In today’s Daily Digest, we’ll review the following:

1. New position in XLE.
2. No adjustments are needed today.
3. Exited IGV at profit target.
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Welcome to The 2 to 100 Club.

In this scan, we look to identify the strongest growth stocks as they climb the market-cap ladder from small- to mid- to large- and, ultimately, to mega cap status (over $200B).

Once they graduate from small-cap to mid-cap status (over $2B), they come on our radar. Likewise, when they surpass the roughly $30B mark, they roll off our list.

But the scan doesn't just end there.

We only want to look at the strongest growth industries in the market, as that is typically where these potential 50-baggers come from.

Some of the best performers in recent decades – stocks like Priceline, Amazon, Netflix, Salesforce, and myriad others – would have been on this list at some point during their journey to becoming the market behemoths they are today.

When you look at the stocks in our table, you'll notice we're only focused on Technology and Growth industry groups such as Software, Semiconductors, Online...

ARK Investment Management is making waves with its latest move.

In a recent 13G filing, Cathie Wood and her team increased their stake in CRISPR Therapeutics AG $CRSP from 8.78% to 10.69%.

This move makes CRSP the fifth largest holding in ARK’s portfolio, highlighting their strong belief in the company and its groundbreaking work in gene editing.

Every time ARK Investment Management makes a move, it’s worth paying attention – and their latest activity is no exception.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from December 10, 2024:

Adding to the activity, GIC Private Ltd., Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, disclosed an initial 5.66% stake in Paymentus Holdings $PAY in a schedule 13G.

Last but not least, we witnessed insider activity in PBF Energy $PBF, Matador Resources Company $MTDR and Biglari Holdings Inc $BH.

Today's number is... 1

We have now experienced seven consecutive days with more S&P 500 stocks declining than advancing. Are we finally going to see an expansion in the new lows list?

The short answer is yes… 

We are beginning to see the 1-month new lows list expanding.

But should we be concerned?

Here's the data:

(right-click and open image in new tab to zoom in)

The Takeaway: The key point is that you cannot have a bear market of any kind without the prices of stocks falling. 

However, the recent spike in the one-month new lows does not raise any significant red flags at this time, as it is no different from similar pullbacks over the past 2 years and not what a significant market top environment would look like.

Until I observe a more serious deterioration in market internals with the list of new lows expanding into longer timeframes, I have no reason to believe we are entering a bear market.

However, a short-term pullback at this point wouldn’t be surprising at all.

On average, each year tends to have 3 to...

Our China trades are working great so far.

And I still think this is just the beginning of a major new trend. 

All those Breakout Multiplier trades that I told you we put on just 10 days ago have all at least doubled so far. 

Yes. That's over 100% return on each of the China trades they told us we were crazy for putting on.

But it gets better. Wait until I tell you about our new FANGhai Composite Index.

Yes you read right. The FANGhai Composite.

Let me set the stage for you, to help you understand the...

Did you know there is a Chinese equivalent for all the top tech companies in the United States? 

They do not import our technologies like most countries. They ban them. Then, they copy and recreate them with new names. 

I love this clip from Silicon Valley, an old HBO show that poked fun at this. It was spot-on about a lot of things.

For purposes of this discussion, I ask you to forget any of your feelings on intellectual property theft and the general geopolitical concerns about Chinese technology. This has nothing to do with any of that.

This post is about making money on an emerging area of the international equities market.

There is a brand new bull market shaping up over in China. This is one of the largest and fastest-growing economies in the world. It is also home to some of the most innovative technology companies outside of America.

Interestingly enough, many of these Chinese tech leaders are also massive. They dominate the Chinese stock market, much like the Magnificent Seven dominates...

December has a magic of its own, doesn't it? Whether it's the holidays, New Year's Eve celebrations, or the irresistible spread of good food, there's something special about this time of year.

It’s a season filled with activity and reflection—and not just in our personal lives.

The stock market also tends to sparkle in December. Historically, this month has been a strong one for equities.

Since 1950, the average cumulative December performance of the S&P 500 paints a picture of steady gains—but the real fireworks usually happen toward the end of the month.

This phenomenon is referred to as the “Santa Claus rally.”

Starting the last five days of the year and extending into the first two days of January, this rally has a reputation for delivering outsized returns.

It's like the market decides to gift investors a little extra trading gains.

Listen, everyone struggles.

Your struggles are most certainly different than mine. It follows that they are different from your neighbors, work colleagues, friends, and even family members.

They may be better or worse. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that you have struggles, they are yours, and to varying degrees, these struggles affect your mental health and put you at risk of entering a self-fulfilling spiral that you can't escape from until you've lost everything.

I believe traders and finance professionals don't talk enough about their struggles. I know I personally do not.

There is a pervasive, institutionalized, and incentivized culture in our industry to project calm and confidence at all cost.

Everything is great! We're making a ton of money! Nobody is better than us! Let us manage your money for you!

I'm calling bullshit on that because the costs are greater than we can imagine.

The sooner we talk about it, the better we can tackle problems with effective solutions, and the likelier we are to achieve desirable results.

If any of this resonates with you, I encourage you to...

In today’s Daily Digest, we’ll review the following:

1. New position in GLD.
2. No adjustments are needed today.
3. No exits since the last report.
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

We're back this morning LIVE on Stock Market TV with The Best Morning Show in Finance. 

Today's guest is legend Todd Sohn, who is always a fan favorite. If you don't know Todd, he is the ETF & Technical Strategist at Strategas Securities.

You never want to miss one of his appearances. Our chat goes nuts every time he's on.

...

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. 

Thilo Schroeder, director of Revolution Medicines $RVMD and managing member of Nextech Invest, made waves with a $60 million insider buy, acquiring 1.3 million shares.

Nextech, known for investing in cutting-edge life sciences companies, often backs transformative players in oncology. 

Schroeder's move underscores his confidence in RVMD’s potential.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from December 9, 2024:

Kevin Tang, President of Tang Capital Management, filed a Form 4 revealing a $10,822,000 purchase in Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc $AUPH.

Last but not least, the CEOs of MSCI Inc $MSCI and Biglari Holdings Inc $BH both filed Form 4s, revealing purchases of their own stock.

Today's number is... 6

We have now experienced 6 consecutive days with more S&P 500 stocks declining than advancing. This matches the previous streak of negative breadth observed over the past seven years.

Should we be concerned about this?

Here’s the chart:

(right-click and open image in new tab to zoom in)

Let's break down what the chart shows:

• The blue line in the top panel shows the price of the S&P 500 index.
• The black line at the bottom represents the consecutive days the S&P 500 had more decliners than advancers.

The Takeaway: When we dig into the data, we can see that during the past 6 trading days, several large stocks increased in size while many smaller stocks decreased. This shift in market participation doesn't mean the market is now going to fall.

It suggests a rotation back into stocks that have recently underperformed, particularly large-cap growth companies.

The top 10 stocks by market cap have an average return of 4.9% since last Monday...

Below is the 9th ASC Mastermind  Course. In this video, I discuss my process for finding the best small-caps. 

If you don't pay attention to small-caps, you should start. 

At All Star Charts, we look at small-caps for two reasons: they give us valuable information about the market, and they give us many trade ideas. 

Small-caps might have a reputation for underperforming large-caps at the index level (at least, for most of the last 15 years), but at the individual stock level, this is where the biggest winners are often found. After all, every large-cap stock was once a small-cap. 

The challenge in trading small-caps however, is that there's so many of them. So we've come up with a number of scans specifically designed to help us identify the small-caps in the best position to pop. Here's how we do it. 

Enjoy.

Chinese equities have been undergoing meaningful changes beneath the surface since they posted their best week ever back in October.

A new uptrend appears to be taking shape for these stocks.

Looking at the bigger picture, when we compare Chinese stocks to their U.S. counterparts, the relative trend sits at a critical support level.

Take a look at the Shanghai Composite $SSEC versus the S&P 500 $SPX over the last three decades:

This ratio is at a critical inflection point, suggesting a trend reversal and outperformance from Chinese stocks could be on the cusp of beginning.

I can't think of a more logical place for this to happen than here.

Several months ago, we discussed the blowout momentum readings for the junior gold and silver miners.

These momentum thrusts often initiate the beginning of significant trend reversals, not the end.

Since then, the price action has been lackluster. However, our technical analysis suggests that the bulls are on the cusp of stepping in and resuming the primary uptrend.

Let's delve into the charts and how we plan to profit from them.

Silver Miners $SIL are printing fresh 52-week highs relative to silver futures:

We're coming up on expiration for a play in a Canadian Bank ($CM) that has treated us very well since the summer.

And now a new Canadian Bank is displaying signs of a fresh multi-year breakout. We're going to keep this Canada party rolling with today's new trade.