From the desk of Steve Strazza @sstrazza

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 the stock is about to move in...

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Our Top 10 Charts Report was just published.

In this weekly note, we highlight 10 of the most important charts or themes we're currently seeing in asset classes around the world.

Is There Enough in the Tank?

Pretty much everything in the world of energy has been on fire for the last quarter. Crude oil and energy stocks have been the stand-out performers this year as both have enjoyed a swift leg higher since early January. Despite the impressive price action, both are at logical levels to do some consolidating. Crude Oil and the Energy Sector SPDR (XLE) are challenging critical levels of overhead supply at former highs. Both of these areas have acted as resistance in the past, so it would not be unusual for sellers to show up once again. While the primary trends are still very much intact for energy stocks and futures, a breather here and some digestion of the recent gains would be constructive. The next key piece of information should come in the form of how that digestion looks. Do we correct through price, or time?

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From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Check out this week's Momentum Report, our weekly summation of all the major indexes at a Macro, International, Sector, and Industry Group level.

By analyzing the short-term data in these reports, we get a more tactical view of the current state of markets. This information then helps us put near-term developments into the big picture context and provides insights regarding the structural trends at play.

Let's jump right into it with some of the major takeaways from this week's report:

* ASC Plus Members can access the Momentum Report by clicking the link at the bottom of this post.

Macro Universe:

• Our macro universe was green this week as 57% of our list closed higher with a median return of 0.42%.
• The US 10-Year Yield $TNX was this week's big winner, tacking on 36bps and closing just shy of 2.5%.
• The biggest loser was Lumber $LB, with a weekly loss of -14.96%.
• There was a 13% gain in the percentage of assets on our list within 5% of their 52-week highs – currently at 34%.
• 45% of our macro list made fresh 4...

Turtle Creek Asset Management continues to build its position in the door and window manufacturer JELD-WEN Holding $JELD. 

Friday’s Form 4 filing is its fourth filing in just two weeks and reveals an additional $16.5 million of share purchases.

From the desk of Steven Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @Ianculley

Cyclical stocks are all the craze.

If you're doing well this year, it's because you own these stocks. If you're not, it's because you don't own these stocks.

Whether we're talking about energy, agricultural inputs, or industrial metals, these are the kinds of industry groups that are showing relative strength.

And, to be clear, this is nothing new. This theme has been in place for over a year now.

The only new development is that we're seeing upside momentum in these names pick up. As a result, the gap between these winners and the rest of the market has widened to historic levels.

The reason why many of these groups are working is simple. They make their money by selling various commodities, and the prices of those commodities continue to rise at an extraordinary pace.

As such, these "value stocks" are now growing their earnings and revenue at levels that make SAAS companies wish they were in the commodity business.

For much of my career, I've listened to investors clamor over...

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

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 which you can check out here.

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:

And here’s how we arrived at it:

• We filtered out any stocks that are below their May 10th 2021 high, which is when new 52-week highs peaked...

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

The biggest theme on our Hot List and Inside Scoop tables has been the strength from commodity stocks.

Since we launched the column, we’ve discussed the strength from energy stocks like Occidental Petroleum $OXY, agricultural stocks like Corteva $CTVA, and industrial metal names such as Freeport-McMoRan $FCX.

These names have all recently broken out and continue to show leadership. When the same theme continues to work, we want to continue to bet on it.

And that’s exactly what we’re doing with today’s setup.

Revolution Medicines $RVMD director Thilo Schroeder is back on our list for the third time in just two weeks with another Form 4 filing.

Following last week’s $3.4 million buy, he revealed an additional $5.5 million purchase in his latest filing.

There’s a handful of large Form 4 purchases on today’s list.

Robert Gervis, director of Aspen Aerogels $ASPN, purchased $4.5 million of stock.

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'll publish this column...

From the desk of Steven Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @Ianculley  

It's beginning to feel more and more like a risk-on environment out there.

Commodities are ripping higher. Stocks are digging in at critical levels. And defensive assets such as Treasury bonds and the Japanese yen are in freefall.

Despite the market volatility this year, investors continue to be rewarded for buying stocks over bonds. This has been the case for two years now, and there's no evidence it will change anytime soon.

When we look to our risk indicators and risk appetite ratios, the majority are still stuck in a range. With the stocks versus bonds ratio resolving to fresh highs, we're thinking the rest may soon follow.

But first and foremost, the price action from this classic intermarket relationship suggests that stocks are still the place to be.

Let’s take a look.

Here’s a chart of the S&P 500 $SPY versus US T-Bond ETF $TLT:   

What this ratio really...

This is the video recording of our March 23, 2022, Inside Scoop Weekly Strategy Session.