Platinum has been left for dead.

We love it when sentiment for an asset is down in the dumps like it is now!

While Gold and Silver have stolen all the attention lately, Platinum’s been quietly coiling just below the surface, building pressure for what could be its biggest move in decades.

We’re not just seeing a bullish chart setup...

We’re seeing a perfect storm of technicals, fundamentals, and sentiment pointing in the same direction.

The last time Platinum looked like this, it rallied nearly 500% in nine years.

Is history about to rhyme?

Every day, we sift through the filings to spot where the real conviction lies – cutting through the noise to highlight the most meaningful insider moves.

Here's what stood out today:

📌 Trimas Corporation $TRS - Director Shawn Sedaghat filed an eye-watering Form 4 for more than $12 million of his company’s stock. This purchase comes as shares successfully came off a key level of technical support. 

📌 International Flavors & Fragrances $IFF - Director Kevin O’Byrne purchased $342,000 worth of IFF shares as the stock is threatening to make fresh lows. Year to date, is the sixth insider purchase in this company above $100,000.

Here’s The Hot Corner, with data from May 23, 2025:

Click the table to enlarge it.

📌Eagle Materials $EXP - Director David Rush just disclosed a purchase for $214,000 of his company’s stock. This comes as...

Yes, the U.S. had a rough 20-year auction. Yields on the 30-year almost retested their October highs, touching 5.15%. But that’s not the real story.

The real bond crisis is in Japan.

This week, Japan saw its worst 20-year bond auction since 1987. Long-end JGBs—30s and 40s—are ripping to all-time highs. Not because of inflation or growth. Because no one’s buying.

Life insurers, once the backbone of demand, are out. Solvency regulations crushed their appetite. Reinsurers are selling. The market is flooded with supply, and demand is structurally broken.

Now add fiscal stress, political risk, and an election promising tax cuts—and the bond vigilantes are wide awake.

This isn’t a local issue. Goldman says Japan’s long-end move added 80 bps of pressure to global yields. What’s happening in the U.S. isn’t just about the Fed. It’s about Japan breaking.

When the most conservative central bank starts losing control, that’s not background noise. That’s the alarm bell.

Bond dysfunction doesn’t just mean volatility.

It means inflation.

Because when buyers disappear… you print.
And when you print into a supply-constrained world…...

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.

Intuit $INTU posted a double beat this quarter, exceeding revenue and earnings expectations.

Their strength comes from multiple engines:

• Small Business and Self-Employed Group revenue jumped, fueled by growth in QuickBooks Online and payroll services.
• TurboTax remained a cash machine during tax season, reinforcing Intuit’s dominance in consumer finance.
• And Mailchimp and Credit Karma continued to expand their roles as critical tools for small business marketing and personal finance.

Management also raised full-year guidance across the board, a signal of confidence to the market.

In an environment where many software names are struggling to justify premium multiples, this company stands out for its consistency, diversification, and cash flow strength.

This report was just the latest reminder of why Intuit is one of the most valuable software companies in the world.

So what else did we learn from Friday's earnings reactions? Let’s dive into the details.

*Click the image to enlarge it

Intuit $INTU had the best...

This past week, I sat down for an interview with the author of Options Trading for Dummies, Joe Duarte, and my friend Jason Perz. We covered a wide range of topics geared toward helping newer traders get more comfortable with options. But what stuck with me most wasn’t a technical point or a strategy—it was an unexpected insight that hit me like a flash of clarity.

It came from something Jason said in passing, and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since:

Options traders are always fighting time.

And that works against us in two major ways.

1. Options Force Us to Time the Market

We’ve all heard it: “You can’t time the market.” And yet, if you’re trading options, you’re doing exactly that—whether you mean to or not.

Every options trade comes with an expiration date. That means your thesis has to not only be directionally correct, but correct within a specific window of time. If the stock moves in your favor after your contracts expire, you were still right—but it won’t matter. You’ll be left holding the bag.

Most of us aren’t wired for that kind of precision...

This past week delivered fewer high-profile reports, but the market reactions told us everything we needed to know.

We're seeing a consistent theme: mediocre results are getting punished, and even good reports aren't being rewarded like they used to.

Retail giants are faltering. 

Former Tech leaders are getting faded.

But beneath the surface, a few names are quietly pressing higher on strong setups and improving sentiment.

Here’s what stood out to us last week 👇

• Monday:
  • Take-Two Interactive Software $TTWO reported mixed results and was punished. This snapped a run of being rewarded for earnings in 4 consecutive quarters.
  • Applied Materials $AMAT reported mixed results and got crushed for it. This was the 5th consecutive negative earnings reaction.
• Tuesday:
  • No S&P 500 earnings reactions, but we broke down the bullish continuation pattern in Porch Group...

For traders, being early is just as bad as being wrong. 

And I’ve been early on energy. There’s no doubt. 

We’ve taken some shots with call options and they haven’t worked. 

But I’m also building and increasing long-term positions in the traditional oil & gas space. Nothing fancy. I’m talking about the largest integrated players around the globe. 

Exxon, Chevron, Canadian Natural, Petrobras… I’m leaning into the big boys in my long-term account. How about those dividend yields?

And the data keeps telling me I’m on the right track. 

Pull up a price chart and tell me I’m crazy. Because you’d be right. 

Energy bulls are trying to catch a falling knife right now. That’s a top in crude for the time being…

However, my technical upbringing has me focused on other things. I’m a...

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.

Matt Warder appeared as the featured guest on today's Morning Show on Stock Market TV, which was an extra special treat for commodity junkies like us.

Matt is widely recognized as the best Coal analyst in the world.

He’s in constant contact with top executives in the space and is basically a walking commodity encyclopedia, especially when it comes to Black Diamonds.

We had the pleasure of meeting him in New Orleans for our Portfolio Accelerator event and walked away smarter for it.

So when Steve Strazza asked him what commodity he’s most excited about right now, we were all ears.

His answer? “Titanium.”

No hesitation.

Coming from someone with Matt’s pedigree in the Coal markets, that caught us off guard. 

But after looking at the charts, it makes a lot of sense why he didn't mention Coal.

Sign up for my free note here.

Copper’s been stuck in a stiff coil for weeks.

Price has barely moved—just grinding sideways in one of the cleanest compression patterns we’ve seen in a while.

That changed today, as we finally got a big rip to the upside. 

This could be the starting-line momentum needed to finally resolve this 12-month range. 

Tight coils like this usually resolve in fierce fashion. And when they do, big moves ensue.

What I’m saying is I think this breakout has legs...

If momentum holds, I’m looking for a move toward the upper end of this base, somewhere around 5.20.

This level represents the all-time highs achieved in May...

As you can see from the steady band of green near the top of our rankings, there hasn't been much rotation across the industry group universe.

The same groups continue to lead — precious metal miners, along with growth areas like software, cybersecurity, and internet stocks.

On the flip side, Home Construction ($ITB) has been dragging on the market. It’s failed to reclaim a key support level, even as most major indices attempt to break above their pre-tariff crash highs.

Keep an eye on ITB in the coming weeks.

If even the weakest industry group can reclaim support, it leaves the bears with nothing to hold onto.

It’s a bull market when even the laggards are forced to move higher.

Stocks gave some back this week, but when I look beneath the surface, I really like what I see from market internals.

Quantum stocks are red hot again. 

Space & exploration names are perking up. 

The new nuclears are having a monster week. 

Heavily shorted stocks are squeezing.

And let’s not forget the cryptos. How about those new highs in Bitcoin!?

Speculative growth and technology continue to lead and have been doing it consistently since the April lows.

Participation is broadening, and a growing list of risk-on stocks are assuming new leadership roles.

It’s all very bullish, and we want to stay overweight offense as long as this is the environment.

So today, we updated our Speculative Growth Leadership Scan that we shared ...

Huge week for consumer news. Target and Deckers tanked, Urban Outfitters soared and Williams-Sonoma managed to get out of a tricky earnings report more or less unscathed.

But one of the bigger stories, and biggest moves, happened in a name from the past for reasons no one is really discussing.

Peloton started the week strong in both calls and price action. Suddenly on Thursday morning, in an otherwise bland tape shares started popping, ramping 10% apparently out of nowhere but, as it turns out for pretty good reasons. Trump's Biggest Beautiful Bill didn't just crush solar stocks. It also revised some key terms applying to health savings accounts (HSA). Specifically, the bill expanded the amount and ways money put into an HSA can be used without incurring a 20% penalty.

Among the uses now approved with a pre-existing medical condition? Buying a Peloton.

In effect, customers can now potentially buy almost anything from Peloton's suite of Treads, Bikes, and Rowers with what amounts to pre-tax dollars. Depending on your tax bracket, that can take quite a cut out of the price of a premium bike (a bike that happens to be perfect for HSA purposes since it...

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...

Deckers closed out an eventful week by offering frankly terrifying guidance for the current quarter and refusing to even speculate as to how much worse things could get from here.

The makers of Hoka and Uggs said demand for the former has fallen to a multi-year low of 10% yr/yr growth; numbers that seemed particularly horrifying after everything we heard from On Holdings last week. 

Analysts were quick to pounce, dragging DECK 20% lower and lowering estimates across the street.

With FootLocker and Dicks Sporting Goods (soon to be one company) report next week we'll have a better picture of why On seems to be the only shoe game in town. 

The moves are huge and losers and getting stomped in the shoe world. Stay tuned to this space for the latest as it happens. 

Also check out the brand new Hot Mom's Index I put together with my friend JC.

The banking sector in Canada is vastly different than the U.S. For one thing, there are far fewer of them! And there's really only a handful that matter.

One of those that matters is currently doing something that matters -- it's breaking out to new all-time highs! 

It's time to get involved.

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

1. New position in IBB.
2. No adjustments since the last report.
3. No exits since the last report.
4. Current status of open campaigns.
5. Volatility Snapshot.

Let’s dig in!

Below is my weekly video for members of Macke's Retail Roundup.

We're still in the heart of retail earnings season. This week we heard from names like TGT, TJX, and WSM. Next week we've got DKS, COST, M, BBY, DKS, BURL, KSS and ANF. 

All in all, we had a good week in the Macke Retail Roundup Portfolio, outperforming both the XRT and SPY. 

Here is my latest video update on the portfolio, as well as a couple of new potential adds I'm considering.

Portfolio Members In The News...