There is some curious activity in the intermarket arena. Namely, we are seeing continued weakness in Treasury bonds, relative strength in inflation-indexed bonds, weakness in the Dollar and strength in several commodity groups. I do not trade off intermarket relationships, but I do trade specific patterns and there are several commodity related ETFs with bullish breakouts working. Today’s commentary will focus on the DB commodity ETFs:

Today we will start with small-caps, industrials and banks, because these three could be turning the corner. The IWM:SPY ratio moved above its 40-week SMA for the first time in 2 years, XLI is above the 200-day and KRE rose from the ashes the last four weeks. GLD may be parting ways with TLT and hooking up with SPY again. The breadth models remain bullish and there were two new signals in the short-term breadth models. The sector breadth model also remains firmly bullish with the newest signals coming

Stocks surged the last two weeks with a new group of leaders. Mid-caps, small-caps, banks and utilities led the charge. Large-caps and tech stocks lagged, but they still gained and remain bullish overall. The period from late May and early June was the last time we saw small-caps and banks take the lead. After a 15% advance in SPY and 25% surge in IWM, stocks rested from June 8th to July 9th with consolidations.

Today’s post starts with trend-following and insights from a recent podcast featuring Nick Radge. I then analyze the benefits and drawbacks of using a market trend filter for a broad-based ETF strategy. And finally, I review the short-term breadth model, which was developed in response to the March-April surge.

The long-term trend is up for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, but questionable for the S&P SmallCap 600 and S&P MidCap 400. Small-caps and mid-caps are largely off my radar right now. Despite long-term uptrends and bullish evidence for large-caps, I remain in the correction camp for three reasons. First, SPY and QQQ became extremely extended in early September, as measured by

SPY and QQQ fell in September and are in short-term downtrends, which are considered corrections within a bigger uptrend. The S&P SmallCap 600 SPDR and S&P MidCap 400 SPDR also fell in September, but these declines do not look like mere corrections within a bigger uptrend. MDY, IJR and IWM fell well short of their January-February highs and broke their downward sloping 200-day SMAs. These three look like they are reversing the uptrends that began with the March blast off.

This is a midweek update to address Monday’s price action and its effect on the breadth indicators and models. At this stage, there was only one new signal: %Above 200-day for $MID broke below 45%. Nine of the ten breadth models remain bullish, but we saw more deterioration in the breadth indicators on Monday. Selling pressure was the strongest un small-caps and mid-caps over the last five weeks (since August 15th).

This is a midweek update to address Monday’s price action in some of the ETFs in the core chart list. We saw a continuation lower in SPY and QQQ, but some of the tech-related ETFs held up relatively well. ETFs that held up relatively well during broad selling pressure are often the ones that lead on any bounce, even if it is just an oversold bounce. Elsewhere

The medium-term indicators and breadth models are still bullish, but the ROC Shock in early September and some waning breadth indicators argue for at least a correction of the March-September advance. I covered the ROC Shock in detail last week and will review the findings. First, keep in mind that the character of the market (SPY) changed in January 2018 as the swings became bigger and 52-week lows were interspersed with 52-week highs. Big swings and volatility are the order of the day for now.

Tech-related ETFs continue to drag their feet and remain in corrective mode. This puts the attention elsewhere and biotechs are picking up the slack. Namely, the Biotech ETF (IBB) and Biotech SPDR (XBI) made bids to end their corrections and resume their bigger uptrends. Elsewhere, precious metals related ETFs bounced within their consolidations and bond proxies popped with XLU and XLRE getting big moves.

The stock market was overextended in late August and the bulls gave it one more push higher with a small acceleration higher into late September. Technically, an acceleration higher signals an increase in momentum, which can be bullish. However, as with most technical signals, perspective is needed for interpretation. Today we will look at the accelerations that led to a reversal and the outsized decline. What do they portend going forward?

The bears fired a shot across the bow, but one or two days is not enough to reverse a strong uptrend. There were already warnings of a correction or pullback because SPY has been more than 10% above its 200-day since August 12th and QQQ has been 20% above its 200-day since July 6th. Of course, overbought indicators are not very good for timing a correction. In fact, I have yet to find a good indicator for timing a peak/pullback during a strong uptrend.

We all know that the S&P 500 is driven by large-caps, especially the big four, which account for over 20% of the index (AAPL, MSFT, AMZN, GOOGL). Furthermore, most of us are aware that breadth measures are not as strong as the S&P 500 and this is reflected in the S&P 500 EW ETF (RSP), which has yet to clear its June high. Breadth, however, is not exactly weak. It is just strong enough to sustain the advance. In other words, the cup is half full, not half empty.

The bulk of the evidence remains bullish for large-caps, large-cap techs and mid-caps, but mixed for small-caps. I am also seeing mixed performance within the S&P 500, especially when looking at the equal-weight sectors. Technology, Healthcare and Consumer Discretionary remain strong, while Finance, Energy and REITs are weak. Finance is the only big sector that shows underlying weakness though.

Today’s video will focus on the core ETF charts. We will start with the scatter plot and see that the bond ETFs in the upper left, which means they are oversold and in uptrends. On the ranking tables, ETFs related to Consumer Discretionary, Healthcare and Technology are leading. I continue to follow the Chandelier Exits for several ETFs as their uptrends extend (XLY, ITB, XRT). Elsewhere

I received some pertinent questions over the weekend and create a post to share the answers. My email answers were not as detailed as in this post, which provides more details and examples. The first question deals with the StochClose ranking and how to use it. This answer will also highlight seven broad trading strategy groups. Second

Even though the current advance is getting quite extended, the broad market environment remains bullish and the medium-term uptrends rule. Tech-related ETFs and stocks drove the market higher from late March to late June. Even though the tech surge slowed, participation broadened over the last six weeks as other groups picked up the slack. The Industrials SPDR (XLI) is the top performing sector since July 1st

The chart below shows year-to-date performance for the top 20 stocks in the S&P 500. Overall, the year is mixed with eleven up and nine down. Amazon is up over 70%, Apple is up over 50% and Microsoft is up over 30%. Facebook and Home Depot are dragging their feet with gains greater than 20%. As strong as the stock market seems, strength is clearly concentrated in a few stocks. Moreover, these few stocks are up big, really big.

There are times for setups and signals, and there are times to wait. The waiting game is either waiting for the next setup/signal to materialize or monitoring the current signal in play. At this stage, we are in the monitoring stage for several signals that triggered in the first half of July.

My current focus remains on the medium-term up trends, which began with the surge in late March. The bulls are still in control of these medium-term trends and we saw several short-term breakouts in July. Some breakouts were strong as price exceeded the June high (SPY), while some were feeble as price remains well below the June high (RSP). Strong or feeble, the breakouts are still holding and have yet to be proven otherwise.

The stock market remains mixed, which means it is a stock picker’s market. As the broad breadth measures suggest, this is not a bull market that lifts all boats and makes everyone look smart. This is a relatively narrow bull market with tech, healthcare and communication services leading the way.

The cup remains half full for the S&P 500 SPDR, but half empty for the S&P 500 EW ETF. This could change as RSI firms in a potential reversal zone with a Bollinger Band contraction. Bearish candlesticks are not slowing down QQQ and even IWM could be ripe for a breakout.

The stock market remains mixed overall with pockets of serious strength and pockets of weakness. The Technology and Healthcare sectors continue to lead, while the Finance and Energy sectors lag. QQQ hit a new high and is leading SPY, while large-caps are leading small and mid caps.

The mighty Nasdaq 100 and related technology groups continue to lead the market. In fact, one could even suggest that they are holding up the broader market, with some help from the Communication Services and Healthcare sectors. Together, these groups account for a big chunk of the S&P 500. Despite a big pocket of strength

Today we will dive into breadth indicators and test a modified version of the Index Breadth Model here at TrendInvestorPro. First, however, I will review the S&P 500 SPDR as it toys with its 200-day SMA here at month end. In particular, I am monitoring upswings in four key major index ETFs. After the breadth dissertation

The market, as measured by the S&P 500 SPDR, is at make or break level. Analysts love to talk about key levels and it seems that there is a new “key” level every week if you watch the wrong news outlets. Well, the S&P 500 is at a key level that we should watch closely. The long-term trend remains

Stocks surged on Monday with QQQ closing at its highest level since February 21st, SPY closing at its highest level since March 6th and IWM closing at its highest level since April 29th. And there you have the pecking order. QQQ is back to late February levels, SPY is back to early March levels and IWM has yet to exceed its April high. To record a 52-week high

Today’s report will start with the everywhere and nowhere chart for the S&P 500. We will then weigh the broad market evidence by looking at the weekly RSI range, the S&P 500 Bullish Percent Index and the breadth models. Short-term, the 20-day High-Low Percent indicator triggered a signal on Wednesday’s close and we are seeing short-term breaks in three key equal-weight sectors.

This is an update for the big three major index ETFs: SPY, QQQ and IWM. Stocks started strong on Tuesday, but ran into selling pressure and bearish candlestick patterns formed. SPY and IWM are in long-term downtrends and showing signs of weakness near key retracements. QQQ remains stronger, but I still think the big surge is a counter-trend bounce.

Today’s report shows that the S&P 500 equal-weight index has underperformed the S&P 500 since 2017 and the performance differential surged over the past year. Moreover, the average stock in the S&P 500 is still struggling. We also have an important bearish signal in the Sector Breadth Model and continued weakness in three key sectors.