From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

I’m avoiding the US dollar and interest rate chopfest.

That includes interest rate-sensitive commodities like crude, copper, and gold.

So, let’s check in with a commodity group that walks to the beat of its own drum…

The New York City Softs: Cocoa, Coffee, Cotton, and Sugar.

First up, Cocoa. 

The recent stock market rally is being led by the mega caps. And there's no reason to think this isn't going to continue for the foreseeable future.

I'm currently under-allocated to the biggest capped names. So today's trade is an attempt to rectify that.

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

1. No new positions.
2. Adjustment to XLK position.
3. No exits since the last report.
4. Current status of open campaigns.

Let’s dig in!

From the Desk of Steve Strazza and Alfonso Depablos

The most significant insider buy on today’s list comes via a Form 4 filing by the founder and CEO of Nerdy Inc $NRDY, Chuck Cohn.

Cohn reported a purchase of 569,976 NRDY shares, equivalent to $957,559.

In 2019 Tesla was worth a tiny $30 Billion.

By 2021 Tesla was approaching a market cap of $1.3 Trillion.

The job of a CEO is to increase shareholder value.

Period.

No CEO in history made shareholders more money faster than Elon Musk.

It's just math.

From the Desk of Steve Strazza and Alfonso Depablos

The most significant insider buy on today’s list comes via a Form 4 filing by the founder and CEO of Nerdy Inc $NRDY, Chuck Cohn.

Cohn reported a purchase of 569,976 NRDY shares, equivalent to $957,559.

Bitcoin looks set to end the week down as large-cap growth is driving up the U.S. equity indices. There's a substantial divergence taking place, and I'm betting that Bitcoin catches higher; I just need to see this manifest with a breakout above 73,000.

I keep reiterating the strength in Bitcoin mining stocks. While the short-term trends look set to consolidate in the coming weeks, they have become a favorable sector to craft a more longer-term bullish thesis in the crypto markets.

Here's this week's crypto roundup. It's an opportunity for us to take a step back, set aside the distractions, and delve into the key charts shaping the crypto complex.

The Bull Market is back, baby!

At least, it sure looks that way at the index level as the biggest of the big caps begin new legs higher.

Though, curiously, the two short positions I have on are also showing signs of working out for us.

With $VIX readings continuing to remain low, most bullish bets I’m looking at involve buying options premium since it is quite affordable in this environment.

In this week’s portfolio review, I fielded an important question: “What’s an appropriate account size for trading options?”

Of course, there is no one-size-fits-all for options accounts. But I get into a number of considerations to mull over to determine what is the right size for you.

Check it out:

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

The Nasdaq is ripping to new all-time highs. NVIDIA’s market cap is surpassing the three-trillion-dollar mark. And US T-bonds are registering another buy signal. 

But the market’s still a mess. 

Just look at yesterday’s intraday reversal—a bullish reaction to inflation data in the morning, followed by a bearish reaction to the FOMC meeting in the afternoon. Investors are still trying to make sense of the mid-week hoopla.

Friday’s close (the most important data point of the week) will reveal critical information regarding market conviction heading into the weekend.

Meanwhile, you can track high-yield bonds for risk-on confirmation.

Check out the HY Bond ETF $HYG overlaid with the high beta-versus-low volatility ratio (using the $SPHB and $SPLV ETFs):

These two charts are carbon copies over the trailing 52 weeks because HYG is a risk asset...

No one has better information about SoFi Technologies $SOFI than its CEO, Anthony Noto.

As chief executive officer, Noto is more than just the leader of SOFI. With almost 7 million shares, he’s also one of their largest individual shareholders.

His stake is worth roughly $48 million based on today’s price.

Between March 2022 and May 2024, Noto filed 22 Form 4s with the SEC, reporting purchases of SOFI shares totaling $10,452,876.

All of these purchases were made on the open market. None were planned or related to stock compensation.

In other words, Noto was buying stock because he thought the share price would rise. It’s really that simple.

Before joining SoFi, he held prominent roles as chief financial officer and chief operating officer at Twitter.

He was also a partner at Goldman Sachs and was the CFO of the National Football League.

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

1. No new positions.
2. Adjustment to QQQ position.
3. No exits since the last report.
4. Current status of open campaigns.

Let’s dig in!

From the Desk of Steve Strazza and Alfonso Depablos

Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, and Occidental Petroleum $OXY take the spotlight again today.

Buffett and Berkshire continue to accumulate shares of OXY, this time disclosing a purchase worth roughly $105 million.

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.

Now, we're also highlighting lagging stocks on a recurring basis.

Welcome to the Short Report.

We...

From the Desk of Steve Strazza and Alfonso Depablos

Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway, and Occidental Petroleum $OXY take the spotlight again today.

Buffett and Berkshire continue to accumulate shares of OXY, this time disclosing a purchase worth roughly $105 million.

This is the video recording of the June 12, 2024, Hot Corner Insider Weekly Strategy Session.