The dollar is rebounding, but don’t expect it to last

The US Dollar Index $DXY continues to sit near the top of our macro checklist. 

It’s been one of the more important tells of the cycle, not just for currencies—but for equities, commodities, and global risk assets.

Traditionally, the dollar moves opposite to US stocks. But as technicians, we know better than to marry intermarket correlations. These relationships ebb and flow, strengthen, weaken, invert, and sometimes go completely quiet. That’s normal.

Late last year, a big shift took place as stocks began to move with the dollar. It's not typical, but it’s not without precedent either. 

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 May 9, 2025. 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.

Everything in markets is connected. Not in theory—in function.

Think of the market like a human body. Your brain is at the center—processing data, storing memories, sending signals. But none of that matters unless the message reaches your limbs. That’s what nerves are for. They carry the signal. They make the body move.

Without that connection, you become rigid. Movement slows. Response times lag. Eventually, the whole system breaks down.

Markets work the same way and the bond market is the brain.

It holds the signal. It processes information about liquidity, risk, and expectations. The shape of the yield curve can tell you whether credit is expanding or contracting. Whether investors are optimistic or defensive. Whether the economy is warming up—or starting to overheat.

The bond market doesn’t just exist alongside stocks and commodities. It speaks to them. It sets the tone. It sends the signal.

If there’s enough liquidity, risk assets rally. Stocks rise and credit flows.

That’s a healthy system.

Too much liquidity?

Short sellers are getting squeezed, and you can see it.

These investors have been caught offside, and they're being forced to liquidate their short positions.

They're suffering right now, and that's precisely when we want to come in with the Freshly Squeezed strategy.

Here's our latest Freshly Squeezed table: 

As you can see, Hims & Hers Health $HIMS, Sezzle $SEZL, and Porch Group $PRCH are at the top of the scan. 

Over the last 10 trading sessions, they've rallied 85%, 81.6%, and 74.5%, respectively.

We also have tables sorted by short interest and days-to-cover.

Now, let's talk about today's setup and why we think the short sellers are about to get their faces ripped off.

First, here's some context 👇

Sezzle $SEZL is an emerging "buy now, pay later" platform based in...

I’m always thinking about where the next big winners will come from.

Who will be the secular leaders of tomorrow?

What will be the next mega trend?

Who has the scale and the reach to dominate an industry?

What are the big ecosystem plays of the future?

But, I’m not only thinking about the fundamentals. It has to be confirmed by the technicals.

I love a good growth story as much as anyone, but I’m not going to fly blind with it.

One thing I know about stocks like the Magnificent Seven is they didn’t get to their size by accident.

The best stocks consistently outperform the overall market. That's what makes them the best!

So, I’ve learned to look out for this kind of thing. I never want to miss these trends.

The...

More and more risk-on areas of the market are perking up with every passing day.

We’ve watched risk-appetite steal the show overseas in recent weeks, and now we’re seeing it stateside in US markets.

Small caps have outperformed off the April lows.

Speculative growth and ARK stocks have outperformed off the April lows.

Tech has led. Discretionary has led. Growth has led. High beta has led. 

All of this leadership boils down to the same thing.

Investors are embracing risk at an increasing rate. They want more exposure to the riskiest stocks and assets around the world, not less.

We just talked about this at our live event yesterday. We’re listening to the market and getting more aggressive on the long side.

When we last checked in, Crude Oil futures were falling apart as they sliced through significant levels of support like butter. 

The breakdown wasn’t subtle. It was decisive and came alongside broad weakness in the entire commodity complex.

Now, the carnage is spreading.

This week, it’s not just energy commodities that are under pressure...

It’s also the stocks tied to them.

This ratio ($RSPG / $RSP) has been treading water in a sideways range for over two years. 

It has bounced from the same support level multiple times, but that level is now under serious threat. 

We’ve got a massive topping pattern on our hands. It's rounded, heavy, and on the verge of a confirmed breakdown.

One more leg lower, and Energy’s former leadership story gets completely erased.

But that’s just the beginning…

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

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...

Spec‑growth is alive and well, as more and more offensive names are taking center stage for the current rally.

We continue to find bullish themes in specific industry groups from cyber, to quantum computing, and space & exploration. 

Investors are reaching out on the risk spectrum, and we’re ready to ride these trends with them.

Nothing screams “risk-on” louder than small‑modular nukes feeding AI’s power appetite. 

I’ve been referring to this basket of stocks as the “new nuclears,” but they actually have some really cool science, not to mention- a secular trend, behind them.

Let’s dive in.

At the Index level, the Nuclear Energy ETF $NLR is shaping up and threatening to break out of a monster base. 

I somehow found myself in Bangkok presenting to a room full of traders for a CMT event a few years ago.

I remember thinking how much I wanted them to like me…

And worrying that they wouldn’t because I had nothing positive to say about their local markets.

The charts were just so bad. There was no way around it.

The Thai Baht and the SET Index had just completed fresh tops. These trends were undeniably lower.

And this was really the case for all the Southeast Asian countries we visited.

Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam were in the middle of some nasty downtrends too.

I wish I had better news for everyone, but instead it felt like I was going from city to city announcing bear markets all over Asia.

I’ll never forget it. I literally felt bad. The people I met out there were trading these markets....

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Welcome to The 2 to 100 Club.

In this scan, we look to identify 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 journey to becoming the market behemoths they are today.

When you look at the stocks in our table, you'll notice we're only focused on Technology and Growth industry groups such as Software, Semiconductors, Online...

The Taiwan New Dollar just posted its sharpest two-day rally against the US dollar—ever.

This wasn’t just any rally. It was a vertical move—TWD/USD spiked over 10% in two sessions, tagging a near three-year high in the process.

It caught the entire FX complex leaning the wrong way. It was statistically off the charts. 

This wasn’t a six-sigma move. Or even ten. We're talking fifteen sigma. That’s what quants call an “impossible” outcome. A market move so extreme that it breaks the model. 

A 10% move might not turn heads in a tape where spec. growth stocks like HIMS or PLTR can move that and more intraday—but for a currency pair? It’s seismic. Especially when the pair has been dozing in a multi-year falling wedge. 

That pattern? It just resolved higher. The breakout came right at the apex of the wedge—when no one was paying attention.

With this kind of volatility comes a forced unwind. Exporters, insurers, speculators—everyone caught leaning the wrong way gets squeezed out the door. Fast.

So what’s behind it—but more...