The stock market is messy, not trending higher, and frustrating many investors who haven't studied their market history.

This type of market environment, this time of the year, is EXACTLY what we should expect as investors.

If the market was NOT acting this way, then that would be weird.

Sometimes the market ignores seasonal trends. And that tends to be an important signal.

But, to be clear, this is definitely NOT one of those times.

The market is doing exactly what it should be doing.

See: Weakest Time of the Year

Over half the stocks on the NYSE are below their 200 day moving average. Same with the S&P500.

Here's what the index itself looks like near the lower end of this multi-month range:

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Dividend Aristocrats are easily some of the most desirable investments on Wall Street. These are the names that have increased dividends for at least 25 years, providing steadily increasing income to long-term-minded shareholders.

As you can imagine, the companies making up this prestigious list are some of the most recognizable brands in the world. Coca-Cola, Walmart, and Johnson & Johnson are just a few of the household names making the cut.

Here at All Star Charts, we like to stay ahead of the curve. That's why we're turning our attention to the future aristocrats. In an effort to seek out the next generation of the cream-of-the-crop dividend plays, we're curating a list of stocks that have raised their payouts every year for five to nine years.

We call them the Young Aristocrats, and the idea is that these are "stocks that pay you to make money." Imagine if years of consistent dividend growth and high momentum and relative strength had a baby, leaving you with the best of the emerging dividend giants that are outperforming the averages.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

$SPY dropped to the zone I was looking for.

Now we'll see if we have a bounce attempt.

From the Desk of Steve Strazza and Alfonso Depablos

The largest insider buy on today’s list comes in a Form 4 filing by Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc $BHLB director Mary Anne Callahan.

Callahan reported a purchase of $357,319 in BHLB.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

Yesterday morning I mentioned that we could see either $SPY drop to the 435-to-437 zone or it bounce up to 447.

We're at 435 this morning.

We'll see if we have some oversold bounces.

The US Stock Market is mostly one big fat mess, as is perfectly normal for this time of the year.

So no surprise there.

You can catch up on our reasoning in this short post.

But the bottom line is that we're now well into month #3 of this correction, since the new 52-week highs list peaked back in July.

The fact that markets are a mess is not a big deal. The bigger question is more about how long it will take to resolve, and which stocks are holding up the best during this seasonally weak period.

We discussed some really interesting setups during our LIVE Conference Call this week.

But today I want to focus on a space that is acting way better than the rest of its peers: Cyber Security.

While Tech stocks have generally been struggling since mid-summer, take a look at Palo Alto hanging in there just fine:

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

When investing in the stock market, we always want to approach it as "a market of stocks."

Regardless of the environment, there are always stocks showing leadership and trending higher.

We may have to look harder to identify them depending on current market conditions. But there are always stocks that are going up.

The same can be said for weak stocks. Regardless of the environment, there are always stocks that are going down, too. 

We already have multiple scans focusing on stocks making all-time highs, such as Hall of Famers, Minor Leaguers, and the 2 to 100 Club.

We filter these universes for stocks that are exhibiting the best momentum and relative strength characteristics. 

Clearly, we spend a lot of time identifying and writing about leading stocks every week, via multiple reports.

Now, we're also highlighting lagging stocks on a recurring basis.

Welcome to the Short Report.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

It was a Fed day, not much more to say.

It was very volatile, and tomorrow we should get more of a true direction.

This is the video recording of the September 20, 2023, Hot Corner Insider Weekly Strategy Session.

From the Desk of Steve Strazza and Alfonso Depablos

The largest insider buy on today’s list comes in a Form 4 filing by Cormorant Asset Management LP.

The hedge fund reported a purchase of roughly $19.6 million in Ambrx Biopharma Inc $AMAM.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

FOMC on deck!

Now we'll either see a quick pop up to 447.70 on $SPY or a drop down to 437 to 435.

Pre-market indices are trading higher.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

It was a slow day, and the market just drifted lower.

We'll see what happens tomorrow after the FOMC announcement.