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. 

Clearly, we spend a lot of time identifying and writing about leading stocks every week, via multiple reports.

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

1. New position in XLI.
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!

Every year, without exception, there's always a new headline, a fresh "fear," or just another reason to sell.

Whether it's a new geopolitical tension, economic concerns, or the latest updates on DeepSeek and tariffs, there's always something that seems to provide something to “worry about.”

But here’s the truth. Investors have dealt with headlines like these for decades. It’s nothing new.

Our friend Ryan Detrick put together a great chart that perfectly illustrates this point.

If you get too caught up in the noise, it’s easy to fall into panic and lose sight of the bigger picture.

After all, the market is a discounting mechanism and is likely ahead of any headline.

The key is to block out the distractions and stick with your plan. Risk management, discipline and your rules.

Today's most significant insider transaction comes straight from a Form 4 filing by none other than Warren Buffett.

Uncle Warren just scooped up 2,308,119 shares of Sirius XM Holdings $SIRI—a $54 million bet—pushing Berkshire Hathaway’s stake to 35.35%.

When Buffett adds, it’s worth paying attention.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from February 3, 2025:

Meanwhile, hedge funds are making moves in biotech:

• RA Capital Management disclosed a $50 million purchase in 89bio $ETNB. This is a fund known for backing early-stage biotech names before big breakouts. Their track record includes early stakes in Moderna in 2015.
• Paradigm Biocapital Advisors just filed a 13G for Edgewise Therapeutics $EWTX, reporting a 5.00% stake.

Another insider transaction to hit the tape was from Platinum Equity LLC.

A Form 4 filing reveals a $32.5 million purchase...

IDEXX Laboratories $IDXX just rocketed higher after its earnings report, and here's why.

The company is releasing two new products that have the potential to revolutionize the veterinary industry: a cellular analyzer and a cancer detection panel.

The market has high hopes for these products and is beginning to price them into the stock.

But that's not it.

*click the image to enlarge it

The stock also beat its top and bottom-line results this quarter and rallied over 11% with a reaction score of 7.

It was a fantastic report all around.

We tend to see these massive initiation thrusts before the beginning of brand-new primary uptrends.

It's something we talk about all the time at The Beat Report.

In addition to the thrusty momentum, the chart has also shaped up beautifully.

As you can see, the stock had a historic uptrend from 2016 to 2021 and has carved out a textbook wedge in...

Large Cap Growth $IWF remains on the top of the rankings for U.S. indices.

Right beneath it are growth-adjacent ETFs, like the Nasdaq 100 $QQQ, Mega Caps $MGC, and the S&P 500 $SPY.

The high level trend is growth over value, for now.

IWF is consolidating constructively in the context of a long-term uptrend.

This dip was the biggest liquidation since Bitcoin’s inception. Bigger than the Covid, FTX, and Terra selloffs. Is it time to buy?

Watch the replay of our crypto analyst, Louis Sykes, to get the real story. 

People are scared.

They're getting margin called.

Exchanges forced them out of their positions because they were so recklessly long.

In fact, the crypto market saw over $2B in liquidations these last few days.

Nine times out of ten, these are tremendous periods of opportunity because shortly after the market finds a bottom.

I went live yesterday to discuss what's happened to cause this volatility and more importantly what we're doing about it to take advantage and make money.

You can watch that replay by clicking here.

Today's number is... 2

February, the 2nd month of the year, usually sees stocks perform well in the first half but often declines in the latter half of the month.

Here’s the chart:

Let's break down what the chart shows:

This blue line represents the average return for February since 1950 for the S&P 500.

The Takeaway: February, on average, usually starts off positive, but the S&P 500 tends to decline shortly after Valentine's Day. On average, the month finishes relatively flat, with only 48% of days experiencing positive daily gains. 

February is regarded as the second worst month of the year in terms of seasonality. Over the past decade, only 50% of February's have ended on a positive note. When we look at a longer time frame, the trend doesn't improve much; in the last two decades, just 60% of Februarys have finished with overall gains.

This type of choppy market action aligns well with other cycles we track. Typically, ...

Last week, we discussed gold closing at its highest price in years relative to the broader commodities complex.

We don't anticipate this will change anytime soon. 

We think the breadth of the precious metals market is about to change. So far, gold and silver have been the only ones to participate.

But what about platinum and palladium? Will they ever catch up?

We think the answer to that question is a resounding yes, and here's why.

Regardless of the market environment, a company like Visa will keep printing money. 

Considering the vast majority of purchases involve credit cards these days and Visa is a dominant player in the space, Visa takes a small cut every time you swipe or tap your card. Good business to be in!

And the chart of $V backs this up.

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

1. New position in IGV.
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!

Director Elizabeth Davis just put nearly $200,000 on the line for 10,725 shares of Comstock Resources $CRK, a bold bet on the energy space.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from January 31, 2025:

Meanwhile, over in the financial sector, Timothy Hunter of Northwest Bancshares $NWBI scooped up 10,000 shares, signaling confidence in the regional banking sector.

Futures are down this morning, but barely.

Bonds have been flat for most of the overnight session. So has Gold.

If this was real volatility, you would actually see the volatility. Currently, we are not.

I've spent the weekend preparing for tonight's LIVE Monthly Charts Strategy Session.

I've analyzed thousands of companies, indexes and intermarket relationships all over the world.

Here's the conclusion.

Wait for it....

This is a bull market.

And Tariffs or no Tariffs, as investors, I believe that it's still business as usual as long as these uptrends remain in place.

For the S&P500, we're looking at about 5600, or 560 in the $SPY. If we're above that, then the series of higher lows and higher highs is still intact.

For the Nasdaq100 $QQQ that level is right at 500.

For the Dow Jones...

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza.

Welcome back to Under the Hood, where we'll cover all the action for the two weeks ended January 3, 2025. This report is published bi-weekly, in rotation with The Minor Leaguers.

What we do here is analyze the most popular stocks during the week and find opportunities to either join in and ride these momentum names higher, or fade the crowd and bet against them.

We use a variety of sources to generate the list of most popular names.

There are so many new data sources available that all we need to do is organize and curate them in a way that shows us exactly what we want: a list of stocks that are seeing an unusual increase in investor interest.

Click here for a behind-the-scenes look at our process.

Whether we’re measuring increasing interest based on large institutional purchases, unusual options activity, or simply our proprietary lists of trending tickers, there’s...

We’re noticing an increasing number of international markets showing relative strength.

This includes familiar standouts like China, Argentina, and Israel, as well as newer additions like Colombia, Chile, and Italy.

It's especially surprising to see many Latin American country ETFs gaining strength recently, with Colombia rising nearly to the top of the power rankings.

When we take a step back, this makes sense, as the iShares Latin America 40 ETF ($ILF) recently found support at the lower end of its long-term range.
 

However, the region still faces significant challenges, with Brazil and Mexico making up 85% of the ETF.

Interestingly, it's the countries that don't dominate this index—like Colombia, Chile, and others—that are showing the strongest performance.

Today's number is... 2.70%

The January Barometer (January's percentage change for the S&P 500) for 2025 showed a positive return of 2.70%.

Here’s the data table:

Let's break down what the table shows:

The first column lists the years the S&P 500 experienced a positive gain. The second column indicates the percentage change for January. The third column represents the percentage change from February to December. The fourth column shows the overall full-year return. At the bottom is a statistical table for each of these columns.

The Takeaway: The saying goes, "As January goes, so goes the rest of the Year."

The January Barometer is a seasonality tool that suggests that January's returns may predict the rest of the year's performance.

This seasonal analysis tool was initially introduced by Stock Trader's Almanac.

Let's...