From the desk of Louis Sykes @haumicharts

At the beginning of each week, we publish performance tables for a variety of different asset classes and categories along with commentary on each.

Looking at the past helps put the future into context. In this post, we review the absolute and relative trends at play and preview some of the things we’re watching in order to profit in the weeks and months ahead.

The weight of the evidence continues to overwhelmingly lie in favor of the bulls.

The major indices are above important levels and are well on their way to achieving our targets. We're seeing sector rotation into offensive, cyclical areas of the market, and away from defensive, which is all confirming these new highs.

Commodities are showing incredible strength in the face of extreme positioning, reflecting the control buyers have in these markets.

From the desk of Louis Sykes @haumicharts

I'm very new to this whole thing.

I only began trading, charting, and researching just a few short years ago - so it's only natural I become victim to some rookie mistakes.

Seeing my trading account up by a decent margin has given me this attitude that I'm some wonder kid, and that I've somehow cracked the puzzle only being a teenager.

But this couldn't be further from the truth.

If this rally has got you thinking you're a superstar, consider that 87%, a near-record high, of the Russell 3000 have outperformed the broader market in the last 3 months. That's right, 87%.

Assuming you've held stocks over this period, statistically speaking, it has actually been more difficult to underperform the S&P 500 than it has been to outperform.

I'm not sure if you noticed, but the MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund just went out at the highest weekly close in its history.

For you youngsters, this is a big deal.

You see, when I first got in this business, it was the Summer of 2003. Young JC was living in New York City for the first time, downtown in TriBeCa, ready to take on the world.

I was just an intern (envelope stuffer) at the time, at a firm called Merrill Lynch, which later went on to disappear with the likes of Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns. At that time though, in 2003, this gig was a big deal.

Anyway, for the next 4 years, Emerging Markets AVERAGED A 100% RETURN PER YEAR.

Yes you read that right. My career got started with Emerging Markets being the best place to be on earth. That stuck with me.

If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”

There's a lot of noise out there.

It's poison.

The glorified gossip columns and cartoon networks keep proving to be the equivalent of sugar and trans fat packed fast food.

Don't be mentally obese.

Stick to price.

It's better for the portfolio.

It's better for the soul.

It's a Bull Market you know...

I'm not sure if you've noticed, but owning stocks and spending our time looking for stocks to buy has been a much better idea than shorting stocks and spending your time looking for stocks to sell.

It's not even close.

Just think back at all the people who told us to do the opposite every day, every week and every month since the Spring.

Gross.

This week on the podcast, I'm thrilled to have Jeff Weiss, CMT join me for a really fun chat. If you know Jeff, you already know that he's quite the character. The stories he has from his early days in the 1960s and 70s are awesome. Have you ever heard of a squawk box? How about quote machines that you had to stand in line to use, and would still only get one stock quote at a time?

In this conversation Jeff shares old stories about how he got his first job, cold-calling CEOs of different firms until one of them finally gave him a shot. Even if you're not into Technical Analysis, and you're just a fan of the market, or business in general, this episode is for you.

Make sure to check out Jeff's book: Relationship Investing, named "Best Investment Book of the Year" by the 2018 Stock Trader’s Almanac.

This was a ton of fun. Big shout out to Jeff Weiss for joining me on the show.

Enjoy!

When stocks are in strong uptrends, they don't just do well on an absolute basis, but they also tend to outperform their alternatives. We talk about that a lot around here.

Today's chart has to show the Gold Fund breaking down to new all-time lows relative to the Nasdaq, as well as U.S. Treasury Bonds making new all-time relative lows as Interest Rates keep spiking.

Here is that chart showing the Nasdaq breaking out to new highs relative its alternatives:

Is there anything out there not going up in price, I mean other than U.S. Treasury Bonds?

Stocks are making new highs. Precious metals are underperforming, as usual, but at least they're trying to push up against new absolute highs.

Looks like the Bond bulls are just throwing in the towel:

With the stocks in the U.S. and all over the world breaking out to new all-time highs, how do you think people are reacting to it?

Do you see excess optimism out there?

I don't.

It's a new year and I'm back on the TV to chat with Catherine Murray at BNN Bloomberg. I wish I was in Toronto to shoot this live so I could get some Thai food or something afterwards, but we'll settle for a Skype call in this one! Man I love visiting Toronto.

Anyway, I don't think there's been anyone on her show who has been as bullish stocks as we have over the past 6-8 months. I even asked her, but she just laughed. Remember Just Buy Them Baby! from July?

What's changed since then? Only additional sector rotation, further breadth expansion and unparalleled participation (and new leadership) from global markets. Are you not entertained?

Check out the interview in full. We touch on some important points:

This week Howard and I talk about the evolution of markets. There are new ways for investors to allocate money almost every day. SPACs are back! More IPOs this year, and many of them going up. New tickers every day.

What do we do about it? How can we get involved? We discuss all of that in this video!

As we enter 2021, what are the areas we need to be watching? Howard thinks there are 3 major themes to be long for the next decade:

Fintech, Healthcare & Education.

It's hard for me to disagree, especially from a Technical perspective.

Here's the video in full:

JC and I were chatting this morning about things we're seeing in the markets. The big thing we're observing is the breakout in financials. And a breakout in financials is rarely something one observes in a bear market, or a bull market that is in the process of "topping."

While it might be wise to wait for pullbacks in the financials space before entering any new trades there, we were able to take some risk off in a bullish calls trade in Morgan Stanley $MS we've been in since December 11.

But one stock that has JC's attention has been lulling investors to sleep over the past six months. And this is kind of ironic since one of their main product lines is Trojan -- which promotes anything but sleep ;)

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 longer-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 5-9 years.

Introducing the Young Aristocrats. We like to say 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.