From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Check out this week's Momentum Report, our weekly summation of all the major indexes at a Macro, International, Sector, and Industry Group level.

By analyzing the short-term data in these reports, we get a more tactical view of the current state of markets. This information then helps us put near-term developments into the big picture context and provides insights regarding the structural trends at play.

Let's jump right into it with some of the major takeaways from this week's report:

* ASC Plus Members can access the Momentum Report by clicking the link at the bottom of this post.

From the desk of Willie Delwiche.

One of the refrains I heard coming into 2022 was that, given inflation, holding cash was an expensive proposition. It is true that over the past year, inflation has eaten away 8.5% of the real purchasing power of the dollar. But it has only taken the market 75 trading days this year to reduce the value of stocks and bonds by an even larger nominal amount. Surging inflation is prompting an aggressive policy response from the Fed, pushing bond yields higher and weighing stocks and bonds. Passive investors have seen their portfolios stumble to their worst start to a year in the past quarter century. There is a challenge brewing for the passive index-based investment approaches that have soared in popularity in recent years. Holding cash in inflationary environments does come with a cost, but it has the benefit of flexibility in the face of uncertainty. And the way it looks right now, holding stocks and bonds has been even more expensive.        

This is the video recording of the April 21st Weekly Town Hall w/ Willie Delwiche.

04/21/22 2:00 PM ET

From the desk of Willie Delwiche.

Someone recently asked me why I pursued the CMT (Chartered Market Technician) designation. 

Was it for personal growth or to open up job opportunities? To be honest, fifteen years after the fact it's difficult to fully recall every motivation that went into my decision. I can, however, clearly see the implications of that decision.

In many ways, this is similar to what happened when my family and I moved from the Milwaukee suburbs back into the city itself. We had our motivations and expectations, but none of that could have prepared us for what we have experienced in the wake of that decision.

It was 2008 and we were in the depths of the financial crisis. Plenty of uncertainty was in the air. We sold our old house literally days before Lehman went under and the financial system seized up. We thought we were just buying a house, one that our young family could grow into. It had "good bones" (as they say) but had been ignored for some time and needed (still needs) a lot of loving attention.

From the desk of Willie Delwiche.

From the desk of Willie Delwiche.

Participating in strength so far in 2022 provides us with some operational flexibility in our Dynamic Portfolios. But in a market with relatively narrow participation, it can be challenging to find ways to move from strength to strength without becoming too concentrated. That said, we are reducing exposure to some of the strongest areas of the market - taking gains more than expecting weakness. We are finding opportunities to maintain our current exposure to the market, increase our diversification and remain consistent with the message of caution coming from our risk indicators and the weight of the evidence. This remains an environment that favors a dynamic over passive approach and one in which being tactical and cyclical enhance strategic exposure.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Check out this week's Momentum Report, our weekly summation of all the major indexes at a Macro, International, Sector, and Industry Group level.

By analyzing the short-term data in these reports, we get a more tactical view of the current state of markets. This information then helps us put near-term developments into the big picture context and provides insights regarding the structural trends at play.

Let's jump right into it with some of the major takeaways from this week's report:

* ASC Plus Members can access the Momentum Report by clicking the link at the bottom of this post.

Macro Universe:

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Our Top 10 Charts Report was just published.

In this weekly note, we highlight 10 of the most important charts or themes we're currently seeing in asset classes around the world.

Tech Weighs Heavy on US Stocks

US equities have outperformed their global counterparts for the better part of the last decade. This is largely attributed to the vast differences between the weighting and composition of US and international markets – mainly, the heavy weighting toward technology in the US and the relative absence of tech outside the US.

The overlay chart of Tech vs. the S&P 500 and the S&P 500 vs. the ACWI All World Index ratios tell the story. Tech dominance in the US strongly correlates with US dominance over global markets. With tech taking the brunt of the recent selling pressure, it calls into question the continued outperformance of US equities. This reiterates the possibility that what has worked for the past decade may not work in the years that lie ahead. Position accordingly…

Key Takeaway:

This is the video recording of the April 14th Weekly Town Hall w/ Willie Delwiche.

04/14/22 2:00 PM ET

From the desk of Willie Delwiche.

It’s easy to fixate on percentages when discussing and labeling market moves, especially when those moves are to the downside. 

The S&P 500 can be 9.99% below its peak and you’ll hear nothing but crickets. Cross the 10% threshold and it’s a Correction. Cross the 20% threshold and banner headlines announce a Bear Market.

There are plenty of problems with this approach. A market environment where the S&P 500 is down 9.9% from its peak is likely not materially different from one where the index is down 10.1%. The same can be said on either side of the bear market threshold. Problems go beyond these arbitrary, specific thresholds. 

The questions it raises reflect its lack of utility for everyone except headline writers: Is a market that is on its way to, but has not yet achieved a 20% peak to trough decline, in a bear market? Or is it still a bull market? And what happens after it enters bear market territory but nudges higher so that the peak to trough decline is now less than the 20% threshold? Is this still a bear market?

From the desk of Willie Delwiche.