We’ve already had some great trades come out of this small-cap-focused column since we launched it late last year and started rotating it with our flagship bottom-up scan, “Under The Hood.”
We recently decided to expand our universe to include some mid-caps…
For about a year now, we’ve focused only on Russell 2000 stocks with a market cap between $1 and $2B. That was fun, but it’s time we branch out a bit and allow some new stocks to find their way onto our list.
In this weekly note, we highlight 10 of the most important charts or themes we're currently seeing in asset classes around the world.
Stocks Test September Highs
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Dow Jones Transportation Average are both struggling at key Fibonacci extension levels from their 2018 drawdowns. Mid-caps and bank stocks are trapped back beneath key levels of overhead supply at their first-half highs. And the small-cap Russell 2000 is trading back toward the lower bounds of its year-to-date range. The majority of stocks are simply consolidating in holding patterns right now.
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.
Our Hall of Famers list is composed of the 100 largest US-based stocks.
These stocks range from the mega-cap growth behemoths like Apple and Microsoft – with market caps in excess of $2T – to some of the new-age large-cap disruptors such as Moderna, Square, and Snap.
It has all the big names and more.
It doesn’t include ADRs or any stock not domiciled in the US. But don’t worry; we developed a separate universe for that which you can check out here.
The Hall of Famers is simple.
We take our list of 100 names and then apply our technical filters so the strongest stocks with the most momentum rise to the top.
Let’s dive right in and check out what these big boys are up to.
From the desk of Steven Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @Ianculley
Risk assets are under pressure.
Failed breakouts and significant retracements have materialized across cyclical areas of the market, including the Russell 2000, the energy and financial sectors, and, of course, commodities.
The energy complex has endured the most severe damage in the commodities realm, with crude oil leading the pack lower. Last Friday’s session was a bruiser, with crude dropping $10 to close out the week.
This kind of volatility can be alarming for any investor.
There was also plenty of evidence from our intermarket relationships and ratios to support these moves. Discretionary-versus-staples ratios broke to fresh highs. Copper versus gold. Stocks versus bonds. Inflation expectations. They all made new highs recently. But, just like most stocks on an absolute basis, many of these breakouts have since failed.
Of all these developments, it's hard to argue that any is more important than the stocks-versus-bonds ratio retracing back beneath its Q1 highs. With long rates making new lows and stocks selling off, let's talk about how we are approaching both of these asset classes right now.
Here's the S&P 500 $SPY relative to long-term Treasury bonds $TLT, zoomed out to the early 2000s.
Instead of fresh legs higher, investors were dealt a handful of downside reversals and failed moves. Last week, we went from discussing breakouts and new highs for stocks... to throwbacks and retests of old ranges. This all happened in the matter of a few trading sessions.
A lot has changed in a short period. In times like these, it’s important to take a good look under the hood to see what market internals are suggesting.
As we reviewed our breadth chartbook today, we asked ourselves the following questions:
Are we seeing a notable expansion in new lows? Is it enough that we should be worried?
Let’s take a look beneath the surface and see if we can find some answers!
First, let’s check in on the 21-day and 63-day lows for the S&P 500:
We held our December Monthly Strategy Session last night. Premium Members can click here to review the recording and the accompanying slides.
Non-members can get a quick recap of the call simply by reading this post each month.
By focusing on long-term, monthly charts, the idea is to take a step back and put things into the context of their structural trends. This is a valuable exercise, as it forces us to put aside the day-to-day noise and simply examine markets from a “big picture” point of view.
With that as our backdrop, let’s dive right in and discuss three of the most important charts and/or themes from this month’s call.
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.
From the desk of Steven Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @IanCulley
Treasury yield spreads are contracting.
Inflation has been the talk of the town in recent weeks. But, now that the Federal Reserve has finally joined the chorus, the market seems to be headed in a different direction. At least over the near term.
We’ve been closely monitoring long-duration rates for signs of further weakness. As we write, the 30-year is violating its summer lows, and the 10-year is testing a critical level of interest around 1.40%.
The bulls really need these levels to hold. If they don't, we’d better get used to the recent volatility--because it’s likely to get worse.
Plenty of stocks continue to show relative strength through the recent volatility. We still want to be buying these leaders.
And plenty of stocks continue to underperform, having already violated their year-to-date ranges to the downside. Those are the names we want to be looking at to short.
But most stocks are simply in "no-man's land" right now.
Some were rejected at their year-to-date highs. Others broke out and quickly failed. It doesn't matter how they got there. What matters is they're now "back in the box" and facing the very same overhead supply levels they've faced for much of 2021.
It looked as if markets were making progress earlier this month. But it turns out most of these new highs were -- dare I say --transitory?
Let's take a look at financials, using the group as a case study for how we want to approach all the range-bound patterns we see out there.
From the desk of Steven Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @IanCulley
As we near the close of another month, crude oil is once again front and center.
At the end of October, black gold was ripping to new seven-year highs while interest rates rose and cyclical stocks kicked back into gear.
Today, this picture has dramatically changed.
Crude oil is currently about 20% off its highs, as prices have collapsed back below our risk level.
Crude dropped $10 during last Friday’s volatile session and continues to slide lower this week. Just look at this bearish candlestick on the monthly chart:
