Analysis Archives (>6 months old)
ETF Trends, Patterns and Setups – High Beta vs Low Volatility, Defensive Sectors Lead, Gold Firms, ETFs with Gaps and Failed Gaps (Premium)
There could be a change afoot in the stock market over the past month (21 trading days) as money moves out of the riskier parts and into the more defensive areas. The Composite Breadth Model remains bullish overall and the 5-day SMA for the S&P 500 is above the 200-day SMA. Even though
Weekend Video – Broad Market is Bullish, Despite Concerns, Gold Sets Up, XLV and XLB Reverse after Pullbacks (Premium)
Stocks started their rebound with 1-day breadth thrusts on December 2nd and continued higher this week. Large-caps and large-cap techs continue to lead overall, while small-caps and next gen Nasdaq 100 stocks are lagging. After a big move last Tuesday, many of the high beta and momentum names fell back on Thursday and Friday. This pop and drop sets
QQQ Advance-Decline Percent Lags, QQQJ Weakness Reflects Risk-Aversion, GLD Firms Near Key Retracement (Premium)
Even though junk bonds bounced and the most oversold ETFs surged this week, the high beta end of the stock market continues to look shaky and this reflects risk aversion. Today’s commentary will look at relative weakness in Advance-Decline Percent for QQQ and
ETF Trends, Patterns and Setups – Oversold Bounces and Gap Galore, Banks and the Yield Curve, QQQJ Channels Feb-Mar (Premium)
Stocks went from the edge of the abyss last week to a renewed bull market this week. Well, perhaps not so fast there cowboy. The price action over the last few days is certainly bullish because SPY broke out with a three day move accompanied by
Oversold Conditions and Bearish Sentiment Trigger Bounce, Breadth Issues Remain, Tech and REITs Leading (Premium)
The market went through the wringer the last two weeks and the bulls appear to have survived. Today’s analysis looks at the oversold setup and the strength behind the recent bounce. Even though the Composite Breadth Model flipped back to bullish, there are still reasons for concern and we will cover these.
Weekend Video – Small and Mid Caps Weigh, TLT Breaks Out, High-Bete ETFs Break Down, Oil Gets Interesting (Premium)
Mid-caps, small-caps and high-beta stocks are weighing on the broader market, but SPY, QQQ and some large-caps are holding up. We are also seeing a shift away from risk in the bond market as the Junk Bond ETF (JNK) hit a 52-week low
Composite Breadth Model Takes a Turn, S&P 500 Breadth Deteriorates Further, Bond Spreads Widen to Multi-month Highs (Premium)
Weakness in mid-caps and small-caps is finally taking its toll on the broader market and the Composite Breadth Model. We are also seeing S&P 500 breadth indicators deteriorate and dip towards bearish levels. Even though
ETF Trends, Patterns and Setups – SPY Becomes Oversold, Copper ETFs Return to Breakout Zones, IBB Sets Up with Wedge (Premium)
Stocks were hit with a double whammy the last three trading days: the Omicron plunge on Black Friday and the Powell plunge on Tuesday. These, at least, seem to be the reasons given in the financial media. SPY fell 2.2% on Friday, rebounded somewhat on Monday and then fell 2% on Tuesday
ETF Trends, Patterns and Setups – Three Tech ETFs Set Up, Clean Energy ETFs Pull Back after Breakouts, Banks Fall with 10yr Yield (Premium)
I used to have a Friday night poker group and this was the motto when someone needed to call a big bet. Go big or fold. For the stock market, large-caps are the name of the game and technology is still the best performing sector
Measuring Oversold Conditions, TLT Forms Bullish Pattern, DBE and Stop-loss Strategies (Premium)
Big and sudden declines create short-term oversold conditions ripe for a short bounce, but they also distort chart patterns with their volatility. These outsized moves make chart analysis difficult and the volatility increases risk overall. Note that these moves occurred on a pseudo holiday and could be over-reactions
Weekend Video – Short-term Breadth Wanes, QQQ Leads with New High, Clean Energy ETFs Form Bullish Setups, Copper ETFs Pull Back (Premium)
The bull market remains in place, but we are seeing some short-term weakness in the breadth indicators. This weakness is reflected in small-caps, which pulled back the last two days. Pullbacks from new highs are normal and this could produce a bullish setup in the coming
Short-term Breadth Underwhelms, TLT Ignores Inflation and Holds October, Dollar Extends Uptrend, Oil is Poised to Become Oversold (Premium)
The Market Regime is bullish, which means we are in a bull market. However, there are signs of underlying weakness over the last few days and this could give way to a pullback. Note that predicting a pullback within a bigger uptrend is challenging because the bigger uptrend is still
ETF Trends, Patterns and Setups – Tech Still Leading, Small-caps Pull Back, Copper Fails to Hold Short-term Breakout, Lots of Bull Flags Out There (Premium)
After a nice run from early-mid October to early-mid November, trading conditions turned rough with choppy price action the last two weeks. The tech-related ETFs are still leading, but still quite extended short-term. Some old economy ETFs extended further on their medium-term breakouts and
Weekend Video – 10yr Yield and Relative Performance for Small-caps, Dollar and Gold Strong, Broad Market Strength, Copper ETFs Perk Up (Premium)
The bull market remains in play with the Composite Breadth Model bullish, yield spreads narrow and the Fed balance sheet surging to yet another new high. Participation started broadening a few weeks go with mid-caps and small-caps breaking out to new highs. This week we saw the 10-yr Treasury Yield surge off its rising 200-day and a rising
The 10-yr Treasury Yield, Small-caps, Banks and High Valuations, 10Yr Yield Surges off 200-day, Gold Breaks Out, Dollar Stays Strong (Premium)
The surge in the 10-yr Treasury Yield is the talk of the town this week. Last week it was the breakout in the Russell 2000 ETF (IWM). Is there a correlation here? Today’s commentary will look at the relationship between the 10-yr Treasury Yield and three relative performance charts
ETF Trends, Patterns and Setups – Overbought ETFs Get Hit, Long-term Breakouts Remain, Copper-Metals ETFs Set Up (Premium)
The broad market environment remains bullish with more groups participating over the last few weeks. Stocks were hit with a bond-market bombshell on Wednesday as the 10-yr Treasury Yield surged 9%. This sudden move spooked high-beta stocks, emboldened the Dollar and led to a big breakout in gold. Tech-related ETFs were hit the hardest
Weekend Video – Participation Broadens, Tech ETFs Getting Extended, Industrials Break Out, Copper ETFs Set Up (Premium)
The bull market is clear and present with new highs in large-caps, large-cap techs, mid-caps and small-caps. Micro-caps are the only missing component, but IWC is very close. Participation continues to expand with breakouts in the Industrials
Participation Continues to Broaden, Confusion in the Bond Market, the Noose Narrows for Gold (Premium)
The Market Regime remains bullish and participation broadened over the last six weeks. SPY and QQQ were already doing their part with clear uptrends and new highs throughout the year. The S&P MidCap 400 SPDR (MDY) broke out of a long triangle in late October
ETF Trends, Patterns and Setups – QQQ Still Leading IWM, Banks Extends, Copper Related ETFs Hit Support (Premium)
The October run continued into November with small-caps breaking out and participation expanding. Some of the old leaders, however, are still leading with new highs in QQQ, XLK and some tech-related ETFs. The setups and breakouts from early-mid October are bearing fruit and ETFs with big runs the last four to five weeks are in the trend-monitoring phase.
Weekend Video – IWM Goes for Again, Copper/Metal ETFs Throw Back to Breakouts, IPAY and StochClose Signals (Premium)
Stocks continued their October run with SPY and QQQ closing at new highs. Mid-caps and small-caps are still struggling, but their charts are more bullish than bearish. Some of the old industry ETFs corrected over the
Rails Drive Transports Higher, Copper ETF Throw Back to Breakout, Infrastructure ETF Challenges August Highs, Steel ETF Stalls (Premium)
This commentary is an addition to Thursday’s ETF report. ETFs in today’s commentary formed long corrective patterns from spring to fall and made various breakout attempts here in October. The Transports ETF is the leader with a strong move above the August high. The copper and base metals
Small-caps and Healthcare Perk Up, TLT Gyrates as 10-yr Trends, Gold Challenges 200-day, Dollar Swings To and Fro (Premium)
The Market Regime remains bullish with SPY and QQQ hitting new highs on Thursday. The S&P MidCap 400 SPDR (MDY) and S&P 500 EW ETF (RSP) hit new highs Monday-Tuesday and then fell back pretty hard on Wednesday, before bouncing on Thursday. New highs are clearly more bullish than bearish. The noise level is
ETF Trends, Patterns and Setups – Tech-related ETF Get Extended, BETZ, BDRY and KRBN Form Short-term Bullish Setups (Premium)
Earnings season is in full swing and this is leading to a little more volatility. Volatility mostly affects individual stocks, but it can also affect market cap weighted ETFs when the big components make big moves. Overall, the market regime remains bullish with fresh new highs in SPY, RSP and MDY. There are not
Weekend Video – Participation Broadens, Old Economy ETF Come to Life, Tech Remains Strong, Biotechs Get Interesting (Premium)
Stocks continued their October run with the S&P 500 SPDR, S&P 500 EW ETF and S&P MidCap 400 SPDR hitting new highs. Participation is clearly broadening and this is reflected in the percentage of S&P 500 stocks above selective moving averages. There were also 17 new uptrend signals via the StochClose indicator.
Biotech SpotLight – Top Stocks, IBB and XBI (Premium)
The Biotech ETF (IBB) is a rather peculiar ETF because of the performance differentials among its components and the changing of the weights. Moderna (7.84%) and BioNTech (3.82%) account for almost
Participation Broadens, Seasonal Patterns are Bullish, TLT Turns Back at Support Break, Oil Hits Another New High (Premium)
The Market Regime remains bullish and participation broadened here in October. The Finance SPDR and Consumer Discretionary SPDR hit new highs in October, and the Technology SPDR ended its correction with a breakout. Broadening participation comes from the Industrials SPDR and
ETF Trends, Patterns and Setups – Metals, Energy and Banks Lead, Industrials and Materials Perk Up, Uptrend Signals in Clean Energy (Premium)
SPY and QQQ ended their corrections with breakouts last week and this is bullish for the broader market. Small-caps (IJR) are also making a breakout bid as strength within the market broadens. In particular, we are seeing leadership from ETFs associated with industrial
Weekend Video – Follow Through with Strong Breadth, Tech ETFs Surge, Industrial Metals Lead (Premium)
Stocks surged again on Thursday, but this week’s surge was different than the Thursday’s surge the prior week. SPY and QQQ followed through after the open and S&P 500 breadth showed broad participation. Small-caps also bounced, but the S&P SmallCap 600 SPDR
Follow Through with Strong Breadth, Yield Spreads Remain Narrow, Bonds Get a Bounce (Premium)
The S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) followed through on last week’s gap with a gap-surge on Thursday. In contrast to last week’s gap, SPY moved higher after the strong open on Thursday and formed a long white candlestick. The open is near
ETF Trends, Patterns and Setups – Industrial Metals ETF Lead, Tech-related ETF Follow Through, Clean Energy Perks Up (Premium)
Even though breadth during the recent pops was uninspiring, the bulls are not backing down and we are in a bull market environment, as per the Market Regime page. There are really only two trading/investing options in a bull market: long or cash. Short positions are not realistic options. There are
Weekend Video – SPY Attempts to Reverse Pullback, Banks, Insurance and Energy Lead, Rising Rates Weigh (Premium)
Stocks surged on Thursday with SPY and QQQ gapping higher in an attempt to end their pullbacks. The gaps-surges are largely holding, but breadth was lackluster and techs fell back on Friday. Rising Treasury yields are influencing current market dynamics. This creates a headwind for
SPY Goes for Breakout, Breadth Underwhelms, IJR Challenges Triangle Line, Oil and Dollar Remain Strong (Premium)
The S&P 500 and broad market indexes popped on Wednesday-Thursday. We also saw short-term breakouts in a number of ETFs. Are these breakouts enough to end the corrective period that began with the September decline? Or, is this just a short-term head fake that will
ETF Trends, Patterns and Setups – Tech ETFs Firm with Harami, Some Laggards are Showing Short-term Strength (Premium)
There are plenty of ETFs with corrections or downtrends the last few months, but some of these are showing short-term relative strength. Similarly, several tech-related ETFs firmed with hamari on Monday-Tuesday and closed strong on Wednesday.
Weekend Video – A 5% Pullback, Rotations within the Stock Market, Watching for the Next Breadth Signal (Premium)
Large-caps finally pulled back with the S&P 500 SPDR falling around 5% in September. Small-caps held up better with a smaller decline. Overall, there was a rotation underway in September as money moved into banks, energy, airlines and defense.
SPY Ends its Streak, Fed Balance Sheet Contracts, Oil Leads, Bonds Break, Gold Pops (Premium)
The streak finally ended as the S&P 500 fell more than 5%. Using SPY as the proxy, the ETF had gone some 227 days without a pullback of more than 5% (closing prices). The 5.31% decline here in September is the largest since October 2020. SPY fell around 10% in September
ETF Trends, Patterns and Setups – Surge in Yields Drives Rotations, Techs Suffer, Banks Benefit, Energy ETFs Break Out (Premium)
There are some new trend signals over the last five days. The Bank SPDR (KBE) and Regional Bank ETF (KRE) followed through on last week’s surges and StochClose moved above 60 to turn bullish. Also notice that the 52wk Range
Signs of Rotation Again, Corrections Targets for XLK/XLC, StochClose Signals vs Price Action for Some High-Beta ETFs (Premium)
Signs of a market rotation began to appear last week as the 10-yr Treasury Yield surged, the 20+ Yr Treasury Bond ETF plunged and the Regional Bank ETF advanced over 3%. Techs and high-flyers held up relatively well last week, but got pummeled on Tuesday with many falling more than 3%.
Zweig Breadth Thrust Hits Lowest Level since May – What Does it Mean? (Premium)
As its name implies, the Zweig Breadth Thrust quantifies bullish breadth thrusts using a setup level and a signal level. The setup occurs when the 10-day EMA of Advances / (Advances + Declines) dips below .40 and the bullish signal triggers
Weekend Video – SPY Recovers after Gap, But Downtrends Expand, Bonds Throw Tantrum, Banks Surge (Premium)
Stocks were hit hard on Monday-Tuesday with dozens of ETFs becoming oversold, including SPY. These oversold conditions gave way to a strong rebound the rest of the week with Finance and Energy leading the way. Bonds threw a small tantrum after the Fed meeting as the
Breadth Pops along with the 10-yr Treasury Yield, Banks Respond, Gold Extends Downtrend, Oil Holds Breakout (Premium)
The Fed has yet to actually start tapering, but dropped some hints that it would if the economy continues to strengthen. The bond market, which tends to lead the Fed, reacted violently as the 20+ Yr Treasury Bond ETF fell over 2% and the 10-yr Treasury Yield broke above
ETF Trends, Patterns and Setups – Downtrend Signals Expand and Hit Key Groups, Tech ETFs Hold Up Relatively Well (Premium)
After a dozen new uptrend signals in late August and early September, the tide changed as the S&P 500 experienced its first 4-5 percent pullback since May. This pullback was enough to reverse some of the new uptrend signals and there were 14 new downtrend signals over the last five days. I am referring only to the 113 equity-related ETFs
A Pullback or More for SPY?, Checking on Recent Trend Signals, Current Mean-Reversion Setups (Premium)
The Market Regime remains bullish and the S&P 500 is just 4% below its recent high, but breadth has been waning for months and many groups are already in corrective mode. The 4% decline
Weekend Video – SPY Pulls back as %Above 200-day Dips, Fed Balance Sheet Surges, IWM Flags and Four ETFs Setting Up (Premium)
The market regime remains bullish, but breadth continues to wane and more breakouts are failing. Overall, ETFs related to tech, healthcare, communication services and REITs are leading, while ETFs related to industrials, materials and housing are lagging because their breakouts failed to hold. I am also watching TLT and the Dollar because
Breadth Wanes, Small-caps Stall, Bearish Sentiment Surges, Bonds and Oil Break Out, Gold Plunges (Premium)
The stock market remains in a funk. Large-caps finally pulled back with the S&P 500 loosing a whopping 2% from high to low (Sept 2 to 14). SPY remains is a clear uptrend with a rising channel and QQQ has not touched its 50-day SMA since June 3rd. Things are different outside of the S&P 500 because
ETF Trends, Patterns and Setups – Semis in Top 5, Pullbacks Create Mild Oversold Conditions, A Few Failed Breakouts (Premium)
The broad market environment remains bullish for stocks and the vast majority of equity related ETFs are in uptrends (bullish StochClose signals). Even so, I remain concerned with the broader market environment because breadth continues to deteriorate and a number of ETFs peaked months ago. The Russell 2000
Weekend Video – Breadth Continues to Wane, Lower Highs in Some Key ETFs, A Safe-haven ETF with a Bull Flag (Premium)
The S&P 500 SPDR (SPY) fell five days in a row for the first time since October 2020, scene of the last decent correction in the stock market. Signs of a correction continue to build as breadth wanes and key metrics hit their lowest levels since last year. We are also seeing corrections or downtrends
Trend-Signals: Take Right Away or Wait for a Pullback? (Premium)
The list of ETFs with uptrend signals over the last three weeks reads line the who’s who of the high flyers. This list includes the Video Games eSports ETF (ESPO), the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), the Clean Energy ETF (QCLN)
Breadth Wanes as Corrections Unfold, SPY Remains Immune, TLT Flies the Bull Flag, GLD hits Moment of truth (Premium)
Timing a correction in the S&P 500 has been a fool’s errand since the November surge and breakout. The index brushed off negative seasonality in February and August. Techs and high flyers declined from mid February to mid May, but the S&P 500 kept right on trucking as money rotated
ETF Trends, Patterns and Setups – Uptrends and Extended, Oversold vs OVERSOLD, ETFs with Lower Highs Underperforming (Premium)
Of the 113 ETFs in the Core List, 79 are in uptrends (70%) and 34 are in downtrends (30%). This is more than enough to support a bull market in stocks. Six of the seven major index ETFs are in uptrends (SPY, RSP, MDY, IJR, IWM , QQQ) and one
Weekend Video – Analyzing and Quantifying New Trend Signals, Old School ETFs Hold Breaks as September Looms (Premium)
SPY continues on its stairway to higher prices with another new high this week. We are also seeing strength in mid-caps as MDY holds its breakout and new trend signals in small-caps (IJR and IWM). Breadth is not as strong as it used to be, but strong enough to support a bull market. Yield spreads show no signs of stress and the