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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.

January was a rough month for stocks so far as QQQ fell 11.6% and IWM fell 12.2%. SPY and the S&P 500 EW ETF (RSP) held up much better with declines of around 6%. Again, we are seeing more weakness in mid-caps, small-caps

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

The Composite Breadth Model has yet to trigger bearish as stocks recovered on Monday and closed strong. Despite this reversal, the technical damage has already been done to several big sectors and key industry group ETFs. Even so, the S&P 500 EW ETF (RSP) managed to hold its

The S&P 500 fell 5.75% this week and this as the biggest weekly decline since March 2020 (covid crash). It was the second biggest weekly decline since October 2020 (5.6%). Declines like this are normally associated with a selling climax that could give way to a short-term oversold bounce. Longer-term, however,

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 weight of the evidence is bullish for the broader market, but there are some sizable pockets of weakness, as seen when looking at the percentage of stocks above the 200-day SMA for the various indexes. Yield spreads show no signs of stress and the Fed Balance sheet is

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.

The stock market is as mixed as it ever with defensive issues leading, banks and energy breaking out, materials and infrastructure holding up and tech stocks taking it on the chin. Healthcare ETFs were also hit quite hard this week. Six of the magnificent seven (stocks) are under pressure and this is weighing on cap-weighed SPY and QQQ.

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.