With the Chinese Internet Index closing at new 7-month highs this week, have we seen the move already, or are we just getting started?

One thing we know for sure by studying history is that stock prices trend. That's why Technical Analysis works. These tools help us identify those trends. Many academics will tell you that these consistent series of higher highs and higher lows over time are just random. The truth is you can show these charts to a 5 year old and the kid will tell you that yes, this stock is going up, or no this stock is going down. You can even argue that a trend is sideways, but that is trend recognition nonetheless.

It's very clear that markets trend, particularly stocks. They go up over time and they go down over time. A stock making new highs has a higher likelihood of continuing to make new highs vs turning around and beginning a new trend. An object in motion tends to stay in motion, is how Newton taught us. It's the same in stocks, which are driven by e-motion. (See what I did there?)

With Chinese Internet holding above key levels, I think the path of least resistance is over 10% higher for the Index. If $KWEB is above 49,...

Back in March I climbed up the Highlands Bowl in Aspen for the first time. 4 or 5 turns in my skis popped off and I tumbled down the entire mountain. About 100 yards later, there I was hanging off the side of the cliff waiting for ski patrol to come help me. Miraculously, it took them less than 20 minutes to find us and bring my skis down to where I was. Even though I was perfectly fine, my body overreacted to the existential risks and the primitive parts of my brain took over the duties of what other parts usually handle. I've had similar feelings before after experiencing a bad loss in the market. Phil does an amazing job in this one in explaining the differences and similarities between these two types of risk and why my body reacted the way it did.

It's one thing to find a great opportunity to make a directional bet. But sometimes it can be be quite a challenge to express that trade with options due to a thin market of options for that stock. This would make a multi-legged options spread especially hard to pull off. In situations like these, I like to leverage the simplicity of naked options.

Last month price finally confirmed many of the divergences we were seeing under the surface and stocks began to correct...yet the Nifty 50 is sitting just shy of its all-time high.

What gives?

From the desk of Tom Bruni @BruniCharting

Over the last two months we've been pointing to many divergences in breadth and momentum, as well as intermarket relationships that add to the mixed near-term signals we continue to see around the globe.

Last week I compared the current environment in US Stocks to that of India's a month ago saying the stage was set, but that all these divergences needed price confirmation before they become actionable.

Yesterday we got new Monthly Candlesticks, so this post will outline a few of the major changes since last month.

From the desk of Tom Bruni @BruniCharting

Canada, like a few other Major Indexes from around the globe, continues to churn around all-time highs. So which way will it resolve?

Let's go sector by sector and see what the weight of the evidence suggests, just like JC did for US Stocks.

First, let's start with the TSX Composite, which continues to hover near its 2018 highs as momentum diverges. After a ~20% rally off the December lows and the presence of a flat 200-day, it would be healthy to see some consolidation at current levels before breaking out

Click on chart to enlarge view.

If we do break out without that pause first, I feel it'll have a lower probability of succeeding. Although our risk will be extremely well-defined if above 15,580, it's clear that...

Sayings like these give journalists topics to write about. Pro tip: Most of the stuff you'll read is garbage.

“Sell in May and go away, and come back on St. Leger’s Day”

That's where all this Sell in May stuff came from in the first place. The inference here is that there is no point trading in the summer. All the brokers and fund managers will be out in the Hamptons working on their tans. The original saying suggests that the big boys won’t get back to business until Horse Racing season in England is over in the Fall. The British have been celebrating this day in September since the St. Leger Stakes, last leg of the English Triple Crown, was established in 1776. We Americans like to call this time of year, “Football Season”.

The reason we still look at this today is because through 2016, all of the gains in the Dow Jones Industrial Average since 1950 had come between the months of November and April. In other words, had you bought the Dow every May 1st and sold on Halloween every year since 1950, you would have actually had a negative return. The past 2 years have turned this number slightly positive but I think you get...

It's that time of the month again. This is when we take a step back, reevaluate everything we just saw the past 4 weeks or so, and come back home to the longer-term charts. Life is easier when we're not fighting big trends. While it's important for us to try and identify price levels that could act as support and resistance, this exercise is to determine whether these assets are going up, down or sideways.

Regardless of our time horizon, I think it's important to take these 30-60 minutes a month to acknowledge the bigger trends. Once this is done, then we can work our way down to weekly and daily charts for execution purposes. I say it all the time - My Monthly Candlestick Review is the most valuable 6-10 hours of work I put in each year.

You can see the updated monthly charts for yourself here

This is what stood out this month:

In our most recent All Star Options monthly conference call, JC highlighted why he felt metals might be a good buy here. Inspired by his enthusiasm, we discussed a play in gold that could play nicely in the scenario he laid out.

From the desk of Tom Bruni @BruniCharting

Last week in our note to Institutional Clients we highlighted the potential for mean-reversion in the relative performance of Small and Micro-Caps, driven by rotation into Financials and Healthcare.

Below is a chart of the Micro-Cap Index (IWC) relative to the S&P 1500, confirming a failed breakdown and bullish momentum divergence. As long as prices are above 0.1405, this ratio looks ripe for some mean-reversion to the upside.

Click on chart to enlarge view.

Same goes for the Russell 2000 relative to the S&P 500, failing to hold its new marginal low as momentum diverges.

Here's the Russell 2000 breaking out of a 2 month long base on an absolute basis as well. For the first time in a while,...

From the desk of Tom Bruni @BruniCharting

With another potential failed breakout in the US Dollar setting up, here's the metals trade we're putting on.