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...

I like to think that I work hard.

I put in the time. 

But not because I have to. It's because I want to.

There's a difference.

But I'm taking a break out here in Newport Beach, Ca for a few days, at what has become, the #1 Conference in all of Finance.

It's not even close.

I couldn't tell you what the 2nd best was. That's how dominant this is.

Sunday afternoon I walked up to the booth in Huntington Beach to get my badge and bag of goodies and they had pins representing whether it was your 1st year at FuturePtoof, your 2nd year attending or if it was your 3rd.

I smiled and said, "This is my 3rd year here", and she jumped up with joy and put extra flair on my conference name badge.

I feel like Jennifer Aniston in Office Space with all my flair on right now.

I laugh because of course it's my 3rd year. I want to support my friends.

Even if there was no one here, I would still be here.

But do you know how happy it makes me to see my boys kicking everyone's ass?

Josh Brown and the rest of the Ritholtz Wealth Management team is absolutely crushing it.

...

In today’s Daily Digest, we’ll review the following:

1. New position in IWM.
2. No adjustments are needed today.
3. No exits since the last report
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. NEW: Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

The most significant insider activity on today’s list comes via a Form 4 filing by Sylebra Capital.

The investment management firm reported a $20 million purchase of PureCycle Technologies $PCT shares.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from September 16, 2024:

Last week, Palladium surged nearly 20% after we discussed buying the futures, and Gold reached a new all-time high.

In response, precious metals mining stocks ripped higher for their best week since 2020.

The momentum behind some of these moves is absurd. For example, CDE, GATO, AG, and NGD all rallied over 30% last week.

Let's talk about what we're doing about it:

I'm out in Newport Beach, CA for a few days hanging out at an industry conference called Future Proof. 

I don't even know where to start with these guys.

I've had a front row seat to watch my good friend Josh Brown partner up with Barry Ritholtz, hire Michael Batnick and many others along the way, and turn a small advisory into a $5 Billion AUM firm - one of the fastest growing Financial Advisors in the United States.

It was awesome when they were first coming up and putting on conferences. They were big, but still small and intimate in their own ways.

Now they're just way too successful.

That band that was cool when just a few people knew about them has gone mainstream. 

There are way too many people here. It's absolutely insane.

My friends are rockstars. And I couldn't be happier to see all of their success.

I say there are too many people at this conference as a joke. But I'm not even kidding. There were like 20 open bars at happy hour last night and I still couldn't get a drink. 

It was nuts.

And today is actually the first full day.

I've already run into a bunch of old pals, who many in their...

From the Desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza.

Welcome back to Under the Hood, where we'll cover all the action for the two weeks ended September 14, 2024. This report is published bi-weekly, in rotation 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...

A bank from one of the world's largest economies is breaking out. How bearish can the stock market be in an environment like that?

The breakout is a new all-time high, and you guys know how I feel about new all-time highs. (hint: I love them)

In today’s Daily Digest, we’ll review the following:

1. New position in XOP.
2. No adjustments are needed today.
3. No exits since the last report
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. NEW: Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

The most significant insider activity on today's list comes via a Form 4 filing by KKR Americas Fund XII LP.

The private equity fund reported a purchase of $129 million in BrightSpring Health Services Inc $BTSG.

Mario Gabelli's GAMCO Investors filed a 13D for Lennar Corporation $LEN revealing an increase in ownership from 1.50% to 5.65%.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from September 13, 2024:

Heading into last week I shifted my short-term bias (weeks) from neutral to bullish.

This worked out rather nicely, with the S&P 500 closing every day in the green and crypto markets getting some relief from this recent selling.

I have flipped back my short-term bias (weeks) back to neutral with stocks pressing up to the highs. This fits into my intermediate bullish bias (months) as the market appears reserved heading into the election.

My longer-term bias (quarters) is still unequivocally bullish.

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.