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

Ever since the 2-year yield bottomed in Q1 of 2021 Technology stocks have struggled. Growth became the worst place to be.

It was NOT a coincidence that once those rates started to rise in early 2021, the Nasdaq New Highs list peaked, the Nasdaq Advance-Decline line peaked, all the ARK Funds peaked, Chinese internet peaked, Biotech peaked and everyone piled had into SPACs before they all came crashing down.

Because the 2-year yield was rising so fast, and the longer end of the curve couldn't keep up, we got the mother of all yield curve inversions.

The media loves to scare people with it because I think an inverted yield curve has predicted something like 50 of the last 8 recessions.

But now it's bon voyage yield curve inversion. Good riddance!

We're seeing the largest 5-day rate of change in the yield curve since the early 1980s:

The largest insider buy on today’s list comes in a Form 4 filing by Alphabet Inc, which revealed a purchase of $18.9 million in GitLab Inc $GTLB.

And executives from some of the most battered banks continue to file Form 4s.

Here’s yesterday’s list:

• ServisFirst Bancshares $SFBS.
• Bankwell Financial Group $BWFG.
• Cullen/Frost Bankers $CFR.
• MVB Financial Corp $MVBF.
• Hope Bancorp $HOPE.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

Futures were all over the place in the middle of the night.

Lets see if the market can gain some footing and continue higher.

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 during their journey...

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

This morning it looked like we were heading into the abyss.

Then came a decent bounce, led by tech stocks.

All things considered, the tech sector is holding up well. This gives me some comfort that this is an area we can sell some delta-neutral options premium to ride out this market volatility.

But we're going to do so carefully, defining our risks and playing it conservatively.

Check out this chart of the Technology Sector ETF $XLK:

The horizontal lines on this chart represent areas we can sell April options premium at that feel far enough away for me to like our odds.

We're going to get involved with an Iron Condor.

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

As market volatility spreads to financial sectors around the globe, CEOs, CFOs, and directors of numerous US banks continue to buy stock in a big way.

Here are yesterday’s Form 4s:

• Coastal Financial Corporation $CCB.
• Fifth Third Bancorp $FITB.
• Lakeland Financial Corporation $LKFN.
• Byline Bancorp $BY.
• Brookline Bancorp $BRKL.
• Cullen/Frost Bankers $CFR.
• FB Financial Corporation $FBK.
• Customers Bancorp $CUBI.

However, the most notable insider activity from yesterday wasn’t a regional bank.

It was the largest brokerage in the US.

These are the registration details for our Live Mid-month Conference Call for Premium Members of All Star Charts.

Our Live Call will be held on Monday March 20th at 6PM ET. As always, if you cannot make the call live, the video and slides will be archived and published here along with every other live call since 2015.

Here are the details for Monday night:

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

Well, they don't call it Schlump Day for nothing.

The market is getting hit this morning, as the bank mess could be spilling over to other sector.

Today, I'm watching to see how $SPY holds on to the 384 level. If not, we can head back down to 380.

This is the video recording of the March 15, 2023, Inside Scoop Weekly Strategy Session.

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

Fear runs rampant across financial markets as the US Dollar Index $DXY prints fresh one-month lows.

Wait… what?

I thought the USD was a safe haven.

Perhaps it is. But it appears the gig is up for King Dollar after being the only game in town for almost a year.

So what now, buy stocks?

Sounds good to me.

And I think we can start buying other global currencies too…

Check out the EUR/USD pair:

The euro is swinging back toward our risk level of 1.08 after failing to hold its breakout earlier this year.

It’s pretty straightforward. If and when it reclaims our breakout level, we’re long targeting 1.1450.

Remember, last month, the 1.08 level was our line in the sand. Below there, a USD rally had potential.

On the flip side, if the euro trades above that level, dollar bulls will have a tough time and risk assets will likely enjoy a significant tailwind...

People love the idea of entering options trades with a high probability of success. It’s easy to be seduced by the prospect of winning on 60, 70, or even 80 percent of our trades.

It doesn’t take much imagination to enjoy visions of swimming in all the cash we’d surely be earning with such a strategy. And why not? With that kind of win rate, we’ll often go on runs where we win on multiple trades in a row.

Talk about a confidence builder!

Of course, there is no free lunch on Wall Street. And in strategies with a high probability of success, there is a dark underside that people conveniently like to ignore.

This type of discussion quickly makes us unpopular at cocktail parties. So we avoid it. Many know, but most are unwilling to talk about it.

The trading action in...

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

The $SPX rallied right to its 200-moving average, and it was rejected.

We bounced in the morning due to CPI, which was bullish for the market. Unfortunately the market is worried about other things.

Banks are really stinking up the joint.

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

They say to buy when there's blood in the streets.

Does this count?

Hardly.

Many indexes around the world are just a few basis points from new highs. Most stocks in America have been rallying for 9 months.

But sure, there's a little blood, with some of these small regional banks disappearing. But depositors are keeping their money, so the only cost is a few people lost their jobs.

Good. Unemployment is way too low anyway.

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

The regional banking panic that began last week has caused a drastic repricing of financial stocks. 

As selling pressure accelerates for a variety of vulnerable banks, executives are coming out and buying shares in an effort to shore up the volatility and put a vote of confidence in their stock.