Let me remind everyone what a bad idea it is to sell naked calls.

We don't do it.

I often want to do it.

Many times, it makes sense to do it.

But the answer is always no.

It's just not worth it.

Go ask around. The old timers will tell you.

"Don't do it kid"

But that doesn't mean that as a philosophy, we shouldn't approach the market with that sort of "naked call selling" mentality, at least for the foreseeable future.

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Welcome to The 2 to 100 Club.

As many of you know, something we've been working on internally is using various bottom-up tools and scans to complement our top-down approach.

It's really been working for us!

One way we're doing this is by identifying 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...

This is the video recording of the January 31, 2024, Hot Corner Insider Weekly Strategy Session.

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

No Santa Claus rally, no worries.

So Santa was a no-show this season. The Nasdaq 100, the S&P 500, and Papa Dow are still managing to post positive monthly returns heading into January’s close.

That's an auspicious data point for the rest of the year.

Beneath the surface, last quarter’s laggards are also playing catch up to the leadership groups…

This is a bonus, second trade idea for today that came out of our internal conference call this morning and dovetails nicely with this note that JC just published.

We're getting short Lululemon, $LULU due to what appears to be a failed breakout:

I really like the risk vs reward from the short side here.

The divergences and rotation into defensives are finally there.

The Dollar has been strong throughout all of January.

That was the first heads up.

The new highs list peaked in mid-December on both the NYSE and Nasdaq.

So you can argue that we've been in a correction already, and that's it's just about to get worse.

And then here's what really did it for me.

It's the rotation into defensives that is the make or break for this bearish approach to the market:

It doesn't happen very often that a bearish setup presents an opportunity for us to position with a simple long puts purchase. Usually, when we want to buy puts, the whole world is on to the idea and the premiums in the options market reflect that.

But today, we've got a situation where a stock is flirting with breaking a key support level, and the options market is pricing in a smaller move than our research suggests is possible.

In today's Daily Digest, we'll review:

1. No new positions today.
2. Adjustment to TLT position.
3. No exits today.
4. Current status of open campaigns.

Let's dig in!

From the Desk of Steve Strazza and Alfonso Depablos

The largest insider buy on today’s list comes in a series of Form 4 filings by Gilead Sciences.

The American biopharmaceutical company revealed a purchase of roughly $320 million in Arcus Biosciences Inc $RCUS, increasing its ownership stake to 40%.

From the Desk of Steve Strazza and Alfonso Depablos

The largest insider buy on today’s list comes in a series of Form 4 filings by GSK plc.

The British multinational pharmaceutical company reported a purchase of $16.5 million in Wave Life Sciences Ltd $WVE.

When you wake up knowing that you have a fresh batch of Monthly Candlesticks waiting for you at the end of the day, it's a great feeling.

Enjoy it.

But I believe it also helps to be grateful.

I think you have to be.

Just think about all of the less fortunate investors around the world who don't get to appreciate such a feeling.

In some cases, it's just because they're lazy and don't feel like doing the work. It does take all of 15 minutes.

But in most cases, they don't even know.

They have no idea how much information and perspective their losing out on.

It's a great arbitrage that I'm happy to celebrate with all of you every month.

This is the cheat code!

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

The entire marketplace is fixated on tomorrow’s FOMC meeting.

Will the Fed make its first rate cut in March, or will it be in June?

Who knows.

I enjoy speculating as much as the next guy, but I’m not into guessing on next moves by central bankers.

I prefer to track another market participant with a Ph.D. in economics, Dr. Copper.

And we can’t discuss copper without including the Australian dollar!

Check out the Australian dollar overlaid with copper futures:

They look almost identical.

I added a 10-day rolling correlation study in the lower pane, highlighting the tight relationship over shorter time frames.

An increased bid for copper would support the current stock market rally, giving the global economy a clean bill of health. 

Dr. Copper will likely resolve in the same direction as the aussie heading into Friday’s close.

If it doesn't, the above chart suggests...

From the Desk of Steve Strazza and Alfonso Depablos

The largest insider buy on today’s list comes in a series of Form 4 filings by GSK plc.

The British multinational pharmaceutical company reported a purchase of $16.5 million in Wave Life Sciences Ltd $WVE.

In today's Daily Digest, we'll review:

1. New position in XBI.
2. There are no adjustments today.
3. Exit in XRT.
4. Current status of open campaigns.

Let's dig in!

From the Desk of Steve Strazza and Alfonso Depablos

Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment Management is on our list today, as it just filed multiple 13G filings on the following stocks:

• Teladoc Health, Inc $TDOC, increasing its ownership stake from 11.43% to 12.82%;
• Intellia Therapeutics, Inc $NTLA, increasing its ownership stake from 10.52% to 12.74%;
• Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Inc $RXRX, initiating a 9.92% stake;
• Verve Therapeutics, Inc $VERV, increasing its ownership stake from 5.43% to 8.84%;
• Ginkgo Bioworks Holdings, Inc $DNA, increasing its ownership stake from 8.92% to 12.26%; and
• Twist Bioscience Corp $TWST, increasing its ownership stake from 11.60% to 12.51%.

I understand that some people are lazy and don't like to count.

I get that.

Also, journalists are NOT in the business of telling you the truth. The truth is just a commodity at this point, and that's no longer a secret. Word's gotten out. So it's either gross sensationalism or false information to get you to consume their content.

And then, of course, you have your standard charlatans who need to cherry pick data and manipulate anchor points so that they don't look as foolish for missing this entire bull market.

So what ends up happening is that if you're told something enough times, and you haven't actually done the work, you start to believe it.

"It's only Tech stocks that are driving this market"

Sound familiar?

But for those of you who actually take the time to look, you know it obviously isn't true.