It is not pretty out there. The Composite Breadth Model is bearish and yield spreads are rising. We are also seeing large-techs (QQQ) and small-caps (IWM) lead the broader market lower. Selling pressure intensified with lopsided down days on Friday and Tuesday. Basically

The broad market environment for stocks was more bearish than bullish early last week and became even more bearish after the sharp decline on Thursday-Friday. Downside participation broadened as many of the market leaders were hit hard. We are talking about the Metals & Mining SPDR, the

Today we are going to dive into the subjective world of chart analysis. The weight of the evidence is bearish for stocks, but it is not overwhelmingly bearish because the S&P 500 breadth models are still net bullish. The market is quite divided and this is why SPY has been flat since September. The January-March decline

The broad market environment for stocks is more bearish than bullish. The Composite Breadth Model is negative, more stocks are below their 200-day SMAs than above and the S&P 500 is below its 200-day. Also note that yield spreads are rising again, offensive groups are lagging and defensive groups are leading.

There are often crosscurrents in the market and these can create confusion. For example, the Trend Composite for SPY is positive, but the 5-day SMA is below the 200-day SMA. On the price chart, SPY appears to be in a downtrend in 2022, but there is a short-term bullish

Weakness under the surface and weakness within the Nasdaq 100 is weighing on the S&P 500, which cracked again. The weight of the evidence was already bearish for small-caps, mid-caps and

The broad market ETFs were hit with selling pressure on Wednesday with growth oriented groups leading the way lower. SPY fell 1%, QQQ was down 2.17%, the Semiconductor ETF fell 2.5% and the Russell 2000 Growth ETF was down 1.88%. In contrast, groups associated

There are large pockets of strength in the stock market, but also large pockets of weakness. In fact, these pockets are almost equal and this is the reason the S&P 500 has gone nowhere since Thanksgiving. The Composite Breadth Model is net bullish and split. The S&P 500 trend model is net bullish

The market environment is never certain and there are often conflicting signals. It would be easy to say this is one of the most uncertain times ever, but that is probably not the case. There have been plenty of price shocks, global events

It as been 18 days since Putin invaded Ukraine and SPY is up 5.32% since the close on Wednesday, February 23rd. QQQ is up 6.3% and IWM is 6.5%. The 20+ Yr Treasury Bond ETF (TLT), an alleged safe-haven, is down 4.6%. While the gains in stocks are

It is important to remember that the major trends in play right now were in place before Russia invaded Ukraine. High-flying tech stocks were out of favor late last year and remain out of favor. Weakness spread as the Market Regime turned bearish in mid February and remains bearish.

The idea was to continue the Trend Composite series today, but the markets are moving fast so I thought I would address yesterday’s big bounce in stocks and the big declines in the commodity related ETFs. These moves did not reverse existing

The markets are dealing with some serious systematic shocks and volatility remains well above average across the board. First and foremost, the Composite Breadth Model is

The Composite Breadth Model is bearish so I am focused on ETFs that are not correlated to stocks (commodities), ETFs that are defensive (staples, utilities) and ETFs that are perhaps less correlated to stocks (agribusiness, steel, defense). Volatility is

The Composite Breadth Model remains bearish and the S&P 500 SPDR is in a downtrend since the January breakdown. The S&P SmallCap 600 SPDR (IJR) held up a little better than SPY in January-February, but remains short of a resistance breakout that would negate the January breakdown. In short, the trends

The markets are getting rattled with big moves after the invasion of Ukraine, but these moves are in the direction of existing trends. Oil, industrial metals, gold and agriculture were already in market leading uptrends. They are also up strong today. SPY, QQQ and many ETFs were already in downtrends after impulse declines in January. There were oversold bounces in February, but

The stock market is as divided as ever with the pockets of weakness at the risk-on end. Risk-off ETFs and commodity-related ETFs are performing the best right now. Finance-related ETFs are also holding their own as the 10-yr Treasury Yield exceeds 2%. There are some

February is the month of the big bounce. As is normal after a big decline, names that led the way lower and fell the most are getting the biggest bounces. Most of the ETFs with the biggest bounces were in downtrends already and these are still considered oversold bounces within downtrends.

Small-caps were the talk of the town in mid November as they broke out of a seven month range and the skies opened up. Volatility then reared its ugly head in late November when the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) fell some 12 percent from a new high. IWM continued lower in January and hit a 52-week low. The Russell 2000 Growth ETF (IWO) led the way as money fled high-beta stocks and ETFs.

There were lots of downtrend signals this past week and over the past month. Selling pressure expanded and broadening participation on the downside was enough to push the Composite Breadth Model back into bear market mode. Note that I will update the Market Regime page on Friday morning. For now, the pickings are slim among the equity-related ETFs

Stocks continued their recent ways with small-caps (IWM) and high-beta tech stocks (QQQJ) leading the way lower in January. IWM is down around 8% year-to-date and QQQJ is down around 11%. The year is starting just how it ended: growth and high beta remain out

Last Tuesday, I wrote about the transition phase currently underway in the markets. Actually, there are a number of transitions underway and perhaps they are linked. While I do not like to dive deep into the fundamentals, the macro backdrop for 2022 is looking very different from 2020 to 2021.

The transition process is difficult and the markets are undergoing a transition from a covid-driven economy to a normal economy. A covid economy implies Fed easing, fiscal stimulus and falling Treasury yields. A normal economy means no more balance sheet expansion, no more fiscal stimulus and a normalization of Treasury yields.

Stocks were rattled on Wednesday with Technology, Communication Services and Consumer Discretionary leading the way lower. As noted on Tuesday, the magnificent seven dominate these three sectors. Selling pressure was not limited to tech as REITs, Biotechs, Airlines and

QQQ and the Technology SPDR are holding up and near new highs, but there are still some serious pockets of underperformance within the tech sector and even within the top stocks. Today’s commentary will look at QQQ breadth, the big seven and QQQ’s little brother, QQQJ. We will analyze charts

Stocks started the new year with gains, but there were still some pockets of weakness. The Nasdaq 100 Next Gen ETF (QQQJ) fell as money shied away from high beta tech, weakness in transports weighed on the Industrials SPDR and the Materials SPDR fell over 1%. The Russell 2000 ETF gained

The Composite Breadth Model flipped back to bullish with the bounce in stocks over the last five days. Even so, the market remains quite divided right now. Large-caps are still leading, small-caps are still lagging and mid-caps remain caught in the middle. The divide is visible within some sectors as well.

Even though the Composite Breadth Model is net bearish, the stock market seems to be more split than anything. This means we could see some sort of rotation instead of a broad bear market. In fact, we are already seeing some signs in December and there are splits within sectors. In Consumer Discretionary

Stocks fell sharply the last three days with QQQ and SPY leading the way as they fell 4.12% and 3.32%, respectively. Small-caps held up better as IWM fell just 1.4%. Nevertheless, IWM is trading near its summer lows and the weakest of the three over the past month and since March.

The Fed has come and gone without much of a surprise, and the markets are saying good riddance. The market appears to be relieved that the statement is out of the way and the news flow will hopefully lessen. Volatility picked up significantly with the plunge on Back Friday