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. 

The European yields posted year-to-date highs in early March, while the 10-year US Treasury yield reached its year-to-date peak last week.

I continue to monitor...

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

When investing in the stock market, we always want to approach it as "a market of stocks."

Regardless of the environment, there are always stocks showing leadership and trending higher.

We may have to look harder to identify them depending on current market conditions. But there are always stocks that are going up.

The same can be said for weak stocks. Regardless of the environment, there are always stocks that are going down, too. 

We already have multiple scans focusing on stocks making all-time highs, such as Hall of Famers, Minor Leaguers, and the 2 to 100 Club.

We filter these universes for stocks that are exhibiting the best momentum and relative strength characteristics. 

Clearly, we spend a lot of time identifying and writing about leading stocks every week, via multiple reports.

Now, we're also highlighting lagging stocks on a recurring basis.

Welcome to the Short Report.

We...

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza.

Welcome back to Under the Hood, where we'll cover all the action for the week ended August 4, 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.

Click here for a behind-the-scenes look at our process.

Whether we’re measuring increasing interest based on large institutional purchases, unusual options activity, or...

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...

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

The stars have not aligned for gold bugs.

Rates and the US dollar are both catching higher – the opposite of what would likely ignite a precious metals rally.

Yet gold continues to hold above its former 2011 highs! 

Despite these setbacks, my bias remains bullish for gold.

But my desire to own the strongest assets is shifting actionable trade setups toward more profitable opportunities…

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.

Here’s this week’s list:

...

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

It’s commodities over bonds.

In fact, we’re now in an everything-over-bonds environment as rates continue to rise. 

Looking for an uptrend?

Just place US Treasury bonds or the Japanese yen in the denominator, and voila!  

I consider the commodity-versus-bonds ratio one of if not the most important high-level intermarket ratio in our deck.

Why? Because it reveals the inflationary backdrop that colors the entire market,  determining secular leadership between asset classes and US stocks. 

And it’s hinting at the next trend in relative strength…

Check out the commodity-versus-bond ratio, as measured by the relationship between the CRB Index and 30-year Treasury bond futures:

Notice the ratio peaked in 2008 during the Global Financial Crisis and turned lower until the pandemic selloff of 2020. 

Disinflation...

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

We love our bottoms-up scans here at All Star Charts. We tend to get really creative when making new universes as we want to be sure they will deliver us the best opportunities the market has to offer.

However, when it comes to our latest project, it couldn't be any simpler!

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 stocks.

Welcome to The Junior Hall of Famers.

This scan is composed of the next 150 largest stocks by market cap, those that come after the top 150 and are thus covered by the Hall of Famers universe. Many of these names will someday graduate and join our original Hall Of Famers list. The idea here is to catch these big trends as early on as possible.

There is no need to overcomplicate things. Market cap is a quality filter at the end of the day. It only grows if price is rising. That's good enough for us.

The bottom line...

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

Rates are on the move again.

The US 30-year Treasury yield $TYX cleared numerous hurdles this week. 

It broke above a shelf of former highs, climbing to its highest level year-to-date. And, perhaps more importantly, it reclaimed its former 2014 high.

Add a potential failed breakdown in the US dollar index $DXY, and it’s starting to feel a lot like 2022.

But should we expect another bloodbath?

…Not necessarily.

Here’s a quick look at the US 30-year yield resolving higher from an 8-month consolidation:

The chart tells the story: Interest rates are kicking off the next leg higher as the underlying uptrend remains intact.

It’s no longer a matter of whether rates will fall later this year. It’s now more a...

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Welcome to The 2 to 100 Club.

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...

From the Desk of Ian Culley @IanCulley

Time seems to move faster during bull markets.

I have my theories, and they all revolve around having fun.

One thing is certain: The month of July is now behind us. 

I can’t believe we’re more than halfway through the year and a month into Q3!

Since it’s August 1, let’s keep the good time rolling by reviewing the most important monthly chart in the deck…

It's the US Dollar Index $DXY.

The US dollar acted as a Chief Headwind for Global Risk Assets last year, with a little help from the Fed.

All eyes are fixated on King Dollar as it straddles an area of former-resistance-turned-support:

DXY broke down to fresh 52-week lows last month, only to almost immediately turn higher. The long lower shadow on the monthly candle highlights the reversal, indicating an...