The shorter-term risk indicators have teased the possibility in recent weeks, but now for the first time in a year, our longer-term Risk Indicator has moved into Risk On territory.

More Context: This risk indicator is made up of 20 (intermarket and intramarket) ratios that pair various risk on and risk off assets. It ebbed and flowed over the course of 2022 but remained in Risk Off territory all of last year. Paired with the turn higher in our net new high advance/decline line, this is evidence of an improving backdrop for risk assets. These are not discrete signals (like so many breadth and momentum thrusts) but are continuous indicators of the environment in which we, as investors, are operating. 

I have long leaned on breadth thrust signals in my work. But with more and more of them popping up all the time, it is now a case of thrust but verify. In contrast to what we saw last year, our risk indicators and the new high vs new low data are providing important confirmation of market strength (as...

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

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

The largest insider transaction on today’s list is a Form 4 filing by Abdiel Capital Management LLC, which reported a purchase worth roughly $8.7 million in Appian Corporation $APPN.

The hedge fund now has an ownership stake of nearly 12%.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

The $SPX closed above its 200-day moving average on Friday.

The indices might need consolidation if the market's going to trend higher.

What a week, eh?

Bitcoin had its best week in two years, with the orange coin rallying 22%. Many coins followed suit, with names like Solana gaining a whopping 60% last week.

This move was merely a continuation of the momentum we pointed out at the beginning of last week, with many of our internal breadth metrics moving into bullish conditions.

It's the weekly Gold Rush!

As gold futures approach a significant area of overhead supply, we cover the most important charts in the space.

Check it out...

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Our Top 10 Charts Report was just published.

In this weekly note, we highlight 10 of the most important charts or themes we’re currently seeing in asset classes around the world.

Bitcoin Bounces Back!

Bitcoin has been on an absolute tear, gaining roughly 25% since last week and booking seven consecutive up-days. Not only is price reclaiming its prior cycle highs from 2017, but momentum (as measured by the 14-day RSI) is registering its highest reading in two years. As shown in the table, price has also reclaimed its 200-day moving average, ending the second longest streak on record spent below it over the course of 2022.

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 Ian Culley @IanCulley

The NYSE might be closed today, but futures markets are open.

And while the volume remains low during US trading hours, it hasn’t stopped Gold futures from revisiting a critical level.

Gold currently challenges a price level engrained in goldbugs’ minds worldwide…

The prior commodity supercycle peak!

Check out the chart of Gold futures:

It’s back at the scene of the crime – the 2011 high at approximately 1,924. Those former highs mark the height of the prior commodity supercycle (as far as Gold’s concerned) and the ideal level to have exited long positions. Not many sold the top, of course, reinforcing its psychological significance. 

Twice bulls have managed to push price above that critical level. And twice, those rallies failed to produce sustained uptrends. 

This is a logical level for Gold to pause and digest its recent gains. Especially when we consider gold has risen more than 18% off its November lows. Nevertheless, gold mining stocks are catching a bid.

First, the PHLX Gold Index $XAU reclaimed a crucial shelf of former highs, hinting at a new...

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

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.

Macro Universe:

• This week, our macro universe was positive, with 85% of our list closing higher with a median return of 2.00%.
• Oil $CL was the winner, closing with an 8.26% gain.
• The biggest loser was the Volatility Index $VIX, with a weekly loss of -13.16%.
• There was a 7% gain in the percentage of assets on our list within 5% of their 52-week highs – currently at 11%.
• 74% of our macro list made fresh 4-week highs, and 45% made...

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

The NYSE might be closed today, but futures markets are open.

And while the volume remains low during US trading hours, it hasn’t stopped Gold futures from revisiting a critical level.

Gold currently challenges a price level engrained in goldbugs’ minds worldwide…

The prior commodity supercycle peak!

Check out the chart of Gold futures:

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...

Yesterday we talked about how early the Phlx Gold & Silver Index was in this cycle.

This index of 30 precious metal mining companies was the first of the Gold related stock indexes to break out. This was about a month after Gold Futures confirmed a buy signal for us in early October.

But of the "stock" related indexes, we look to the Phlx Gold & Silver Index as a leader. It certainly acts like one.

And do you know how I know it's not a downtrend?

Look at its components. Each column represents a different moving average ranging from the 5-day...

Back in the late 1800s Charles H. Dow wrote down all of his Tenets about the market in the Wall Street Journal.

These articles ultimately became known as Dow Theory.

One of the basic tenets that many are familiar with is the confirmation of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Dow Jones Transportation Average (which was simply known as the Railroad Average when Charlie was around).

If one of the two indexes is making new highs and the other is rolling over, something is wrong, and the trend is likely changing.

Now, if one of the two indexes is making new lows within an ongoing downtrend, and the other is already putting in higher lows, that bullish divergence is evidence of a change in trend.

In the 4th quarter we saw the Phlx Gold & Silver Index ($XAU) break out above its key level, invalidating any bearish thesis that one could possibly have for Precious Metals.

You see all that resistance in the $XAU in 2013 and 2016, right around $110-113?

Well once we got back above that in November, it was time to start buying Gold & Silver stocks.

But where was the most popular ETF $GDX?

It was still below that overhead supply, as you can see in this chart below.

Until now...

This is the weekly post that aggregates all the charts we put together throughout the week and organizes them all into one, easy to flip through deck.

It's the weekly commodity edition of What the FICC?

As a responsible investor, I refuse to ignore strength. That includes stocks making fresh highs, especially when they're bellwethers!

Check it out!

On Tuesday of this week I was in the city for a few meetings, so I dropped by Fox Business to chat with my old pal Liz Claman.

Her and I have been doing this dance together for over a decade.

She's one of the best in the business and we always have a great time.

Liz knows me well by now so there's no gossiping about the Fed with me.

It was all about explaining how we're already entering Month #8 of this ongoing Bull Market for stocks.

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza and Alfonso Depablos @AlfCharts

Our Hall of Famers list is composed of the 150 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. Click here to check it out.

The Hall of Famers is simple.

We take our list of 150 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.

Here’s this week’s list:

Click table to enlarge view

We filter out any laggards that are down -5% or more relative to the S&P 500 over the trailing month. 

Then...

As a responsible investor, I refuse to ignore strength. That includes stocks making fresh highs. 

Despite what you may have heard from the major cable networks, many stocks aren’t going down. In fact, many fit our definition of "strength."

Out of all the fresh highs coming in, these three bellwethers take the cake…

Freeport-McMoRan

We look at Freeport-McMoRan $FCX as a proxy for Dr. Copper. Both are economic barometers, and both are posting new multi-month highs:

This is a bullish development for global risk assets, including commodities and their related stocks.

As long as FCX trades above 40, our outlook is higher toward 62, with a target of 97 over longer timeframes.  

Newmont Corp.

Here’s the gold mining behemoth, Newmont Corp. $NEM, carving out a decade-long base:

...