by Scott Martindale
President, Sabrient Systems LLC

There is a stock market adage that says, “as goes January, so goes the year.” Well, if that comes true this year, we are in for some robust gains, as stocks just enjoyed the strongest January since 1987 (when it rose +13.2%). For the full month of January, the S&P 500 gained +8.0% (and S&P mid and small caps were even stronger at around +10.5%). Meanwhile, after a dismal 2H2018 in which Sabrient’s cyclicals-heavy portfolios trailed the broad market in the wake of a fear-driven defensive rotation that began in June, our 12 monthly all-cap Baker’s Dozen portfolios from 2018 handily outperformed by gaining an average of +11.8% for the full-month of January (and +19.7% since the low on Christmas Eve through 1/31, versus +15.2% for the SPY), and our actively-managed SMA portfolio (which holds 30 GARP stocks) gained +13.2%. Fundamentals seem to matter again, and institutional fund managers and corporate insiders have been suddenly scooping up shares of attractive-but-neglected companies in what they evidently see as a welcome buying opportunity.

On the other hand, it’s pretty clear to me that 4Q2018 was unnecessarily weak, with the ugliest December since the Great Depression, selling off to valuations that seem more reflective of an imminent global recession and Treasury yields of 5%. So, some might argue that January’s big rally was just a temporary bounce from massively oversold conditions – a case of “righting the ship” back to more appropriate valuations – and as such is giving us little indication about the balance of the year.

My view is more on the bullish side. When you combine earnings beats and stable or rising forward guidance with price declines, it sure seems to me that the worst is behind us, as investors recognize the opportunities before them and pay less attention to the gloomy news headlines and fearmongering commentators. Moreover, I expect to see a renewed appreciation for active management and a return to a more selective stock-picker’s market, with a rising stock market fueled by a de-escalation (or preliminary resolution) to the trade war with China and a more patient and accommodative Fed. In fact, as I said at the start of the year, I think the S&P 500 will finish the year with a gain in the 20-25% range – but savvy stock selection could produce even better returns. However, please be cognizant of 2018’s lesson that volatility is not dead, so try not to be alarmed when we encounter bouts of it over the course of the year.

In this periodic update, I provide a market commentary, offer my technical analysis of the S&P 500, review Sabrient’s latest fundamentals-based SectorCast rankings of the ten US business sectors, and serve up some actionable ETF trading ideas. In summary, our sector rankings remain slightly bullish, while the sector rotation model has returned to a neutral posture after a few months of defensiveness. Read on…

by Scott Martindale
President, Sabrient Systems LLC

After an “investor’s paradise” year in 2017 – buoyed by ultra-low levels of volatility, inflation, and interest rates, and fueled even more by the promise of fiscal stimulus (which came to fruition by year end) – 2018 was quite different. First, it endured a long overdue correction in February that reminded investors that volatility is not dead, and the market wasn’t quite the same thereafter, as investors’ attention focused on escalating trade wars and central bank monetary tightening, leading to a defensive risk-off rotation mid-year and ultimately to new lows, a “technical bear market” (in the Nasdaq and Russell 2000), and the worst year for stocks since the 2008 financial crisis. Then, it was confronted with the Brexit negotiations falling apart, Italy on the verge of public debt default, violent “yellow vest” protests in France, key economies like China and Germany reporting contractionary economic data, and bellwether companies like FedEx (FDX) and Apple (AAPL) giving gloomy sales forecasts that reflect poorly on the state of the global economy. The list of obstacles seems endless.

Moreover, US stocks weren’t the only asset class to take a beating last year. International equities fared even worse. Bonds, oil and commodities, most systematic strategies, and even cryptocurrencies all took a hit. A perfect scenario for gold to flourish, right? Wrong, gold did poorly, too. There was simply nowhere to hide. Deutsche Bank noted that 93% of global financial markets had negative returns in 2018, the worst such performance in the 117-year history of its data set. It was a bad year for market beta, as diversification didn’t offer any help.

Not surprisingly, all of this has weighed heavily upon investor sentiment, even though the US economy, corporate earnings, and consumer sentiment have remained quite strong, with no recession in sight and given low inflation and interest rates. So, despite the generally positive fundamental outlook, investors in aggregate chose to take a defensive risk-off posture, ultimately leading to a massive selloff – accentuated by the rise of passive investing and the dominance of algorithmic trading – that did huge technical damage to the chart and crushed investor sentiment.

But fear not. There may be a silver lining to all of this, as it has created a superb buying opportunity, and it may finally spell a return to a more selective stock-picker’s market, with lower correlations and higher performance dispersion. Moreover, my expectation for 2019 is for a de-escalation in the trade war with China, a more accommodative Fed, and for higher stock prices ahead. Forward valuations overall have become exceedingly attractive, especially in the cyclical sectors that typically flourish in a growing economy.

In this periodic update, I provide a market commentary, offer my technical analysis of the S&P 500, review Sabrient’s latest fundamentals-based SectorCast rankings of the ten US business sectors, and serve up some actionable ETF trading ideas. In summary, our sector rankings remain bullish, while the sector rotation model remains in a defensive posture. Read on…

by Scott Martindale
President, Sabrient Systems LLC

Last week was the market’s worst since March. After Q3 had zero trading days with more than 1% move (up or down), our cup runeth over in Q4 with the stock rollercoaster so far offering up 22 days that saw a 1% move. Volatility seems rampant, but the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) has not even eclipsed the 30 level during Q4 (whereas it hit 50 back in February). Even after Friday’s miserable day, the VIX closed at 23.23. Of course, the turbulence has been driven primarily by two big uncertainties: the trade dispute with China and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy, both of which have the potential to create substantial impacts on the global economy. As a result, investor psychology and the technical picture have negatively diverged from a still solid fundamental outlook.

For about a minute there, it seemed that both situations had been somewhat diffused, with Presidents Trump and Xi agreeing at the G20 summit to a temporary truce on further escalation in tariffs, while Fed chairman Powell made some comments about the fed funds rate being “just below” the elusive neutral rate. But investors’ cheers soon switched back to fears (soon to be tears?) with the latest round of news headlines (e.g., Huawei CFO arrest, Trump’s “Tariff Man” comment, Mueller indictments, and the imminent federal debt ceiling showdown). The uncertainty and fear-mongering led to a buyers’ strike that emboldened the short sellers, which in turn triggered forced selling in passive ETFs and automated liquidation in quant hedge funds, high-frequency trading (HFT) accounts, and leveraged institutional portfolios, which removed liquidity from the system (i.e., no bids), culminating in a retail investor panic. As it stands today, the charts look woefully weak and investor psychology has turned bearish, with selling into rallies rather than buying of dips.

Ever since June 11, when the trade war with China escalated from rhetoric to reality, stocks have seen a dramatic risk-off defensive rotation, with Healthcare, Utilities, Consumer Staples, and Telecom the only sectors in positive territory and the only ones outperforming the broad S&P 500 Index. It’s as if investors see the strong GDP prints, the +20% corporate earnings growth (of which about half is organic and half attributable to the tax cut), record profitability, and record levels of consumer confidence and small business optimism as being “as good as it gets,” i.e., just a fleeting final gasp in a late-stage economy, rather than the start of a long-awaited boom cycle fueled by unprecedented fiscal stimulus and a still-supportive (albeit not dovish) Federal Reserve. As a result, forward P/E on the S&P 500 is down a whopping -19% this year, which is huge – especially considering this year’s stellar earnings reports and solid forward guidance.

But has anything really changed substantially with regard to expectations for corporate earnings and interest rates (the two most important factors) to so severely impact valuations? Not that I can see. And Sabrient’s quantitative rankings imply that the economy and forward guidance remain quite strong, such that the market is simply responding to the proverbial Wall of Worry by offering up a nice buying opportunity, particularly in beaten down cyclical sectors and in solid dividend payers – although there might be some more pain first. Over the past 10 years of rising stock prices since the Financial Crisis, there have been eight corrections of roughly -10% (including nearly -20% in 2011), and this year’s correction has led to the fourth major drawdown for Sabrient’s Baker’s Dozen annual top picks list (1Q2009, mid-2011, 2H2015, and now). But selling at each of those previous times would have been the wrong thing to do, and this time seems no different.

In this periodic update, I provide a market commentary, offer my technical analysis of the S&P 500, review Sabrient’s latest fundamentals-based SectorCast rankings of the ten US business sectors, and serve up some actionable ETF trading ideas. In summary, our sector rankings remain bullish, while the sector rotation model remains in a defensive posture due to the persistent market weakness. Read on...

by Scott Martindale
President, Sabrient Systems LLC

The escalating trade standoff with China, an increasingly hawkish Federal Reserve, and the impending mid-term elections finally took a toll on investor psyche, creating a rush to the exits in October as concern rises about the sustainability of the ultra-strong corporate earnings given China’s key role in global supply chains. Even some sell-side analysts have seen fit to slightly trim Q4’s strong earnings estimates. Nonetheless, the month ended with an encouraging rally from deeply oversold technical conditions. Overall, Sabrient’s model continues to suggest that little has changed with the positive fundamental outlook characterized by solid global economic growth, strong US corporate earnings, modest inflation, low real interest rates (despite incremental rate hikes), a stable global banking system, and historic fiscal stimulus in the US (especially corporate tax cuts and deregulation) that is only starting to have an impact on all-important capital spending. Also worth mentioning are the Consumer Confidence Index, which rose to its highest level in 18 years, and the Small Business Optimism Index, which continues with the longest streak of sustained optimism in its 45-year history.

Although the S&P 500 managed to plod its way upward during the summer and hit new highs well into September, a dramatic risk-off defensive rotation commenced in mid-June reflecting cautious investor sentiment, which disproportionately impacted Sabrient’s cyclicals-heavy portfolios. But this was not a healthy rotation. In fact, I wrote during the summer that the market wouldn’t be able to move much higher without renewed breadth and leadership from cyclicals. But instead of a risk-on rotation to recharge bullish conviction, we got a big market sell-off in October. Notably, such a pullback is normal in mid-term election years, but what is also normal is a strongly positive market move over the course of the 12 months following the mid-terms.

Last week’s fledgling recovery rally from severely oversold technical conditions showed promising risk-on action – and some relative performance catch-up in Sabrient’s portfolios. Thus, while the aggregate earnings outlooks for companies in the cyclical sectors and smaller caps have held steady or in many cases improved, shares prices have fallen dramatically, making the forward P/Es in these market segments much more attractive, while forward P/Es in the defensive sectors have become quite pricey.

Getting the uncertainty of the mid-term elections behind us should be good for investor sentiment. So, I think the correction lows are in – barring a massive “blue wave” in which Democrats take over both houses of Congress or a total breakdown in the China trade talks. Also, companies are coming out of their reporting-season blackout windows so that they can resume their massive share buybacks, further goosing stock prices. All told, I anticipate a risk-on rotation spurring a year-end rally that should treat our portfolios well.

In this periodic update, I provide a market commentary, offer my technical analysis of the S&P 500, review Sabrient’s latest fundamentals-based SectorCast rankings of the ten US business sectors, and serve up some actionable ETF trading ideas. In summary, our sector rankings remain bullish, while the sector rotation model has been forced into a defensive posture due to the recent correction. Read on...

by Scott Martindale
President, Sabrient Systems LLC

Volatility suddenly returned with a vengeance last week – to both stocks and bonds. In fact, on Wednesday, while the -3.1% single-day selloff in the S&P 500 didn’t quite equal the -4.1% fall on February 3, the normal “flight to safety” into US Treasuries when stocks sell off didn’t occur, which was quite distressing to market participants and pundits alike. But on Thursday, bonds caught a bid while equities continued their fall. Suddenly, talk has become more serious about the potential for slower global growth due to rising interest rates and escalating trade wars.

But has anything really changed from a fundamental standpoint? I would say, absolutely not. Although the risk-off rotation since June 11 continues to hold back Sabrient’s cyclicals-oriented portfolios, our quantitative model still suggests that little has changed with the fundamentally strong outlook characterized by global economic growth, impressive US corporate earnings, modest inflation, low real interest rates, a stable global banking system, and historic fiscal stimulus in the US (including both tax relief and deregulation). Moreover, it appears to me that equities are severely oversold, and now is a good time to be accumulating high-quality stocks with attractive forward valuations from the cyclical sectors and small caps.

When a similar correction happened in February, the main culprits were inflation worries and hawkish rhetoric from the Federal Reserve regarding interest rates. After all, the so-called “Fed Put” has long supported the stock market. But then the Fed commentary became less hawkish and more data-driven, which was helpful given modest inflation data, but the start of the trade war rhetoric kept the market from bouncing back with as much gusto as it had been displaying.

So, what caused the correction this time? Well, to an extent, bipartisan support for heightened regulation and consumer privacy protections hit some of the mega-cap InfoTech stocks that had been leading the market. But in my view, the sudden spikes in fear (and the VIX) and in Treasury yields and the resulting rush to the exit in stocks was due to a combination of the Federal Reserve chairman’s suddenly hawkish rhetoric about interest rates and China’s extreme measures to offset damage from its trade war with the US.

In this periodic update, I provide a market commentary, offer my technical analysis of the S&P 500, review Sabrient’s latest fundamentals-based SectorCast rankings of the ten US business sectors, and serve up some actionable ETF trading ideas. In summary, our sector rankings remain bullish, while the sector rotation model has switched to a neutral posture due to the recent correction. Read on....

by Scott Martindale
President, Sabrient Systems LLC

Some investors transitioned from a “fear of missing out” (aka FOMO) at the beginning of the year to a worry that things are now “as good as it gets” – meaning that the market is in its last bullish move before the inevitable downturn kicks in. And now, escalating trade wars and a flattening yield curve have added to those fears. However, it appears to me that little has changed with the fundamentally strong outlook characterized by global economic growth, strong US corporate earnings, modest inflation, low real interest rates, a stable global banking system, and historic fiscal stimulus in the US (including both corporate tax cuts and deregulation). Moreover, the Fed may be sending signals of a slowing of rate hikes, while great strides have been made in reworking trade deals.

Many followers of Sabrient are wondering why our Baker’s Dozen portfolios – most of which had been performing quite well until mid-June – suddenly saw performance go south even though the broad market averages have managed to achieve new highs. Their concerns are understandable. However, if you look under the hood of the S&P 500, leadership over the past three months has not come from where you would expect in a robust economy. An escalation in trade wars (moving from posturing to reality) led industrial metals prices to collapse while investors suddenly shunned cyclical sectors in favor of defensive sectors in a “risk-off” rotation, along with some of the mega-cap momentum Tech names. This was not healthy behavior reflecting the fundamentally-strong economy and reasonable equity valuations.

But consensus forward estimates from the analyst community for most of the stocks in these cyclical sectors have not dropped, and in fact, guidance has generally improved as prices have fallen, making forward valuations much more attractive. Sabrient’s fundamentals-based GARP (growth at a reasonable price) model, which analyzes the forward estimates of the analyst community, still suggests solid tailwinds and an overweight in cyclical sectors. Thus, we expect that investor sentiment will eventually fall in line and we will see a “risk-on” rotation back into cyclicals as the market once again rewards stronger GARP qualities rather than just the momentum or defensive names. In other words, we think that now is the wrong time to exit our cyclicals-heavy Baker’s Dozen portfolios. I talk a lot more about this in today’s commentary.

Of course, risks abound. One involves divergent central bank monetary policies, with some continuing to ease while others (including the US and China) begin a gradual tightening process, and the enormous impact on currency exchange rates. Moreover, the gradual withdrawal of massive liquidity from the global economy is an unprecedented challenge rife with uncertainty. Another is the high levels of global debt (especially China) and escalating trade wars (most importantly with China). Because China is mentioned in every one of these major risk areas, I talk a lot more about China in today’s commentary.

In this periodic update, I provide a market commentary, offer my technical analysis of the S&P 500, review Sabrient’s latest fundamentals-based SectorCast rankings of the ten US business sectors, and serve up some actionable ETF trading ideas. In summary, our sector rankings now look even more strongly bullish, while the sector rotation model retains its bullish posture. Read on....

by Scott Martindale
President, Sabrient Systems LLC

Market conditions remain strong for equities, in my view, with stocks being held back only by the (likely transient) trade war uncertainty. The US economy appears to be hitting on all cylinders, with the new fiscal stimulus (tax reform, deregulation) providing the long-missing ingredient for a real economic “boom cycle” to finally get some traction. For too long, the US economy had to rely solely on Federal Reserve monetary stimulus (ZIRP and QE), which served mainly to create asset inflation to support the economy (aka “Ponzi financing”), while the bulk of our working population had to endure de facto recessions in corporate profits, capital investment, and hiring. But with fiscal stimulus, corporate earnings growth is on fire, underpinned by solid revenue growth and record levels of profitability.

So far, 2Q18 earnings reporting season has come in even better than expected, with year-over-year EPS growth for S&P 500 companies approaching 24%. Even when taking out the favorable impact of lower tax rates, organic earnings growth for full-year 2018 still looks as though it will come in around the low to mid-teens.

Cautious investors are seeing the fledgling trade war as a game of brinksmanship, with positions becoming ever more entrenched. But I actually see President Trump as a free-trade advocate who is only using tariffs to force our trading partners to the bargaining table, which they have long avoided doing (and given the advantages they enjoy, why wouldn’t they avoid it?). China is the biggest bogeyman in this game, and given the challenges it faces in deleveraging its enormous debt without upsetting growth targets, not to mention shoring up its bear market in stocks, its leaders are loath to address their rampant use of state ownership, subsidy, overcapacity, tariffs, forced technology transfer, and outright theft of intellectual property to give their own businesses an unfair advantage in the global marketplace. But a trade war couldn’t come at a worse time for China.

In this periodic update, I provide a market commentary, offer my technical analysis of the S&P 500, review Sabrient’s latest fundamentals-based SectorCast rankings of the ten US business sectors, and serve up some actionable ETF trading ideas. In summary, our sector rankings still look moderately bullish, while the sector rotation model retains its bullish posture. Read on....

by Scott Martindale
President, Sabrient Systems LLC

From the standpoint of the performance of the broad market indexes, US stocks held up okay over the past four weeks, including a good portion of a volatile June. However, all was not well for cyclicals, emerging markets (including China), and valuation-driven active selection in general, including Sabrient’s GARP (growth at reasonable price) portfolios. Top-scoring cyclical sectors in our models like Financial, Industrial, and Materials took a hit, while defensive sectors (and dividend-paying “bond proxies”) Utilities, Real Estate, Consumer Staples, and Telecom showed relative strength. According to BofA’s Savita Subramanian, “June was a setback for what might have been a record year for active managers.” The culprit? Macro worries in a dreaded news-driven trading environment, given escalating trade tensions, increasing protectionism, diverging monetary policy among central banks, and a strong dollar. But let’s not throw in the towel on active selection just yet. At the end of the day, stock prices are driven by interest rates and earnings, and both remain favorable for higher equity prices and fundamentals-based stock-picking.

Some investors transitioned from a “fear of missing out” at the beginning of the year to a worry that things are now “as good as it gets” … and that it might be all downhill from here. Many bearish commentators expound on how we are in the latter stages of the economic cycle while the bull market in stocks has become “long in the tooth.” But in spite of it all, little has changed with the fundamentally strong outlook underlying our bottom-up quant model, characterized by synchronized global economic growth (albeit a little lower than previously expected), strong US corporate earnings, modest inflation, low global real interest rates, a stable global banking system, and of course historic fiscal stimulus in the US (tax cuts and deregulation), with the US displaying relative favorability for investments. Sabrient’s fundamentals-based GARP model still suggests solid tailwinds for cyclicals, and indeed the start of this week showed some strong comebacks in several of our top picks – not surprising given their lower valuations, e.g., forward P/E and PEG (P/E to EPS growth ratio).

Looking ahead, expectations are high for a big-league 2Q18 earnings reporting season. But the impressive 20% year-over-year EPS growth rate for the S&P 500 is already baked into expectations, so investor focus will be on forward guidance and how much the trade rhetoric will impact corporate investment plans, including capex and hiring. I still don’t think the trade wars will escalate sufficiently to derail the broad economic growth trajectory; there is just too much pain that China and the EU would have to endure at a time when they are both seeking to deleverage without stunting growth. So, we will soon see what the corporate chieftains decide to do, hopefully creating the virtuous circle of supply begetting demand begetting more supply, and so on. Furthermore, the compelling valuations on the underappreciated market segments may be simply too juicy to pass up – unless you believe there’s an imminent recession coming. For my money, I still prefer the good ol’ USA for investing, and I think there is sufficient domestic and global demand for both US fixed income and equities, especially small caps.

In this periodic update, I provide a market commentary, offer my technical analysis of the S&P 500, review Sabrient’s latest fundamentals-based SectorCast rankings of the ten US business sectors, and serve up some actionable ETF trading ideas. In summary, our sector rankings still look bullish, while the sector rotation model has returned to a bullish posture as investors position for a robust Q2 earnings season. Read on....

by Scott Martindale
President, Sabrient Systems LLC

The month of May turned out to be pretty decent for stocks overall, with the S&P 500 large caps up about +2%, with growth greatly outperforming value, and June has got off to a good start, as well. But the smaller caps were the bigger stars, as I have been predicting for several months, with the S&P 600 small caps up +6% for the month. Even after a volatile April, and even though the headlines on trade wars, oil prices, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Italy, et al were confusing if not frightful, and even though technical signals suggested overbought conditions and a likely pullback, investors have been reluctant to sell their equities and the late-month pullback was fleeting.

Nevertheless, many commentators are offering up lots of reasons why further upside is limited and stocks likely will turn tail into a downtrend, including political contagion in the EU, the US dollar strengthening too much such that overseas corporate profits take a hit, and yields rising too quickly such that they 1) burden a heavily-leveraged economy and 2) suppress stock prices by spiking the risk-free rate used in a discounted cash flow analysis. But I think the main thing weighing on investors’ minds right now is fear that things are “as good as it gets” when it comes to synchronized global growth, monetary and fiscal stimulus, and year-over-year growth in corporate earnings. In other words, now that the hope and optimism for strong growth actually has materialized into reality, there is nothing more to look forward to, so to speak. The year-over-year EPS comparisons won’t be so eye-popping. Earnings growth inevitably will slow, higher interest rates will suppress valuations, and P/E compression will set in.

However, recall that the so-called “taper tantrum” a few years ago led to similar investor behavior, but then eventually cooler heads prevailed as investors realized that the fundamental picture was strong and in fact extraordinary monetary accommodation was no longer necessary (or even desirable). Similarly, I think there is still plenty of fuel in the tank from tax reform, deregulation, and new corporate and government spending plans, offering up the potential to drive strong growth for at least the next few years (e.g., through revived capex, onshoring of overseas capital and operations, and M&A).

In this periodic update, I provide a market commentary, offer my technical analysis of the S&P 500, review Sabrient’s latest fundamentals-based SectorCast rankings of the ten US business sectors, and serve up some actionable ETF trading ideas. In summary, our sector rankings still look bullish, while the sector rotation model takes a bullish posture as stocks try to break out.

By the way, in response to popular demand, Sabrient is launching this week our first International Opportunity portfolio comprising 30-35 stocks from non-US developed markets (e.g., Canada, Western Europe, Australasia, Far East) based on the same “quantamental” growth-at-reasonable-price (GARP) portfolio construction process used for our Baker’s Dozen portfolios, including the in-depth earnings quality review and final vetting by our wholly-owned forensic accounting subsidiary Gradient Analytics. In addition, we are nearing two years since the inception of our Sabrient Select actively-managed strategy, a 30-stock all-cap GARP portfolio that is available for investment as a separately managed account (SMA) through a dual-contract arrangement. (Please contact me directly if you would like to learn more about this.) Read on....

by Scott Martindale
President, Sabrient Systems LLC

Rather than living up to its history as one of the best months for stocks, April proved to be a disappointment this year despite robust year-over-year Q1 corporate earnings growth of roughly +20%. But there were some interesting developments nonetheless. In spite of investors’ apparent desire to start rotating away from the mega-cap Tech leaders and the Momentum factor into the neglected market opportunities, it is clear that some of the FAANG juggernauts still matter…and wield plenty of clout. Witness the market’s reaction to Facebook (FB), Amazon.com (AMZN), and Apple (AAPL) earnings announcements as each dazzled beyond expectation. Nevertheless, I think the fledgling trend away from a narrow list of market leaders and into a broader group of high-growth market segments with more compelling forward valuations will soon resume. Likewise, while I still think full-year 2018 ultimately will see a double-digit total return on the market-cap-weighted S&P 500, with the index closing the year north of 3,000 on the back of historic earnings growth (even with some P/E compression), I also think a well-selected portfolio of attractive “growth at a reasonable price” (GARP) stocks has the potential to perform even better.

This is what we at Sabrient seek to do with our proprietary GARP model, including our monthly all-cap Baker’s Dozen portfolios as well as portfolios for small cap growth, dividend income, defensive equity, and stocks that tend to thrive in a rising interest-rate environment. Another way to find clues about near-term opportunities in the market is to track the buying behavior of corporate insiders and the sell-side analysts who follow the companies closely, and for that we employ our proprietary “insider sentiment” model. Also, I still like small caps to outperform this year, and indeed smalls have outperformed large caps over the first four months, with Energy, Healthcare, and Financial sectors showing the greatest relative outperformance among small caps.

As for the current market climate, after the big January market run-up had run its course following passage of the tax bill, investors have spent the ensuing few months struggling to assess the “new reality” of higher volatility, gradually rising rates, political posturing around global trade, and a rotation from the long-standing mega-cap Tech market leaders. Would asset classes indeed return to “normalcy,” in which equities rise comfortably along with interest rates, like they used to do back before central banks began “easy money” policies that jacked up indebtedness and asset correlations across the board? What is the new relationship between stocks and bonds (and interest rates)? Will there be a “Great Rotation” out of bonds and into stocks? A rotation out of bonds would drive up yields, and a rising risk-free rate for a hugely indebted world is a scary prospect for equities on a discounted cash flow basis. So, as the 10-year yield has hit the 3.0% level and mortgage rates have reached the highest levels since summer 2013, equity investors have hit the pause button. But I continue to contend that there is plenty of demand for both debt and equity securities such that Treasury Bonds will catch a bid at current levels, slowing the ascent of longer-term rates, while equities rise in line with robust corporate earnings growth, albeit with some compression in P/E multiples versus last year.

In this periodic update, I provide a market commentary, offer my technical analysis of the S&P 500, review Sabrient’s latest fundamentals-based SectorCast rankings of the ten US business sectors, and serve up some actionable ETF trading ideas. In summary, our sector rankings still look bullish, while the sector rotation model remains in a neutral posture during this period of consolidation and testing of support levels. Read on....