The market just had a stress test, and gold passed it.

Now, what's next?

We've been monitoring the strength of the United States dollar, which has added to the selling pressure on gold. 

First, check out how helpful this intermarket relationship has been recently:

So JC just got back from a family trip to Disney and all he can talk about is "what a racket" Disney is.

Everything is overpriced, yet people pay. And they pay happily.

It sounds like a pretty good business -- especially if you're an investor.

Of course, we aren't investors here. But all this talk about Disney has us looking at the chart and we like the setup. 

So we're going to get involved.

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

1. No new positions today.
2. Rolled XLE to February options.
3. No exits since the last report.
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

Don't Fight Papa Dow. That's how I learned it.

And it's not just about the Dow Jones Industrial Average itself. It's the 30 stocks that make up the index that we're even more interested in.

If you get the direction of these 30 stocks right, you'll get the market right.

Don't believe me? Go overlay a chart of the S&P500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average. They're the same.

Tonight is our last LIVE Video Conference Call of the year for Premium Members of Allstarcharts Research.

On tonight's call we're going to walk through each of the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average - one...

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 December 20, 2024. 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...

Today’s most notable insider transaction comes via a Form 4 filing from Control Empresarial de Capitales S.A.

The firm disclosed another increase in its ownership stake in PBF Energy $PBF. They now own 28,814,998 shares, representing more than a 25% interest.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from December 20, 2024:

Adding to the action, Director Arjun Murti disclosed the purchase of 2,500 shares of ConocoPhillips $COP. 

While smaller in scale, these transactions indicate an insider's belief in the value or potential upside of the company.

Despite a rough couple of months for the entire sector, energy names are popping up on our radar a lot lately.

Even Warren Buffett is buying this dip. After a six-month pause, Berkshire Hathaway reported another purchase of Occidental Petroleum $OXY...

I just got back from a week in Disney with a 4yr old and twin 2yr olds. Wow what a workout! 

The experience further reiterated why I'm long $DIS and why I'm going to buy more.

They got some racket going down there in Florida. $12 hot dogs? $15 popcorn? And lines around the corner with people waiting to buy them?

That's some hustle they got. Good for them.

The way I see it, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em right? You can get frustrated by the money suck if you want, or you can be a shareholder and profit right along with them. I chose the latter when I got back from this Disney trip a year ago.

But let me tell you this, the $12 hot dogs and $300 princess dresses are NOT why I'm long the stock. 

It's that the republicans hate it. They don't like how "woke" the company has gotten. 

And since we know that humans have a hard time separating a company and a stock, there is money to be made here by exploiting those who let their politics and "morals" influence their decision making in public markets.

It reminds me a lot of this Summer when we went...

This year's Santa Claus Rally Period starts on Tuesday.

To clear up any confusion, the official period for the annual Santa Claus Rally includes the last 5 trading days of the year and the first 2 of the following year, for a total of 7 days.

Since 1950, the S&P500 has averaged a 1.3% gain during this period. And if you want to take it back further, since 1928 we've seen an average gain of 1.6%. This compares to just a 0.2% gain for any other random 7 day period throughout the rest of the year. 

Every year is slightly different, depending on which days Christmas and New Years fall on the Calendar. 

The last 5 days of 2024 begin this Tuesday December 24th. And the first 2 days of next year include January 2nd and 3rd. So the official 7 day period this year goes from December 24th - January 3rd. 

And while traditionally, this is a much more bullish time of the year, compared to other periods, the bigger concern is if Santa doesn't show up.

The late great Yale Hirsch, who first discovered this phenomenon in 1972 was quite the lyricist, as I've come to learn. His son...

This is the weekly post that aggregates all the charts we put together throughout the week and organizes them all into one, easy to flip through deck.

Did you see how many stocks made new lows this week?

It wasn't many.

When you look at how dramatic people have been about a few stocks selling off a little bit, you would think that an actual correction might be taking place in the market.

But if you thought that humans act logically, then you clearly don't know humans.

Irrational behavior is actually the only thing that the market guarantees. And you saw it again this week.

I mean, you didn't even get an expansion of stocks making new lows!

This was nothing.

All you have to do is go and count. You'll quickly see how the new 52-week lows list is almost non-existent. In fact, you saw fewer new 52-week lows on the NYSE this week than you did in early August.

But if you look even shorter-term, say new 3-month lows, you didn't seen any sort of expansion there either.

Look at the total new 3-month lows among Large-caps, Mid-caps and Small-caps. 

And that's the thing right?

Mathematically, you cannot possibly have a bear market, or a correction of any kind, without the prices of stocks falling.

We know. It's just math.

So if we know that, then...

Mr. Market keeps sending us inflationary signals. Have you noticed?

Last Friday, we talked about cattle futures potentially leading bond yields higher. 

Boy, was that the case this week as bond yields soared on the heels of an FOMC meeting.

We've also talked about a rotation into the energy sector, which has been in the penalty box for most of this bull market.

While this hasn't happened at an index level yet, there have been pockets of strength, like uranium and...

With downside volatility picking up this week, some of you might be wondering if we are on the cusp of a significant market downturn, or is this just another dip that buyers will eventually step into?

It’s worth remembering that every big move starts small, but not every small move turns into something bigger. 

That’s where credit spreads come into play—they act as a reliable barometer of market health, offering insights into investor sentiment and risk appetite.

One effective way to measure them is by analyzing the ratio of the High-Yield Bond ETF $HYG to the Treasury Bond ETF $IEI.

When investors are willing to take on more risk, this ratio typically trends higher. On the other hand, when caution takes over and safety becomes the priority, credit spreads widen, and this ratio declines.

Currently...

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

1. No new positions today.
2. Rolled XOP to February options.
3. No exits since the last report.
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

Our International Hall of Famers list is composed of the 100 largest US-listed international stocks, or ADRs.

We've also sprinkled in some of the largest ADRs from countries that did not make the market cap cut. 

These stocks range from some well-known mega-cap multinationals such as Toyota Motor and Royal Dutch Shell to some large-cap global disruptors such as Sea Ltd and Shopify.

It's got all the big names and more–but only those that are based outside the US. You can find all the largest US stocks on our original Hall of Famers list.

The beauty of these scans is really in their simplicity.

We take the largest names each week and then apply technical filters in a way that the strongest stocks with the most momentum rise to the top.

Based on the market environment, we can also flip the scan on its head and filter for weakness.

Let's dive in and take a look at some of the most important stocks from around the world.

Here's this week's list:

I'm back from a few days away and boy do we have a lot to discuss.

I hope you enjoyed the guest posts over the past week from some of the key members of our team.

It's good that you get to know some of the other guys so you don't think I'm just some crazy guy who looks at a million charts. There's a lot more to it than that, and hopefully that came across this week.

But first thing's first. This is a bull market for stocks and people seem to be running scared. They're freaking out.

Good.

We're going to be discussing all of this and what we're doing about it on Monday during our next LIVE Video Conference Call....

Uncle Warren is back in the buying game.

When Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway start buying, it’s time to sit up and take notice. 

The Oracle of Omaha has returned to the open market with three intriguing purchases. Let’s dive into them.

First up, Occidental Petroleum $OXY. After a six-month hiatus, Buffett is back, snapping up shares. This marks the 29th Form 4 filing for OXY since he began building his position in early 2022. 

Berkshire shelled out $400 million this time, bringing Buffett’s average purchase price to $54.02. 

Here’s a chart highlighting the timing of Buffett’s $OXY purchases:

Next, Sirius XM Holdings $SIRI. Berkshire stepped in with a $107.2 million investment in the satellite radio giant. 

He now owns 117,468,573 shares, equivalent to 34.6% stake.

Here’s...