As a responsible investor, I refuse to ignore strength. That includes stocks making fresh highs. 

Despite what you may have heard from the major cable networks, many stocks aren’t going down. In fact, many fit our definition of "strength."

Out of all the fresh highs coming in, these three bellwethers take the cake…

Freeport-McMoRan

We look at Freeport-McMoRan $FCX as a proxy for Dr. Copper. Both are economic barometers, and both are posting new multi-month highs:

This is a bullish development for global risk assets, including commodities and their related stocks.

As long as FCX trades above 40, our outlook is higher toward 62, with a target of 97 over longer timeframes.  

Newmont Corp.

It seems like everyone is making money in the market these days.

US Stock market investors are crushing it.

Investors in foreign stocks are doing even better!

Heck, even the Gold bugs are getting paid.

I mean, who isn't?

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

Our next Live Call will be held on Tuesday January 17th 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 Tuesday night:

It's the weekly bond edition of What the FICC?

Credit spreads around the world are sending a clear message: "Relax."

Check it out!

From the Desk of Ian Culley

If bond markets aren’t stressing, why should we be?

They’re the largest markets in the world. That’s why we constantly monitor credit spreads for signs of structural weakness and elevated risk.

But, as of now, we’re not seeing the slightest hint of impending catastrophe.

Despite the doom-and-gloom headlines popping up in your inbox and financial media talking heads spinning an imminent recession…

Credit spreads around the world are sending a clear message: "Relax."

Check out the overlay chart of option-adjusted high-yield credit spreads:

In a recent note, I shared performance stats for our All Star Options Paid-to-Play portfolio, and in the time since, I’ve fielded numerous emails/DMs that all ask basically the same question:

How did you earn money in such a challenging market environment and do so with far lower volatility than the indexes?

Rather than responding individually, I thought it would be better for everyone if I just shared my thoughts here. After all, we can all benefit from good ideas, yeah?

I’ll try not to get us lost in the weeds with the mundane tactical maneuvers employed each trading day. Instead, I’ll stick to the high-level concepts which guide my thinking.

From the Desk of Louis Sykes

Every child loves a bedtime story.

These stories allow their mind to wander from busy thoughts into an adventure. It provides a comforting reality and a narrative they can consciously control.

Comically, in this sense, children and investors are more similar than we let on.

It's just that one obtains comfort from an adventurous tale while the other derives solace in news headlines.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this is bad or wrong. I'm just noting its existence.

The vast majority of investors need to understand why a stock is moving rather than solely following technicals and money flow.

I totally get it.

A question that keeps coming up to me is why Consumer Staples and Low Volatility stocks are outperforming.

These are normally the types of things you see when stocks in general are under pressure.

This is the kind of rotation you get in bear markets.

But the back half of 2022 was good for stocks. The 4th quarter was great.

Most stocks have been ripping for almost 7 months now. This is NOT the type of environment where Staples and Low Volatility stocks tend to outperform.

And while they might be making new multi-year highs relative to the S&P500, it's pretty easy to outperform an index with so much exposure to growth stocks. So can we even call that 'outperformance'?

It's the weekly currency edition of What the FICC?

Is the dollar going to finally bounce?

I have no idea, but the euro will likely answer that question in the coming days.

Check it out!

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 The Hall of Famers, The 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 regular basis.

Welcome to the Short Report.

With the NFL Playoffs getting underway this weekend (Go Bills!), it's time we put the offense on the field!

I was kicking around a bullish idea in a consumer staples name during our Analyst meeting today. The chart looks great. The setup is good. We can position for a nice potential reward versus the risk we'd incur to put the trade on. Everyone agreed that its probably a good trade.

But... is it aggressive enough?

Answer: No, it's not.

The thinking that emerged from our chat was that risk is back on in the stock market; therefore, we need to get into the most reasonably aggressive names we can. And one of the areas where risk is most definitely "on" is in the homebuilders sector.

If all we did was watch the evening news or listen to the inflation and interest rate scaremongers, we'd reasonably conclude that a long-term and painful bear market for real estate and housing in particular is a slam dunk. No contest.

If a severe real estate bear market was in the cards, would we be seeing homebuilders ripping of their recent lows the way we have over the past couple of months?

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

Is the dollar going to finally bounce?

As I pointed out last week, if there was ever a place or time – it's’ now! But that doesn’t mean it’ll happen…. 

One thing is certain: The markets don’t care what I think. This includes the US dollar.

But when I look at a chart of the EUR/USD, the largest component of the US Dollar Index $DXY, it’s running into a logical level of resistance.

How the euro reacts to current levels will set the tone for the dollar in the coming weeks and months.

Check out the daily chart of the EUR/USD: