Post #2 of 2 focuses on the absolute trends and stocks we want to be buying and selling.
In our first post, we talked about relative performance in Financials rolling over aggressively. On an absolute basis, the TSX Capped Financials Index is stuck below its December 2018 lows and 2015 highs, much like US Small-Caps, the German DAX, Euro Stoxx 50, and many of the other weakest markets out there. As long as prices are below 263, the bias is to the downside with a target near 210.
Post #2 of 2 focuses on the absolute trends and stocks we want to be buying and selling.
First, let's start with the TSX Capped Financials which represent 33% of the TSX Composite. This chart has spent the last four years putting in a major top and the underperformance looks likely to continue. From that perspective, can the TSX Composite continue to work sustainably higher if its best players are underperforming so drastically? I'd argue no.
We turned bearish on equities in February from a structural standpoint and have been tactically positioning ourselves in both directions since. We've taken advantage of the bifurcated market we're in by continuing to find opportunities on both the long and short side. Right now we believe the near-term risk is to the downside in equities.
Last week we put together a list of key levels that we want to see certain assets hold before turning bullish on stocks over any longer-term timeframe. We're using this as our risk gauge for now.
As promised, we put that list into a table so that we can easily track and update its progress. Let's dive in and see what the weight of the evidence is telling us right now.
Every weekend we publish performance tables for a variety of different asset classes and categories along with commentary on each.
As this is something we do internally on a daily basis, we believe sharing it with clients will add value and help them better understand our top-down approach. We use these tables to provide insight into both relative strength and market internals.
Today, we put out a post outlining why we are bearish on Small-Cap stocks and want to be shorting the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM). Read it here as it sets the stage for this post.
Small-caps are the weakest area of US Equities. That's why we are expressing our bearish view on stocks via the Russell 2000 as opposed to one of the large-cap indexes, all of which the Russell has severely underperformed for several years now.
In line with our top-down approach, we don't just want to short an index. We are believers that playing the averages results in average returns.
For this reason, we've drilled into the Russell 2000, looked at every single chart and picked out the weakest names we could find with clearly defined risk management levels to limit us to the smallest of losses in the case these names mean-revert higher.
On our monthly conference call this week, we talked a lot about key levels in the most important asset classes in the world.
As promised, here's a run down of the 20 items on our checklist. I promise you the world is not ending if there are an overwhelming amount of yeses on this list.
Let's use this as a risk management gauge. I think this will help us answer the question of, How defensive should we be?
We made a spreadsheet internally for this and we'll send you regular updates and keep discussing this list as new data comes in.
Every weekend we publish simple performance tables for a variety of different asset classes and categories along with brief commentary on each.
As this is something we do internally on a daily basis, we believe sharing it with clients will add value and help them better understand our top-down approach. We use these tables to provide insight into both relative strength and market internals.
This week we want to highlight our US Equity Index and Factor tables, as they are both showing near-term reversions in some of the most robust long-term intermarket trends.
Yesterday we published a post titled "The Reality Regarding Real Estate" in which we pointed out the long-term underperformance of REITs as a sector. And although we see no signs of this trend reversing any time soon, when we dug into the space we couldn't help but notice a select group of stocks outperforming not just Real Estate, but the broader market as well.
In this post, we will illustrate the relentless strength from this niche group of Data-Center and Cell-Tower REITs and offer two trade ideas in the space.
We also wrote a post lately in which we filtered the S&P 500 down to just 32 of its strongest performers based on a variety of metrics. Despite the weakness from Real Estate as a whole, five of the stocks on that list are actually components in our All Star Charts Custom Data-Center & Cell-Tower REIT Index.
In our Table Of The Week, we highlighted some of the strongest stocks in the S&P 500 right now. We showed statistical evidence that these stocks have not only performed better over the long-run, but they've also suffered smaller drawdowns in the near-term.
Despite remaining skeptical of what is still a bear market rally in our opinion, there are always opportunities on the long side, we just need to pick our spots carefully and respect our risk management levels. In this post, we're going to outline trade setups in what we believe are some of the most robust uptrends still in place.
If the market moves higher from here, these stocks should continue to exhibit leadership. If it rolls over, they should hold up better than the average stock and our risk will be well-defined to ensure minimal losses in the case we're wrong.
