From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

$SPY dropped down to its 21-day moving average, and $QQQ broke below its own 21-day.

We'll see if this is a one-day wonder or if the Fitch downgrade has more meaning.

This is the video recording of the August 2, 2023, Hot Corner Insider Weekly Strategy Session.

We've adjusted a position in the Paid-to-Play portfolio today:

We had a resting GTC order filled at our profit target in the Paid-to-Play portfolio today:

Sector rotation continues to pump new blood into the bull market that's been running for over a year now (yes, over a year, hater). And as it does, we love getting into stocks that are late joiners. These stocks have seen some tremendous rips. Just look at the chart of Caterpillar ($CAT) as but one of numerous examples I can point to. That's what today's trade has the potential to do.

Our Commodities Analyst Ian Culley recently reported on several energy stocks we need to be paying attention to. And one of them just got earnings out of the way. Implied volatility priced into its options was already suspiciously low before the earnings report, so this sets up a great opportunity for a simple long calls play.

And we've got a big round number up ahead that would represent new all-time highs which should act as a magnet to help us out.

The largest insider transaction on today’s list comes in a Form 4 filing by Blackford (Beau) F. Brauer, director at Commerce Bancshares $CBSH.

Brauer reported a purchase of CBSH shares worth $265,003.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

After normal trading hours yesterday, Fitch downgraded the US.

As of now, it's been a muted response. We'll see if it turns into something bigger.

I did tell traders last week having a hedge does not hurt.

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

Time seems to move faster during bull markets.

I have my theories, and they all revolve around having fun.

One thing is certain: The month of July is now behind us. 

I can’t believe we’re more than halfway through the year and a month into Q3!

Since it’s August 1, let’s keep the good time rolling by reviewing the most important monthly chart in the deck…

It's the US Dollar Index $DXY.

The US dollar acted as a Chief Headwind for Global Risk Assets last year, with a little help from the Fed.

All eyes are fixated on King Dollar as it straddles an area of former-resistance-turned-support:

DXY broke down to fresh 52-week lows last month, only to almost immediately turn higher. The long lower shadow on the monthly candle highlights the reversal, indicating an...

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

The market is taking a breather.

We still have a lot of earnings to contend with this week.

We've adjusted a position in the Paid-to-Play portfolio today:

We had a resting GTC order filled in the Paid-to-Play portfolio today:

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Welcome to our latest Minor Leaguers report.

We've had some great trades come out of this small-cap-focused column since we launched it back in 2020 and started rotating it with our flagship bottom-up scan, Under the Hood.

For the first year or so, we focused only on Russell 2000 stocks with a market cap between $1 and $2B.

That was fun, but we wanted to branch out a bit and allow some new stocks to find their way onto our list.

We expanded our universe to include some mid-caps.

To make the cut for our Minor Leaguers list, a company must have a market cap between $1 and $4B.

And it doesn't have to be a Russell component — it can be any US-listed equity. With participation expanding around the globe, we want all those ADRs in our universe.

The same price and liquidity filters are applied. Then, as always, we sort by proximity to...

The only insider transaction on today’s list comes in a Form 4 filing by the CEO of Triumph Group $TGI, Chong Chan Teo.

Teo reported a small purchase of TGI shares worth $101,095.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

We're turning the corner into the last stretch of summer.

The market has been very resilient through all negative news.

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

I find the general distaste for precious metals amusing.

It cracked me up when a close friend referred to gold as “hot garbage” at the start of the year. The Nasdaq 100 was trading almost 36% off its 2021 zenith. And gold was within striking distance of its former all-time highs.

Yet gold was trash in this investor’s eyes.

That’s information.

Information that got me thinking about a rally in precious metals…

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @sstrazza and Alfonso Depablos @Alfcharts

This is one of our favorite bottom-up scans: Follow the Flow.

In this note, we simply create a universe of stocks that experienced the most unusual options activity — either bullish or bearish, but not both.

We utilize options experts, both internally and through our partnership with The TradeXchange. Then, we dig through the level 2 details and do all the work upfront for our clients.

Our goal is to isolate only those options market splashes that represent levered and high-conviction, directional bets.

We also weed out hedging activity and ensure there are no offsetting trades that either neutralize or cap the risk on these unusual options trades.

What remains is a list of stocks that large financial institutions are putting big money behind.

And they’re doing so for one reason only: because they think...

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

Today we close out July, and what a month it's been.

The indices trickled higher continuously throughout.