From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Check out this week's Momentum Report, our weekly summation of all the major indexes at a Macro, International, Sector, and Industry Group level.

By analyzing the short-term data in these reports, we get a more tactical view of the current state of markets. This information then helps us put near-term developments into the big picture context and provides insights regarding the structural trends at play.

Let's jump right into it with some of the major takeaways from this week's report:

* ASC Plus Members can access the Momentum Report by clicking the link at the bottom of this post.

Macro Universe:

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Dividend Aristocrats are easily some of the most desirable investments on Wall Street. These are the names that have increased dividends for at least 25 years, providing steadily increasing income to long-term-minded shareholders.

As you can imagine, the companies making up this prestigious list are some of the most recognizable brands in the world. Coca-Cola, Walmart, and Johnson & Johnson are just a few of the household names making the cut.

Here at All Star Charts, we like to stay ahead of the curve. That’s why we’re turning our attention to the future aristocrats.

In an effort to seek out the next generation of the cream-of-the-crop dividend plays, we’re curating a list of stocks that have raised their payouts every year for five to nine years.

We call them the Young Aristocrats, and the idea is that these are “stocks that pay you to make money.”

Imagine if years of consistent dividend growth and high momentum and relative strength had a baby, leaving you with the best of the emerging dividend giants that are outperforming the averages.

The engagement between Elon Musk and Twitter $TWTR is not going to end easily or quietly.

The mercurial entrepreneur tweeted a provocative meme early this morning, depicting himself as a big-brained genius for using legal mechanisms to force accurate bot data out of the Twitter board.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

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:

There’s been a lot of buzz about the dwindling likelihood of a Twitter $TWTR-Elon Musk tie-up this week.

As Musk’s team has reportedly cut off deal discussions around funding, the talking heads are telling us what price has been suggesting for months now: It’s not happening.

We were just talking about how we liked the strength from Baker Bros. Advisors’ largest holding, Seagen $SGEN, during yesterday’s weekly in-house analysts’ call.

This morning, the Wall Street Journal reported that Merck & Co. $MRK is in advanced discussions to acquire the cancer biotech for $40 billion.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Energy has been the clear leader in 2022. The sector posted a record-setting start to the year, even as the broader market sold off. 

Whether it's our Inside Scoop universe or any other scan, we’ve gotten used to leaning on the strongest stocks in the oil field for long exposure.

As participation narrowed for US stocks throughout the second quarter, we cautioned that energy had become an easy target and was vulnerable to catching lower with the broader market.

About a month ago, that happened as bears finally came for energy. In a matter of weeks, much of this year’s progress came undone, and so did a handful of our stops.

While there has certainly been short-term technical damage, the primary trends are intact. And while these stocks have been hit hard over the trailing month, there's little evidence that they're done being leaders over longer time frames.

Once this corrective action passes, we expect energy stocks to resume higher and offer plenty of bullish opportunities. But in the meantime, they are susceptible to deeper drawdowns and increased selling pressure.

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.

This is the video recording of our July 6, 2022, Inside Scoop Weekly Strategy Session.

Today’s Hot List is a short one.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Bullish setups are hard to come by these days.

While this makes things more challenging in terms of finding opportunities, it also makes those opportunities stand out that much more.

If you’re showing relative strength in the current market environment, we’re sitting up and paying attention.

One of these rare leaders popped up in our Inside Scoop scan this week. Let’s talk about it.

Today's most significant insider transaction report is another Form 4 filing by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway $BRK.A.

Buffet continues to build his position in Occidental Petroleum $OXY, as he disclosed an additional purchase of roughly $582 million.