Months and months are going by with little to no progress at all in the major U.S. Stock Market Indexes.

Just look at the returns by sector since the beginning of March.

The leaders have been Utilities, Energy and Consumer Staples.

The biggest losers are the investors who've owned Technology and Consumer Discretionary.

Here, see for yourself:

How's this messy market treating you?

Are you happy the market is a mess? Or do you find it frustrating?

Keep in mind, the S&P500 is still at the same price it was 2 months ago.

Both the Nasdaq100 and Dow Jones Industrial Average are still at the same prices they were back in February.

We're almost half way through May.

The Technology Index, which is the largest component of the S&P500 (30%) and has the largest weighting in the Nasdaq100 (50%), is still where it was back in January.

Again we're half way through May!

Meanwhile, don't forget about the Small-cap Russell2000 that's hilariously still stuck below where it was way back in December.

The Consumer Discretionary Index and Dow Jones Transportation Average are also down for the year.

That's the market we're in.

Some people keep pretending that this year is just like last year.

But I cheated. I actually looked at the data. So I know better.

The month isn't over yet but I peaked.

How many assets can you think of that have been positive every single month this year?

Where do you find the most consistent leadership?

Is it in Technology?

No. Tech is down over 4.5% the past 2 months.

Is it Consumer Discretionary?

Nope. It's down 2 months in a row, falling almost 3%.

The answer is the US Dollar and Crude Oil Futures.

As we enter the final day of April, these 2 assets have been positive every month so far in 2024.

The Japanese Yen hit levels last night not seen in over 30 years.

There was historic volatility this morning and some key reversals that may or may not hold over the short-term.

But what you need to know is that the Yen is crashing. It's been losing value relative to "things".

These "things" include all kinds of assets including stocks, commodities and bitcoin, who have all been hitting new highs when priced in Japanese Yen.

Look at Bitcoin hitting new all-time highs in Yen terms:

Imagine being one of these people who are lying to US citizens about falling interest rates?

Or worse, imagine being one of the poor victims who actually believed them?

Ouch.

The people lying to you include journalists across old media, a few economists that are somehow still employed, and even the President of the United States of America.

Or maybe the Biden didn't actually lie to you. It could have been the intern, who tells him what to say, that is the one behind the false information.

Either way, none of these people are here to help you. They're only here to help themselves. That's how this works.

So as investors, it's important for us to actually look to see what's happening, instead of blindly trusting some random source, even if that includes the President of the United States, who's been lying to you about falling interest rates all year.

Is the fact that he is up for reelection later this year further incentivizing these lies?

Probably.

You're finally seeing some of that defensive rotation with Utilities representing the only sector that is hitting new 6-month highs this week.

Here is a chart of Utilities relative to the S&P500, overlaid with Staples relative to S&Ps as well.

As you can see, both of these lines had been falling since 2022, because it's been a bull market.

But now that stocks have been correcting this year, you're seeing that outperformance coming from the most defensive sectors:

Stock prices don't move based on "fundamentals".

Prices move based on positioning.

When investors are primarily on one side of a market, the pendulum swings to the other extreme.

One of my heroes John Roque said it best, "We're not in a reversion TO the mean business, we're in a reversion BEYOND the mean business".

In other words, from extremes in positioning, the market doesn't just go back to the average positioning. It tends to continue towards the other extreme.

This is the situation we currently find ourselves in as investors.

Have you counted how many stocks and sectors put in failed breakouts?

Market breadth has been deteriorating so fast that most of the "breakouts" that everyone was so excited about last quarter are all failing one by one.

It's pretty nasty out there.

That's what happens when you get aggressive and buy stocks while breadth is deteriorating in your face.

I've seen this too many times to get fooled again.

You're seeing a lot of first timers out there who haven't learned this yet.

One of the better examples is in the Equally-weighted S&P500. Look at this nasty failed breakout.

How's the stock market correction treating you so far?

The Nasdaq100 is only up 1% this year, underperforming a typical year for the market by a long shot.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is flat for 2024.

The Russell2000 Small-cap Index $IWM is still down this year.

Emerging Markets $EEM are down.

Meanwhile Gold is up 15%. Silver is up 20%.

In fact, the Dow/Gold ratio just hit new 3-year lows this week:

You can now add the Dow Jones Industrial Average to the list of indexes that are DOWN for the year so far.

I've argued many times that the Dow Jones Industrial Average is the world's most important stock market index.

And while I'm not going to get into all the reasons again today, I'll just show you the chart of the S&P500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average going back 60 years.

They move together...

Gold is one of the biggest winners so far in 2024.

But you can argue that it's really the commodities complex that is leading, and Gold is just one of them.

Check out the YTD returns here.

But the unwind in Gold stocks relative to other types of stocks looks to be just getting going.

Here is the Gold Bugs Index, which is loaded with all the top mining stocks, compared to the S&P500.

Notice the dramatic underperformance for so long, followed by a failed breakdown, and now the squeeze is just getting started:

I have three big ideas to take advantage of the current markets.

It's pretty obvious to everyone now that this year is not like last year.

Some people are pretending it still is.

You are welcome to lie to yourself if you'd like.

But I have the data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is flat so far in 2024. Small-caps are actually still down.

It's Crude Oil, Silver, Gold and Copper leading the way: