From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

One of my favorite scenes from "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" is when we get to meet the in-house surf instructor, played by Paul Rudd.

Rudd’s character, Chuck, a transplant local, imparts sage advice, “When life gives you lemons, just say f@&k the lemons and bail!”

I always laugh at that one, even as I write this note.

That’s probably because  I’ve spent the better part of the past twenty years chasing waves – but I don’t share this Hollywood version of a stoner-surfer ethos regarding life.

But I do follow this mindset when it comes to markets…

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.

The Nasdaq100 is already down 4.5% this month. Technology as a sector is down almost 6.5% for August.

But corrections are a choice, not a requirement.

As an investor, you make the choice and decide which assets you want to own and which you do not.

Remember, "Passive Investing" is a lie. There's no such thing. All investors are active. The difference is whether you choose your portfolio holdings, or you let some random index providers make those decisions for you.

But we're all active investors, whether we like it or not. Don't forget that.

So even thought the indexes are messy this quarter, take a look at Energy hitting new 6-month highs this week:

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Dividend Aristocrats are easily some of the most desirable investments on Wall Street. These are the names that have increased dividends for at least 25 years, providing steadily increasing income to long-term-minded shareholders.

As you can imagine, the companies making up this prestigious list are some of the most recognizable brands in the world. Coca-Cola, Walmart, and Johnson & Johnson are just a few of the household names making the cut.

Here at All Star Charts, we like to stay ahead of the curve. That's why we're turning our attention to the future aristocrats. In an effort to seek out the next generation of the cream-of-the-crop dividend plays, we're curating a list of stocks that have raised their payouts every year for five to nine years.

We call them the Young Aristocrats, and the idea is that these are "stocks that pay you to make money." Imagine if years of consistent dividend growth and high momentum and relative strength had a baby, leaving you with the best of the emerging dividend giants that are outperforming the averages.

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.

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

Energy contracts are breaking out.

Crude oil and gasoline futures are completing major reversal patterns.

Heating oil is ripping higher.

Natty gas has traders on the edge of their seats (what’s new?) as it heads into a seasonally favorable stretch.

But what about the rest of the commodity space?

Check out the overlay chart of our equal-weight energy index and our equal-weight broad commodity index:

Both averages have followed the same path since the 2020 lows despite a mere 15% weighting toward energy in our broad commodity index. 

But energy is pulling away. Oil and gas names are taking on a leadership role among US equities as their underlying commodities confirm by digging in and resolving higher.

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza and Alfonso Depablos @AlfCharts

Our Hall of Famers list is composed of the 150 largest US-based stocks.

These stocks range from the mega-cap growth behemoths like Apple and Microsoft – with market caps in excess of $2T – to some of the new-age large-cap disruptors such as Moderna, Square, and Snap.

It has all the big names and more.

It doesn’t include ADRs or any stock not domiciled in the US. But don’t worry; we developed a separate universe for that. Click here to check it out.

The Hall of Famers is simple.

We take our list of 150 names and then apply our technical filters so the strongest stocks with the most momentum rise to the top.

Let’s dive right in and check out what these big boys are up to.

Here’s this week’s list:

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

We have the smartest clients!

We might not always agree on the market direction at All Star Charts, but we all share that sentiment. 

Our readers ask the best questions. And I selfishly benefit every time as it forces me to clarify my thoughts into a coherent response.

As I answered an email last night, I realized I had to share it with everyone:

We're almost half way through the 3rd quarter already!

Boy does time fly when you're having fun.

Have you noticed how much different the 2nd half of the year looks compared to the first half?

We're thrilled to see it.

Owning Tech stocks stuck below overhead supply is no way to go through life.

Here is the Market-cap Weighted Technology Index failing miserably to break out above its former cycle peak.

And, of course, the Equally-weighted Technology Index failing altogether to even retest its former highs:

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza and Alfonso Depablos @AlfCharts

Welcome to The Junior International Hall of Famers.

With the goal of finding more bullish setups, we have decided to expand one of our favorite scans and broaden our regular coverage of the largest US-listed international stocks, or ADRs.

This scan is composed of the next 100 largest stocks by market cap, those that come after the top 100 and are thus covered by the International Hall of Famers universe.

Many of these names will someday graduate and join our original International Hall Of Famers list. The idea here is to catch these big trends as early on as possible.

Let’s dive right in and check out what these future big boys are up to.

This is our Junior International Hall of Famers list:

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

Are investors really buying bonds, betting on a squeeze higher?

Perhaps it’s just my Twitter feed. (Or are we calling it "X" now?)

I’m perplexed by the growing chatter around picking the bottom in bonds.

Warning: Picking bottoms is never a good look.

It’s unbecoming, especially when there are zero signs of a reversal. (The same applies to tops.)

I understand the Nasdaq 100 had its best first half – like, ever.

But what does that have to do with yield charts?

Rates continue to rise worldwide.

Here’s a look at Germany, France, Portugal, and US benchmark rates:

All are steadily grinding higher following explosive advances last year. Yet none have decisively resolved to the upside from their respective multi-month ranges.