2023 is on the cusp of producing as many days with new highs greater than new lows in its first month as 2022 produced over the course of the entire year. Yet there are hurdles to overcome to convincingly argue that this recent strength is sustainable.

More Context: From a macro data and Fed policy perspective, this week holds the promise to be pivotal. That is no less true from a price perspective. More stocks making new highs than new lows is bull market behavior. The S&P 500 not clearing its December high (in the context of still declining longer-term trends) is not. In addition to further trend improvement, renewed expansion in the number of stocks making new highs and continued recovery in our industry group trend indicator would be evidence of rally sustainability. Our equity models aren’t waiting for “what ifs” and while the S&P 500 is an option, it’s not the only one. Our equity positioning is increasingly outside of the US and away from large-cap growth stocks.             

In our ...

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

Plenty of gold bugs have Krugerrands buried in their backyard or basement –  if not secured in a safety deposit box at their local bank.

It’s no wonder gold falls under the “end-of-the-world” category of assets.

Regardless, gold prices can also rise with risk assets.

I raise this point not only as an important reminder but because it’s pivotal to understanding our bullish thesis for precious metals.

It’s a metals story….

When I say Gold 5k, it’s in the same breath as $8 Copper. The structural uptrends for these metals are inseparable in my view, as both stem from a new commodity supercycle.

The overlay chart of Copper and Gold futures tells the story:

Both metals carved out big bases and resolved higher back in the early 2000s. Those base breakouts led to Copper tripling in price as Gold rose almost 500% during the preceding cycle. 

I believe a similar base-building process is taking place now. An upside resolution for one likely coincides with a breakout from the other.

That’s why I find the current strength from Copper, Tin, and other metals...

The next new position in our Paid-to-Play portfolio is:

As well as stocks all over the world have been doing over the past few months, the overhead supply in the major US Large-cap Indexes remains in place.

In other words, these large-cap, growth-heavy, market gauges still have work to do.

A couple of months ago we reiterated our more neutral positions in the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P500, wanting to focus more of our attention on individual stocks and sectors.

That tactical approach has worked out well.

But fast forward to today, and...

Another positive week -- add it to the growing tally!

This is the first time Bitcoin's been up for four consecutive weeks since August 2021. Similarly, Bitcoin's 14-day RSI eclipsed its highest level going back more than two years.

We have a name for this price action...

Momentum thrusts.

We see them all the time in the beginning stages of new trends.

There's no denying that this move has been impressive. In fact, we'd even argue that it represents a structural shift in this market.

But where do we go from here?

Let's dive into this week's letter.

The most significant insider buy on today's list is a Form 4 filing by Abdiel Capital Advisors.

The hedge fund reported a purchase of $4.8 million in Appian Corporation $APPN.

From the Desk of Kimmy Sokoloff

This week is very busy.

We've got tons of economic data, a Fed rate decision on Wednesday, and Big Tech earnings on tap.

By my work, everything started to improve for stocks after June 16th.

That was when the list of new 52-week lows peaked and stocks started the process of going up all the time, instead of going down all the time.

In bull markets, stocks go up. In bear markets they go down, not sure if you heard...

Anyway, these days I'm seeing a lot of investors pointing to October 13th as the market bottom, because that's when the S&P500 and some of the other indexes made their lows.

But by then, most stocks had already bottomed. It was only a few of those large-cap indexes left still falling.

That's why ...

What do bull markets look like?

Well obviously, more stocks are going up than going down.

More sectors are participating to the upside, while fewer are falling.

And you also see an expansion in breadth across the globe, with more and more countries joining in on the uptrends.

Those are bull markets.

And do you know what you also see?

High Beta stocks outperform Low Volatility. This is a consistent characteristic among the strongest uptrends.

How's the Bull Market treating you?

Does it feel as good for you as it does for me?

I've been watching really angry people fighting these uptrends in stocks over the past 6+ months and they are not happy.

Life is harder when you ignore price, in favor of such arbitrary things like the economy or corporate earnings.

What kind of serial killer puts that gossip ahead of the tape?

I want this to be a good reminder that we DO NOT EVER want to fight the tape.

Fight the fed all you want. Ignore the economic gossip coming out of the basic cable stations. All of that is perfectly acceptable behavior.

It's the tape that you cannot fight, if your goal is to make money.

This is the weekly post that aggregates all the charts we put together throughout the week and organizes them all into one, easy to flip through deck.

Remember in the first half of last year, it was only the Energy stocks that were in Uptrends.

You can use a simple 200 day moving average to point to and say, "OK price is above that so it's probably not a downtrend".

Then in October, we were talking about how Bear Markets are a choice, and one that investors didn't have to sit through if they didn't want to.

By that point, Healthcare was already being added to the list of Sector Indexes that were above their 200 day moving average.

So now entering Q4 you had Energy AND Healthcare.

By November, you then had 3 more added to the list of uptrends: ...