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

Thanks to everyone who participated in last week’s Mystery Chart.

We questioned whether this consolidation would resolve in the direction of the primary downtrend--in which case we would expect a break lower.

Or maybe buyers would step in and defend those former lows once again.

Despite the lack of bearish momentum readings, many of you wanted to sell on a break below support, citing the primary trend as a major deciding factor.

And that's basically where our heads were, too, as it's always easier to go with the trend.

So what are we selling? Or should I say... buying?

The chart was the Small-Cap Technology ETF $PSCT… but it was inverted!

So those who wanted to sell on a breakdown were actually buyers, and vice versa.

Here’s a fresh look at the chart, right side up this time:

From the desk of Steven Strazza @Sstrazza and Grant Hawkridge @granthawkridg

Money really likes to flow where it's treated the best… and as far as sectors and even most industry groups go, there simply isn't much alpha out there at the moment.

In analyzing relative trends, we’re always aware of how the overall stock market is performing against defensive assets. 

In today’s post, we’re going to check in on those sectors investors pile into when seeking safety as opposed to positioning for risk.

Utilities, Real Estate, and Staples... the “bond proxy” groups. Let's dive in.

Here's a custom index of them all charted relative to the broader market.

Notice how the relationship has stopped trending lower since it bottomed back in July.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza

Dividend Aristocrats are easily some of the most desirable investments on Wall Street. These are the names that have increased dividends for at least 25 years, providing steadily increasing income to long-term-minded shareholders.

As you can imagine, the companies making up this prestigious list are some of the most recognizable brands in the world. Coca-Cola, Walmart, and Johnson & Johnson are just a few of the household names making the cut.

Here at All Star Charts, we like to stay ahead of the curve. That’s why we’re turning our attention to the future aristocrats. In an effort to seek out the next generation of the cream-of-the-crop dividend plays, we’re curating a list of stocks that have raised their payouts every year for five to nine years.

We call them the Young Aristocrats, and the idea is that these are “stocks that pay you to make money.” Imagine if years of consistent dividend growth and high momentum & relative strength had a baby, leaving you with the best of the emerging dividend giants that are outperforming the averages.

On September 8th, Sean and JC hopped on a Twitter Live Stream to discuss a recent trade idea for All Star Charts Options Members.

Here's the play:

"I like a $BSX Nov/Mar 50-strike Call Calendar spread for a $1.15 debit or cheaper. This means I’ll be long the March 50 calls and short an equal amount of November 50 calls for a net debit which represents the most I can lose in this trade if it short-circuits on us."

To learn more about the trade and the thinking behind it, click below to watch a replay of the Live Stream.

From the desk of Willie Delwiche.

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

We held our September Monthly Strategy Session last night. Premium Members can access and rewatch it here.

Non-members can get a quick recap of the call simply by reading this post each month. 

By focusing on long-term, monthly charts, the idea is to take a step back and put things into the context of their structural trends. This is easily one of our most valuable exercises as it forces us to put aside the day-to-day noise and simply examine markets from a “big-picture” point of view.

With that as our backdrop, let’s dive right in and discuss three of the most important charts and/or themes from this month’s call.

...That's how we're supposed to do it, right?

JC & Strazza were riffing this morning on the strength in the Medical Equipment space and so we started brainstorming on some names to play since we expect the strength to continue.

There were a few names bandied about, but the chart and setup that most caught my attention was Boston Scientific Corp $BSX.

What I liked most was the recent consolidation which can act as a solid base of support for a move higher -- which would be all-time highs breaking out of a nearly 20 year base! As JC likes to say: "The bigger the base, the higher in space!" Seems this opportunity has a good shot at that:

A funny thing happened back in May.

The Cyclicals stopped going up. You can see it in the NYSE Advance-Decline line, which has been falling ever since.

But you can really see it when you overlay the Industrials with Materials and Financials.

Chop Chop Chop:

This is the video recording of our September 7, 2021 Monthly Charts Live Strategy Session

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

In last week’s Currency Report, we highlighted the NZD/USD cross as a means to express our bearish US dollar thesis.

The setup was too good to resist taking a swing at following the recently failed breakdown. And so far, we’ve been rewarded for it. That’s information.

But it’s not the only cross that continues to trend well against the US Dollar. We see it all over, and it’s only reinforcing our bearish thesis.

As such, we want to look for more opportunities to take advantage of this developing theme.

In this week’s post, we’re going to do just that.

Let’s drill into our forex universe now and identify some of our favorite risk/reward setups we want to bet on to capture profits from a weakening US dollar. 

As the third quarter winds to a close, the bulls just took the lead for the first time since early in the 1st half.

Everything is clicking for them and they're in control of the game right now. While it's been a nice comeback, it's still just 52 to 48, so they have plenty of work to do.

I'm not talking about basketball. Not the Chicago bulls. I'm referring to stock market bulls and the current score on our risk checklist.

It's currently at its highest reading since we started publishing it back in June, so we'd be remiss not to write about it.

It's been a great roadmap for us in recent months so let's have a quick look at what it's saying now as well as some of the more recent developments that have taken place.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @sstrazza and Ian Culley @ianculley

In last week’s Commodity Report we highlighted the Uranium ETF $URA and promised to dig up some trade ideas within this outperforming group of stocks.

While everyone was enjoying the Labor Day weekend, barbecuing, and watching football - we were pouring over our Uranium universe to uncover the best risk/reward opportunities in the strongest names. 

But hey, this is what we love to do!

So let’s dive right in and see what we found.

First of all, why do we like Uranium so much right now?

Both the Uranium ETF and the underlying commodity are showing leadership and breaking out of 6-year bases. That's more than good enough for us.