From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

Well, it's certainly nice to see some green on the screen!

$SPY made it above 393, and $QQQ was full speed ahead, up over 2%.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

We've got CPI up at bat this morning.

I'm sure we'll see wild swings, so it's hard for me to pick a stock before the data.