How's the Bull Market treating you so far?

Can you believe it's been a year already since the new 52-week lows list peaked?

Remember, the first thing stocks need to do before they can start to go up in price, is to stop going down!

That happened 1-year ago.

Since then Technology, Communications, Consumer Discretionary and Industrials are all up over 20%. Tech is up almost 40%.

Meanwhile, Healthcare and Financials are each up 10% during this period.

And then some of the more defensive sectors, like Staples and Utilities, are up, but very much underperforming the more offensive sectors.

This is all perfectly normal behavior in bull markets, so we're not surprised at all. No one should be.

Here's a chart of each sector's performance since the start of this bull market - exactly one year ago!

They've been telling me for almost a year that this is just a bear market rally.

If you're one of those people, I would ask your therapist about it.

The New Lows list peaked last June.

It's been steady improvement and sector rotation ever since.

This month is just the latest example. We now started to get rotation into Small-caps.

See: Bullish Risk Reversal In Small-caps (May 2023)

I'm convinced the world needs more bubble charts. There just aren't enough.

So here at Allstarcharts we're just doing our part.

The new 52-week highs list keeps on getting longer.

You can add the S&P500 ETF $SPY to that list now.

Here's what that looks like:

This is the big question for me right now. Do we get rotation into the sectors that led this market off the lows last June?

We'll be discussing it on our NEW Morning Show today. Make sure to catch us LIVE from 830AM - 10AM ET using this link.

First, here's what I mean.

Check out these 3 Index Funds that have been underperforming this year. Financials and Small-caps flirting with last summers lows, and I threw Industrials in there too as a representation of the more Value areas of the market:

You're hearing a lot these days about weakening market breadth.

But if you've noticed, those lies are only coming from journalists and other types of people with no formal training or experience in technical analysis.

That's like me pretending to be an expert in chess because I watched some people playing this one time in Washington Square Park.

If you think that the Equally-weighted S&P500 underperforming is evidence of deteriorating market breadth, you fall into this category of the misinformed and confused.

It's not a market breadth thing. It's simply a sector rotation thing.

In bull markets historically there's less of a need, or no need at all, for the safest stocks.

These defensive sectors include areas like Consumer Staples, Utilities, Healthcare and stocks with Low Volatility.

All of them made new 52-week lows on Friday relative to the S&P500:

There are only about 30 companies in the S&P500 that are bigger than what Nvidia is up after hours today.

That's a new all-time high for America's now 5th largest company. It's the first time it's able to breakout to new a all-time high since late 2021:

Some things are changing.

Have you noticed?

Let's keep something in mind. During healthy market environments, you historically see correlations falling.

It's when volatility spikes in bear markets that correlations all go to 1.

So are these recent divergences just further evidence that this is a strong market for stocks?

The breadth expansion and sector rotation we keep seeing certainly points to that.

So let's take a look.

Sector Rotation is the life blood of a bull market.

In the back half of last year, almost everything was working - except for some growth stocks and Tech.

Then came 2023. The best performers have been growth stocks and Tech.

That's what we mean by "sector rotation".

Last year they were all bitching about the fact that these Tech stocks and the Nasdaq weren't working, even through practically everything else was.

This year they're bitching that these Tech stocks are the only ones working (hint: they're not the only ones).

Large-cap Tech outperforming does not mean that market breadth is weakening. It just means that Large-cap Tech is outperforming.

This is classic sector rotation - a characteristic regularly found throughout bull markets.

So what comes next?

This is what almost everyone I speak to tells me is going to happen.

They expect a failure up here in the S&P500, an inability to make new highs and instead, just an overwhelming rollover in stocks.

Here's what that looks like:

Small-cap stocks are back down to where they bottomed out last summer.

Can they do it again?

I believe they can, and that's the bet that we're making.

Check out: It's Now Or Never and also We're Buying Small-caps

Here's what the Russell2000 Index ETF looks like:

The weakness in Small-caps has been well documented by now.

Look at the performance since the beginning of 2022.

While the Dow, S&P500 and other major indexes are pushing up near 52-week highs, the Russell2000 is down near 52-week lows.