From the desk of Willie Delwiche.

Key Takeaway: Small-caps hit pause but remain market leaders. Another breadth thrust shows rally participation remains robust. Bond yields are digesting recent rise, but the path of least resistance remains higher.

The Technology sector continued its descent toward the bottom of the relative strength rankings. It dropped to its lowest ranking since mid-2016 and fell out of the sector leadership group (which based on a three-week smoothing of the current ranking) for the first time in two years. Technology is joined in the cellar by Utilities, Consumer Staples and Consumer Discretionary. Cyclical value leadership remains intact. Even though small-cap groups led the way lower last week, our industry-group rankings continue to show leadership from small-caps and mid-caps.     

All Star Charts recently published a bullish report on the communications space. We're seeing strength in this sector not just in the U.S., but around the world.

One of the names that most interested me has some international flavor.

We've been talking about base metals and precious metals for quite some time now, highlighting the levels to track and trends to watch out for.

It's time to look at what's happening in the agricultural commodities space as well. In the past week, we saw some good moves in two names in particular and we're here to discuss just that.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

What's the FIRST question investors should ask themselves and have a clear and concrete answer to before putting money in the market?

It is literally step one. The cornerstone of any strategy or trading plan...

What is my objective?

Every investor should examine this thoughtfully and keep it top of mind to ensure that their investment decisions are aligned with their investment goals.

Usually, the answer is pretty simple and comes down to maximizing returns, or more importantly minimizing losses, in a way that fits within each individual's unique preferences.

But as we'll explore in this post, this isn't always the case, and sometimes it can be a bit nuanced - as is the case with Environmental, Social, and Governance investment strategies.

So as an exercise let's put ourselves in the shoes of ESG investors and ask a few simple questions...

One of the charts that stood out the most to me during last week's Conference Call was the relative strength in Communications. While Tech and Discretionary corrected over the prior month, Communications marched on:

We saw that relative strength once again this week with Communications up and the Nasdaq down yet again.

And we're not just seeing new all-time highs on an absolute basis either. Relative to the S&P500, this thing continues to run:

From the desk of Steve Strazza 

Don't miss this weeks Momentum Report; our weekly summation of all the major indexes at a Macro, International, Sector and Industry Group level. As a reminder, we analyze this shorter-term data within the context of the structural trends at play.

This week we're looking at a long setup in the Power sector. Certain stocks from this sector are grabbing our attention and we're looking at one of those!

We retired our "Five Bull Market Barometers" in mid-July to make room for a new weekly post that's focused on the three most important charts for the week ahead.

This is that post, so let's jump into this week's edition.

In case you hadn't heard, Commodity prices are soaring. The CRB Commodities Index has practically doubled over the past year.

And while sure, many assets are up a lot over the past 12 months, it's the fact that the Commodities Index is above the 2016 lows that makes it a big deal for me. Same with interest rates. If the US 10yr Yield and CRB Index are above those lows, then inflation is here baby!

Get used to it.

We're seeing it across the intermarket landscape.

And speaking of landscape, did you see the Global Timber & Forestry Index breaking out to new all-time highs?

Our top-down macro approach keeps us in tune with the markets. It’s the backbone of everything we do here at All Star Charts. 

We’ve strived to stay true to our time-tested analysis by complimenting our top-down approach with several bottom-up scans we've implemented over the past 12 months. From Under the Hood and 2 to 100 Club to the Young Aristocrats and Minor Leaguers, we’re always aiming to give you the tools you need to succeed in any market conditions. 

Click here to watch a brief video of JC explaining our most popular scans!

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @IanCulley

Overall, Commodities came under pressure this past week.

We noticed many markets running into resistance at former highs, and this was most prevalent in the Energy sector, with the exception of Ethanol.

Other areas of the Commodity space like Grains and Softs also showed short-term weakness. However, there were still some bright spots as usual.

Two of the markets that really stood out were Lean Hogs and Palladium.

First up, Lean Hogs broke out of a 6.5-year base, clearing its pivotal 2019 highs.

You know when Livestock futures are breaking out of half-decade long bases that Commodities are most likely in a bull market.

I believe the saying goes, "the bigger the base the higher in space."

If that's going to be at all true then we want to be buying Hogs above 98 with a target of 133.

Palladium also registered a nice move this week as this long-term leader in the Precious Metals space broke out of a 12-...

We debuted a new scan recently- The Outperformers.

The Outperformers is our newest scan that pinpoints the very best stocks in the market. It’s the fastest, easiest way to find quality names that are primed for major moves.

The goal is that as the market rally progresses, the sector rotation within the market will reflect in this scan. So while our Top/Down Analysis helps us with the broader view of the market, this Bottom/Up scan makes sure that we catch the slightest change in sentiment.