These are the types of markets that are a statisticians dream come true. They get to run all sorts of scans and tests to see how long it's been since volatility did this or the rate of change in the S&P500 did that. To be honest, it's all a bunch of bullshit. The market doesn't care about your stats.

I'm not going to go over all of them because I don't find them very helpful. In fact, I find them incredibly deceiving and, even worse, distracting. I felt that way on the way up with their stupid, "S&P500 hasn't moved 1% in a single day in x amount of days....". Who gives a damn?

Today is no different.

Let's talk about what actually matters.

2750 in the S&P500 was support in the first half of 2019. We closed the week still below that. We might have a slight bullish momentum divergence, but if S&Ps are below 2750, we put this index in the "No-man's land" category:

We got a lower low in equities, followed by continued weakness rather than stabilization. Heavy cash positions and a defensive posture remains best in this historically volatile environment.

Given how quickly things are moving, there are three charts on our screen that will help identify when a shift in the market is occuring.

Mike Hurley has been an inspiration to me for many years. When it comes to market breadth, this is the guy. He'll tell you he learned it from his predecessors and how he's standing on the shoulders of giants and all those things he discusses in this episode, but for me personally, he's been a great influence for sure. Many of you know how seriously I take my breadth work and how valuable it has been to so many of us for many years. It's people like Mike and others who have helped my process evolve to where it is today.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Thank you to everyone who responded to this week’s Mystery Chart.

We had a few buyers but most of you were selling at this logical level of interest or exercising patience to see how prices react here. A few responses also pointed out that this likely isn't the best time to enter on the long side but are anticipating an eventual breakout and would be buyers if and when we get it.

This is the same camp we'd fall into and we provide details why in the original Mystery Chart post. With that as our backdrop, let's look at the chart.

The market goes through periods of volatility. We've seen it before and we'll see it again. For me, it's all about learning from this experience and coming out of it a better and wiser investor. Notice how you're behaving and acting during this period.

I know the way I'm feeling during this volatility is much different than my emotions and behavior in 2008 and 2011 and 2015 and 2018. I learned. And I will learn from this one as well to prepare me better for the next go around. I encourage you to do the same.

Today I want to talk about how, "Bottom fishing can be hazardous to your wealth". The goal is not to try and catch a falling knife (see here why), but to buy on the way back up.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

We look at a variety of intermarket ratios that span just about every asset class in order to get a read on interest rates. Here is one that we don't discuss too often, but its relationship with the 10-Year Yield is obvious from looking at the chart below.

The S&P High Beta/S&P Low Volatility (SPHB/SPLV) ratio made significant lows around the same time and place as the 10-Year has several times over the past decade.

Last week we outlined our thesis for a lower low in Indian stocks, as well as what it would take for us to get more aggressive on the long side.

After another sharp move lower with dramatic blowups in  Yes Bank and Crude Oil, let's revisit that thesis and discuss why patience remains the best course of action given current conditions.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

In this report, we cover our Coronavirus Custom Index which is comprised of stocks we believe benefit from the coronavirus as well as a playbook to profit from these strong performers. 

To be clear, we didn’t find these stocks looking for coronavirus plays, we found these through our ordinary process of scanning for relative strength. We were simply looking for stocks that have been bucking the trend during the recent selloff. With that said, it was hard to ignore the results when we thought about what these companies do.

Here is our All Star Charts Coronavirus Custom Index making higher highs and higher lows recently while the broader market squanders near bear market territory.

Volatility spiked over the weekend. Here are some thoughts.

This is the big question going through the minds of market participants all over the world right now. What's next? Have we seen the worst of it? Or is this just the eye of the storm?

I remember as a kid I was 10 years old when a huge storm hit Miami. Hurricane Andrew was a massive category 5 storm that was supposed to hit Orlando but in the middle of the night changed directions and decided to make a beeline towards my house. So the eye of the storm actually went over our heads:

Yes Bank is in the news again and following an 83% intraday move to the downside, market participants are wondering what's next?

In this post, we'll outline why this week's move is business as usual for the stock, what we'd do with it now, and why the best trade in Yes Bank may be to avoid it altogether.

The current market environment remains choppy, so we want to revisit a sector that's showing relative strength, Pharma.

In November we pointed to the improving prospects of the Nifty Pharma Index and its components, following up with additional trades in January.

Today, we want to revisit the sector to see what's changed and what stocks we want to be buying and selling.

First, let's start with the Nifty Pharma vs Nifty 500 ratio chart that continues to turn higher after meeting our downside objective late last year. This continues to suggest further outperformance from the Nifty Pharma sector relative to the broader market.

Click on chart to enlarge view.