My weekly run through the S&P500 components is one of my favorite parts of the work week. I put on some music and go through all 1000+ charts. Remember we use the weekly charts to get structural perspective and then the daily timeframes to define more tactical opportunities: 2 charts for each of the 500 stocks. I then break down the index into 11 Sectors and run my analysis of stocks one sector at a time. This way it helps give me a better feel for that particular area within the entire stock market. To take it one step further, I then break down each of the 11 sector workbooks of charts into sub-sectors. So for example, in the "Energy Sector" there will be 4 sub-sectors: Integrateds, Services, Exploration/Production and Refiners.

The reason I'm really pressing this process lately is because of just how sideways the market has been for U.S. Stock Indexes. In order to get clues as to which way this consolidation will revolve is to look under the hood and see what's going on. Does the body have some strong organs left to keep it alive, or is this it? You can't just look at a car or look at a person and be able to properly diagnose the problem, or the good health for...

We live in a world of if/then statements. That's just the way it is. I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, or next month or next year. But that's okay because no one else does either. That whole lie about "uncertainty" is just that: a lie. There is always uncertainty. That's the point of all this. So we do our best to put together a road map filled with if/then statements. If the market does this, then we will do this. If that market does that, then we'll have to do that. This is the case today, it's been no different in the past and will likely be the same in the future. I don't know of any other way to manage risk responsibly.

These if/then statements are always changing, of course. The big question mark today is whether or not the U.S. Stock Market will begin to see an improvement of breadth, or if the deterioration will continue. In the past I've outlined some of my favorite breadth measures. Most of these are not confirming the new highs we're seeing in the S&P500 this week. But that statement is not fair on its own. The word "yet" needs to...

When we talk about "stocks", it can be in reference to many things. Most people like using something like the S&P500 or Dow Jones Industrial Average as a gauge because those are the popular United States indexes which contain many of the world's largest companies. That's fair. Depending on what country you live in, your interests are likely to be on your local indexes while you also keep an eye on maybe the United States and/or European Averages. I think it's important to understand that while these indexes are made up of companies based in local economies, the investors that own those stocks come from all over the world. We live in a global marketplace and I think it would be irresponsible of me as an investor to ignore that.

There are a lot of tools I use to measure the strength or weakness of the overall stock market environment. One of my favorites is a global index I created where I equally weight the largest 10 stock markets in the world. Each country represents 10% of the Allstarcharts Equally-weighted Top 10 Global Index $GLOBE. It includes both Emerging and Developed Markets. So you'll get Japan, London, Europe, Canada, US but also Brazil and India for...

Every month I host a conference call for All Star Charts Premium Members where we discuss ongoing themes throughout the global marketplace as well as changes in trends where new positions would be most appropriate. This includes U.S. Stocks & Sectors, International Stock Indexes, Commodities, Currencies and Interest Rate Markets.

We had been implementing a much more neutral approach towards equities and even most commodities since early March. This strategy worked well as many stocks, sectors and countries were in a sideways mess. Over the past week or so I believe things have changed and there are plenty of risk vs reward opportunities on the long side that we've outlined in recent letters.

I'll do my best to lay out my weight of the evidence conclusions and walk you step by step with how I got there! It will be held on Thursday May 18th at 7PM ET. Here are the Registration Details:

Most of you who know me already know that I incorporate a top/down, weight-of-the-evidence approach. It's not just 1 chart or 1 indicator that says to be long or short the stock market. It doesn't work that way. For me, I put in the work, weigh ALL of the evidence, and then put together a thesis. From there we then look to execute. Since March, however, a more neutral approach towards stocks has been my big theme. As we come into May, I see no evidence that suggests changing that strategy. Cash heavy still makes sense until the data changes and points to allocating that cash once again, long or short.

Today I want to go over a chart that I think the US Stock Market bulls are going to love. To me, it is potentially the most bullish chart in the entire world.

Register here for our live monthly conference call for Premium Members of All Star Charts India.

May's Strategy Session will be held on Tuesday, May 4th at 7 PM IST. As always, if you cannot make the call live, the video and slides will be archived and published here along with all of our past conference calls.

Here are the details for Tuesday:

Yesterday I kept a Diary throughout my entire process of reviewing the components of the S&P500. Many of you have written back with such nice things about that. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I think that in order to get the most out the research, it really helps to understand where I'm coming. This helps in the execution process, which is why we're here right? To make money in the market for ourselves and/or for our clients.

Today I felt that a nice supplement to yesterday's S&P500 work is a chart that shows what the S&P500 Equally weighted Index is doing relative to the S&P500 Market-cap weighted index. To me this is a good measure of whether or not we're seeing broad-based participation or if it's just the mega-cap names carrying the weight.

This post is a continuation of Diary of a Charting Session - Part 1

I get asked all the time about my process. A big question is usually around how did I find that chart in such a "random" country or asset, like an ETF on South Korea or a futures chart like Soybeans. To some people these might be assets that are not on their radar, but they are just as easy to trade as Apple shares or Crude Oil, that obviously get much more attention. My answer is simply that I look at all of them and just bring out some of my favorites. This is habit that I got into many years ago, so for me it's second nature.

With that theme in mind I thought it would be a good idea to share my diary of what it's like to go through so many charts. Sometimes I go through International Charts, other times Commodities or Currencies. On Monday I published my deep dive on the Major US Indexes and the bullish developments we're seeing. Today we are taking that one step further and going over every single S&P500 component on both weekly and daily timeframes. I have some personal additions like $TSLA and $DNKN for example, so in total that represents well over 1000 stock charts in this particular...

Next week I'll be flying into Chicago for a couple of days. I've been asked to speak at the University of Chicago School of Financial Mathematics as well as the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). The appetite for learning about Technical Analysis that I am finding all over the world is incredible. When I was invited to present at both of these prestigious institutions, Univ of Chicago & CBOT, I jumped at the opportunity. I love Chicago and have friends and some business to take care of there anyway so it works out great. My only catch was that the Cubs had to be in town. They made it happen and I'll be there next week!

We've been able to avoid some short-term messy sort of action lately. We'll take it. The breadth internals of the market had been suggesting since early March that something was wrong. The major indexes breaking uptrend lines further emphasized those characteristics of distribution. Momentum putting in bearish divergences at the highs from Q4 and Q1 this year also pointed to more neutral positioning towards equities. Most of our upside targets had also been achieved by early March and that was difficult to ignore. It's a weight-of-the-evidence approach for me, there's no question.

Today we're going to make the bullish case for US Stocks. Not that I think we rip higher every day from here and we need to buy everything in sight, but I do think it's worth paying attention to the developments from early this week. I also want to pinpoint exactly what we want to see moving forward before getting full on aggressive towards US Stocks as we did in July last year and in late January before that. 

The US Stock Market has been like watching grass grow. It's a hot mess and I'm all for it. We turned Neutral towards US Stocks in March so watching both the bulls and the bears get whipped around is great theater from our cash heavy seats. Nothing I've seen in the past couple of weeks has changed my opinion on this environment. To the contrary, everything continues to suggest having huge cash positions and not trying to be too aggressive - long or short. Cash is king sometimes and neutral is a position too, don't forget that.

Many of us have the ability to invest in other markets. For the few of you who cannot, I still think it's a good learning experience and a valuable academic exercise to explore other markets. You might not be trading (or allowed to trade) foreign markets today, but I promise you that one day in the near future, buying stocks in India will be as seamless as buying Microsoft or Apple. For most of us, it already is. The world is getting smaller, not bigger.

Every month I host a conference call for All Star Charts Premium Members where we discuss ongoing themes throughout the global marketplace as well as changes in trends where new positions would be most appropriate. This includes U.S. Stocks & Sectors, International Stock Indexes, Commodities, Currencies and Interest Rate Markets.

We've been implementing a much more neutral approach towards equities and even most commodities over the past month. This strategy has worked well as many stocks, sectors and countries continue to be a mess. There are times to step on the gas and really push it, like last summer for example. But other times, it's best to sit tight and wait for things to set up in the direction of a trend. A sideways mess is no fun for anyone. That's what we're in right now.

I'll do my best to lay out my weight of the evidence conclusions and walk you step by step with how I got there! It will be held on Tuesday April 18th at 7PM ET. Here are the Registration Details:

These are the registration details for our live monthly conference call for Premium Members of All Star Charts India.

This month’s Conference Call will be held on Wednesday, April 21st at 7 PM IST. As always, if you cannot make the call live, the video and slides will be archived and published here along with every other live call since our launch.

Here are the details for Tuesday:

The bond market has been fascinating lately for sure. Sentiment has been in one direction while price has gone in the complete opposite. Everyone seems to expect rates to rise and therefore bonds to fall. Position data certainly suggests that - the Commercial Hedgers have had a historic net long position. In other words, while the crowd assumes rates are going higher, the smart money is betting on the complete opposite happening. The ultimate arbiter, of course, is price. So today we want to take a look at what the intermarket components of the bond market are suggesting about the future of interest rates.

This morning I had a chance to sit down and chat with the good folks over at Benzinga. I've been doing interviews with Joel and Dennis for years. They've done a nice job of getting some really good guests on here consistently so it's great to be a part of that group.

Today we discuss U.S. Markets, Interest Rates, Silver, US Dollar and the growth in India's stock market. Here is the audio in full:

We're in the market to make money. It should not matter whether that money is made in Energy stocks, Technology, U.S. Equities, European or Chinese. The point is to find opportunities as they come, wherever they come from. I think as we progress into 2017 it is becoming very clear to me that we need to be focused on what is going on in India. Whether we're looking at the currency or the stock market, something interesting is happening here and I think it would be irresponsible of us to ignore.

I'm in New York City this week attending a couple of investing conferences so I went by the Nasdaq to chat with Business News Network about the current market environment. I've been consistently bullish since last year with an upside target in the S&P500 near 2335 and that objective was achieved last month. Now we're starting to see the breadth of momentum deteriorating on the most recent highs. The 2.3% level in the U.S. 10-year yield is the big area we're watching. I think the resolution here in rates will tell us a lot about risk appetite for stocks as we enter the second quarter.

Here is the interview in full (requires flash player):

Last week the Nasdaq100 went out at new all-time weekly closing highs. While that might seem like a bullish characteristic on the surface, I think it's important to recognize what is happening within the actual index itself. Like I always try and reiterate, this is not a "stock market", it is a market of stocks. Today we're going to take a look at what is actually going on here.