Is it 2023 or 2022? Because it’s starting to feel like last year all over again…
No, Will Smith hasn’t slapped anyone (that I’m aware of). And I’m confident Bennifer 2.0 is going strong (solely based on Superbowl commercials).
But that’s not my concern. Here’s what does have my attention: the dollar and rates.
These were big themes last year – rising in tandem – and continue to be as we head into March.
It shouldn't come as a surprise as the next chart reveals the crux of the story…
Check out the overlay chart of the US dollar index $DXY and the US 10-year yield $TNX with a rolling 126-day correlation in the lower pane:
Notice the consistent positive correlation between the US benchmark rate and the dollar since fall 2021. It all began as Federal Reserve officials swept...
Welcome back to Under the Hood, where we'll cover all the action for the week ended March 3, 2023. This report is published bi-weekly and rotated with The Minor Leaguers.
What we do here is analyze the most popular stocks during the week and find opportunities to either join in and ride these momentum names higher, or fade the crowd and bet against them.
We use a variety of sources to generate the list of most popular names.
There are so many new data sources available that all we need to do is organize and curate them in a way that shows us exactly what we want: a list of stocks that are seeing an unusual increase in investor interest.
Whether we’re measuring increasing interest based on large institutional purchases, unusual options activity, or simply our proprietary lists of trending tickers, there’s a lot of overlap.
From the Desk of Steve Strazza @sstrazza and Alfonso Depablos @Alfcharts
This is one of our favorite bottom-up scans: Follow the Flow.
In this note, we simply create a universe of stocks that experienced the most unusual options activity — either bullish or bearish, but not both.
We utilize options experts, both internally and through our partnership with The TradeXchange. Then, we dig through the level 2 details and do all the work upfront for our clients.
Our goal is to isolate only those options market splashes that represent levered and high-conviction, directional bets.
We also weed out hedging activity and ensure there are no offsetting trades that either neutralize or cap the risk on these unusual options trades.
What remains is a list of stocks that large financial institutions are putting big money behind.
And they’re doing so for one reason only: because they think...
Silver is clawing its way back after breaking down from a month-long consolidation and undercutting a critical shelf of former lows.
As we talked about last week, it all comes down to risk appetite. Silver bid speaks to a healthy risk-seeking environment favoring all precious metals.
As promised, I’ll cover the wheat complex this week, rounding out our coverage of the grain markets.
Let’s dive in!
Before we start, check out this breakdown of the different types of wheat varieties. I love to nerd out on this stuff – anything that involves maps, I’m hooked!
Today I’ll cover the most actively traded US contracts; Chicago Soft Red Winter Wheat (SRW), Kansas City Hard Red Winter Wheat (HRW), and Minneapolis Hard Red Spring Wheat (HRS).
The first two contracts trade on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), with soft red wheat first trading on the CBOT in 1877. Minneapolis spring wheat trades on the Minneapolis Grain Exchange (MGEX).
These different types of wheat derive their names from their growing regions, where they initially come to market, and even their protein levels (hard = higher protein, soft = lower protein).
From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza and Alfonso Depablos @AlfCharts
Our International Hall of Famers list is composed of the 100 largest US-listed international stocks, or ADRs.
We’ve also sprinkled in some of the largest ADRs from countries that did not make the market cap cut.
These stocks range from some well-known mega-cap multinationals such as Toyota Motor and Royal Dutch Shell to some large-cap global disruptors such as Sea Ltd and Shopify.
It’s got all the big names and more--but only those that are based outside the US. You can find all the largest US stocks on our original Hall of Famers list.
The beauty of these scans is really in their simplicity.
We take the largest names each week and then apply technical filters in a way that the strongest stocks with the most momentum rise to the top.
Based on the market environment, we can also flip the scan on its head and filter for weakness.
Let’s dive in and take a look at some of the most important stocks from around the world.
Markets churn sideways, plagued with indecision. But one thing is certain…
The global rising rate environment remains intact.
Developed European benchmark interest rates are posting fresh highs. Those potential failed breakouts back in early January have quickly turned into nothing more than false or premature moves.
And while US yields continue to climb, their recent rise pales compared to their European counterparts.
What does that imply for domestic rates in the coming weeks and months?
For the past year and a half, we have turned to developed European yields for insight into the direction of domestic interest rates.
The analysis proved insightful as the rising rate environment has been global in scope. Europe has given a nice heads-up regarding the direction of yields stateside. And the market continues to support this approach.
As many of you know, something we've been working on internally is using various bottom-up tools and scans to complement our top-down approach. It's really been working for us!
One way we're doing this is by identifying the strongest growth stocks as they climb the market-cap ladder from small- to mid- to large- and, ultimately, to mega-cap status (over $200B).
Once they graduate from small-cap to mid-cap status (over $2B), they come on our radar. Likewise, when they surpass the roughly $30B mark, they roll off our list.
But the scan doesn't just end there.
We only want to look at the strongest growth industries in the market, as that is typically where these potential 50-baggers come from.
Some of the best performers in recent decades – stocks like Priceline, Amazon, Netflix, Salesforce, and myriad others – would have been on this list at some point during their journey...