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

In April 2020, crude oil traded below zero and marked the perfect capitulation event for a number of trends.

Around the very same time, both commodities and stocks bottomed and kicked off major rallies.

Until recently, commodities had underperformed stocks for about a decade. To make matters worse, they were moving lower on an absolute basis for most of that time as well. 

Not only have commodities started to trend higher on an absolute basis again. They're also undergoing a reversal in their relative trend with stocks and other alternatives.

We’ve been clear about our bullish position as we’ve discussed the potential for a new commodity supercycle for over a year. 

Now, we want to take that thesis one step further as the evidence is building in favor of commodities experiencing a sustained period of outperformance relative to stocks.

To best take advantage of this trend, we want to be overweight commodities and commodity-related stocks.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza and Grant Hawkridge @granthawkridge

One of the most important themes these days is the rotation between growth and value stocks. Groups like energy and financials have been breaking to new highs while growth and tech indexes have come under serious pressure.

So far, 2022 has been a true tale of two markets.

While cyclicals and value stocks appear to be gearing up for a momentous year, it looks like the party is finally coming to an end for the growth trade.

We want to lean on the value-heavy leadership groups for long opportunities in 2022. As for growth, we think it's likely to remain messy as interest rates continue to rise.  

When we look beneath the surface at growth and value stocks right now, our breadth data is confirming the action we’re seeing at the sector level.

Let’s dive in and discuss... 

Here's one way to visualize the opposing paths of large-cap value and large-cap growth right now. This indicator shows us the percentage of stocks above their 50-day moving averages for each of these indexes:

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

Outside of the large-cap averages in the US, most stocks have been stuck in sideways trends for much of 2021. We’ve seen breakouts fail in both directions over the past two months, as sloppy price action continues to govern the broader market.

As we discussed in our last intermarket post, this range-bound action has not just been the case for stocks on an absolute basis. We’re seeing the same thing from commodities, cryptocurrencies, and even our risk-appetite ratios. Risk assets have simply been a mess.

Let's take a look at one of our favorite risk-appetite ratios, as there's been an important development in the discretionary versus staples relationship. 

Here is large-cap consumer discretionary $XLY versus consumer staples $XLP: 

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

Last year was all about bullish breadth thrusts.

The percentage of new highs and other internal indicators spiked to historic extremes in 2020, indicating that we were in the early innings of a new bull cycle.

But 2021 has been a very different environment, characterized by corrective price action and lackluster market internals. Believe it or not, this is completely normal during year two of a bull market.

Sideways and choppy price behavior has been the theme this year. We haven’t come close to the high-water marks achieved by our breadth indicators last year, so, naturally, there are divergences. 

Indeed, these breadth divergences are to be expected. Market internals tend to peak early in a cycle. What bulls don't want to see is a meaningful downside expansion in breadth.

During the recent selling pressure, we experienced some of the highest readings in new lows since the COVID crash.

From the desk of Steven Strazza @Sstrazza

It's been about a month since small- and mid-caps resolved to the upside and made fresh highs.

As we all are aware, these were simply massive head-fakes. We're right back to where we started--stuck in the middle of the same range we've been in all year.

There was also plenty of evidence from our intermarket relationships and ratios to support these moves. Discretionary-versus-staples ratios broke to fresh highs. Copper versus gold. Stocks versus bonds. Inflation expectations. They all made new highs recently. But, just like most stocks on an absolute basis, many of these breakouts have since failed.

Of all these developments, it's hard to argue that any is more important than the stocks-versus-bonds ratio retracing back beneath its Q1 highs. With long rates making new lows and stocks selling off, let's talk about how we are approaching both of these asset classes right now.

Here's the S&P 500 $SPY relative to long-term Treasury bonds $TLT, zoomed out to the early 2000s.

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

Breakouts and breadth expansion kicked off the month of November. 

But the market had other ideas... 

Instead of fresh legs higher, investors were dealt a handful of downside reversals and failed moves. Last week, we went from discussing breakouts and new highs for stocks... to throwbacks and retests of old ranges. This all happened in the matter of a few trading sessions.

A lot has changed in a short period. In times like these, it’s important to take a good look under the hood to see what market internals are suggesting.

As we reviewed our breadth chartbook today, we asked ourselves the following questions: 

Are we seeing a notable expansion in new lows? Is it enough that we should be worried?

Let’s take a look beneath the surface and see if we can find some answers!

First, let’s check in on the 21-day and 63-day lows for the S&P 500:

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

Over the past few weeks we’ve seen a handful of major indexes, like small and mid-caps, resolve higher and kick off a fresh up leg. But breadth has really cooled off since then, as participation has been declining despite the major averages rallying.

This week, we’re finally seeing that weakness show up at the index level -- particularly from SMIDs and cyclicals.

When we were reviewing our breadth charts, we noticed the deterioration in energy sector internals has been particularly bad. Not only is breadth not confirming the new highs from energy stocks… but there are actually some pretty ugly divergences in our new high indicators. 

Energy stocks are currently vulnerable, sitting just above their breakout level at former resistance. Considering the lack of support from internals, this group is on failed breakout watch.

Let’s take a look under the hood and discuss what we’re seeing.

Energy has been coiling in a continuation pattern above its year-to-date highs around 56 for over a month now. You can see this in the upper pane of this chart:

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

Everything's falling into place for the bulls.

Mid-caps and small-caps finally joined their large-cap peers at new record highs earlier this month. A bullish expansion in breadth is confirming these breakouts at the index level.

We're also seeing strong confirmation in the form of other risk assets resolving above key levels of interest.

As suspected, our risk checklist has moved up to its highest level since we began tracking it this summer. This list does an excellent job summarizing the global landscape.

Here’s a look at where things stand presently:

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

Last week, we pointed out some mixed signals in our breadth indicators. 

Despite the new highs from almost all the large-cap major averages, we had yet to see new highs in their corresponding advance-decline lines.

We also hadn’t experienced the kind of expansion in participation that we’d expect to accompany the indexes to new price highs.

Our new high indicators were still muted, even on shorter timeframes.

But that was last week. This week, mid-caps and small-caps have joined their large-cap peers at new record highs after making decisive upside resolutions from their year-to-date ranges.

And guess what? We’re finally getting that breadth confirmation we were missing.

Let’s talk about it.

First, here’s a quick update on the advance-decline lines that we covered in last week's column:

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

While breadth has improved in recent weeks and months, the bulls still have their work cut out for them.

When we consider all our breadth indicators in aggregate, the evidence remains mixed. What else is new!?  It’s been that way for the majority of this year.

Many of the major indexes made new all-time highs this week. Meanwhile, some advance-decline lines are moving higher, but others are moving lower. Some are at the top of their range, but others are at the bottom of theirs.

The advance-decline line measures stock market breadth based on cumulative net advances. In other words, it takes the number of advancing stocks on a given day and subtracts the number of declining stocks. That number is then added to the previous day’s value, creating a cumulative advance-decline line.

A/D line divergences occur when price is making new highs and the A/D line is NOT.

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

September saw significant selling pressure in equity markets. The S&P 500 suffered its worst drawdown since last year, and many of the major indexes made a lower low. But when we look under the surface, it really wasn’t that bad. 

We didn’t get an expansion in new lows to confirm the new lows in price. Instead, these readings remained muted across most of the major averages in the US.

Since then, the bulls have regained control. Breadth has improved throughout October as the indexes have rallied back toward their former highs. Although we haven’t seen a real expansion in participation at the index level, things have definitely been moving in the right direction.

Let's talk about it.

Here’s a look down the cap scale at new 52-week highs for all three S&P indexes, from large to small:

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

Most risk assets peaked during Q1 or May of this year and have consolidated in sideways ranges ever since.

But the bulls have started to take control of many of these trends. We're seeing more and more upside resolutions -- and this phenomenon isn't limited to Crude Oil, Rates, AUD/JPY, and cyclical stocks. Similar patterns are also playing out when we look at intermarket ratios, particularly those we use to measure risk appetite.

In today’s post, we'll dive into one of our favorite risk-appetite relationships and check for price confirmation in a variety of ratios.

First up is none other than large-cap consumer discretionary versus consumer staples stocks: