From the desk of Steven Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @Ianculley

There’s always a bull market somewhere.

But the environment is tough right now.

Volatility is sweeping across markets. The dollar is catching a defensive bid. And the major averages continue their downward trajectory as investors desperately look for signs of a bottom. 

Yet, despite the bearish action gripping markets, we’re still finding bases we want to buy.

And, to no surprise, many of those smiley faces are in the commodities market.

That’s where we want to focus our attention.

Today, we'll highlight the wheat complex, outlining some tactical setups that complement our bullish structural outlook for commodities and grains.

Let’s dive in!

First up, we have Chicago wheat:

Earlier in the spring, this contract skyrocketed to new all-time highs. It’s since corrected, forming...

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

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.

Here’s this week’s list:

...

From the desk of Willie Delwiche.

The preliminary May reading for the Consumer Sentiment Index (published by the University of Michigan) dropped to one of its lowest levels on record. The Expectations component is still above its March low, while the view of Current Conditions is at new cycle low - and at its lowest level since late 2008. That’s right - things are seen as worse now than they were at the worst of the COVID-related shutdowns. At one level this seems ludicrous - the S&P 500 is just a few months removed from record highs and pretty much anyone who wants a job can get one. On the other hand, everyone is seeing surging prices at the grocery store and gas station. They see surging balances on their credit card statements, but collapsing balances on their brokerage statements. This an unfamiliar environment for an entire generation of investors who have never experienced a double-digit year-over-year drawdown in the NASDAQ 100. It’s particularly acute for investors who listened to the advice of “experts” and have bought every dip this year. We don’t need to look at this incredulously and suggest things aren’t actually as bad as they have been in...

Ok, so the market is bouncing and its offering a nice reprieve to those who've been caught on the wrong side of the recent slide. Does this mean the bottom is in?

It's far too early to tell. And that's not the bet we're making just yet. In fact, today's trade is to take advantage of a nice bounce in a name we're bearish in to position for a retest of recent lows.

So let's get right to it.

This is the video recording of our May 13, 2022, All Star Charts Crypto Weekly Strategy Session.

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

In Elon Musk’s latest internet musings, he let the investing public know that the Twitter acquisition is on hold for the due diligence process.

Here’s what he said:

From the desk of Steven Strazza @Sstrazza and Grant Hawkridge @granthawkridge

Defense wins championships. 

It’s important to remind ourselves of this as risk continues to come off the table.

The largest stocks in the world are losing critical support levels, and even the leaders are coming under pressure. Bonds are catching a defensive bid, credit spreads are as wide as they’ve been in years, and investors are fleeing to the dollar for safety.

Meanwhile, the classic risk barometer – the AUD/JPY – is breaking to fresh lows.

This all speaks of defensive positioning.

Here’s a daily chart of the AUD/JPY:

Just a few weeks ago, the AUD/JPY was rallying to its highest level since the summer of 2015. Now it’s more than 7% off those highs. And as of this writing, it has slid more than 250 pips in today’s session alone.

This...

This is the video recording of the May 12th Weekly Town Hall w/ Willie Delwiche.

05/12/22 2:00 PM ET

Technically, not everything can underperform.

There are always some groups of stocks that are doing better than the others. Whether that means going up in price faster, or going down in price slower.

In some cases, like more recently, some stocks do well on an absolute basis well others lose value altogether.

This year we've seen the largest dispersion of returns among US Sectors in over 20 years. The difference in returns between Energy and some of the Growth areas like Communications or Tech have been historic across the board.

Here's Energy relative to Technology, as well as Energy relative to the overall market, as defined by the S&P500:

Global markets have been in a mess for a while now. For some time there, India was displaying resilience when it came to the broader market indices. But that has changed over the past few days.

We have seen a selloff come through in the market and it is time to revisit the levels that could be crucial going forward.

From the desk of Willie Delwiche.

Volatility is on the rise and some of the reactions we’re seeing are entirely predictable.

For instance, I’ve seen multiple versions of this chart shared in recent weeks:

It claims to show how hard it is to effectively time the market. Advisors and strategists use this to scare investors with a seemingly straightforward message: If you miss just a handful of the best days in the market, your returns will suffer.