma, CA, to discuss this very topic.

This is not just a Stock Market, this is a "Market of Stocks". And not just Stocks from America, but Stocks all over the world. Stocks don't move up and down because of what is happening in New York or Washington DC. They move based on the supply and demand dynamics for the asset globally. To suggest otherwise is irresponsible.

Let's look around the world, because it's the right the thing to do. And let's see how stocks look globally, rather than be narrow minded into thinking the world revolves around what happens within US borders. 

Connie Brown is the author of one of the first books I ever read on Technical Analysis. She was the one who inspired me to use Momentum as a supplement to price behavior, particularly the Relative Strength Index (RSI). It was Connie Brown who taught me how to think outside the box and question the default settings on traditional charting software. It's that next level thinking that has helped me grow throughout my career. It is a real treat for me to have her on the podcast and I think she is a great compliment to some of the other guests we've had on over the years. In this conversation we go back to the stock market panics of the 1800s, go over different global indexes and how to use them to make decisions in our own markets. If you're interested in Technical Analysis at all and want to learn how to think about things a little differently, this is the podcast episode for you!

This week we have a special treat on the podcast. Denise Shull is a Performance Coach and founder of The ReThink Group.  She is widely believed to be the inspiration for the character Wendy Rhoades on the Showtime series Billions. We have a lot of different perspectives on the podcast all revolving around the behavior of the market and its participants. In this episode we focus more on the behavior of the participants themselves and why traders do the things they do. Denise shares stories about different clients she has and the ways they overcome things like loss aversion, being too aggressive and not being aggressive enough. We discuss the differences between male and female traders, the advantages women have in this field and reasons why there are so few women on Wall Street. I really enjoyed this conversation because I think it's important to understand that there are real humans on the other side of our trades. Even if they are algos built by humans, the people are still there and it's important to understand their side. One...

One of the most important concepts we talk about in Technical Analysis is confirmation.

Whatever thesis we have, we need price to confirm it before we can act...and if it doesn't then we need to respect that and get out of the way.

Risk management is our main priority and two simple charts do a great job of highlighting why we wait for confirmation.

Todd Sohn is one of my favorite guys to talk to about the markets. He often sends me charts that no one else is looking at and points out important data that most people aren't talking about. His unique perspective on the market definitely makes him stand out from the rest. Todd and his team at Strategas do great work and it's a real pleasure to have him on the podcast. In this conversation we discuss the current environment for US Stocks, Interest Rates, Precious Metals and the sentiment driving current trends. He offers good advice for both new technicians and seasoned veterans. If you're at all interested in the market, this is an episode you can't miss. Enjoy!