“Trade what you see; not what you think.” – The Old Fool, Richard McCranie, trader extraordinaire.
“Never, never, never, believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on that strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The Statesman who yields to war fever . . . is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.” - Winston Churchill.
“The Virginia Supreme Court overturned the results of the state's redistricting referendum, which voters narrowly approved last month…The new map would have been in effect for the November midterms and was expected to shift the state's congressional split from 6-5 favoring Democrats to 10-1…the high court ruled that Virginia's "general election" includes the early voting period, not just Election Day. That violation "incurably taints" the referendum and invalidates the vote, per the ruling.”
https://www.axios.com/local/richmond/2026/05/08/virginia-supreme-court-redistricting-vote-decision
My cmt: As we predicted, the referendum for redistricting was held too late. Further, the wording was absurdly mis-leading: "Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to allow the General Assembly to temporarily adopt new congressional districts to restore fairness in the upcoming elections, while ensuring Virginia's standard redistricting process resumes for all future redistricting after the 2030 census?" The Democrats thought it was ok to take away representation from half of the state’s population. It’s always disappointing to see a clearly illegal move decided by a close vote in court. 6-5? What were the 5 thinking?
Yeah, I know - It was all about Trump. There are other ways to counter Trump without screwing our fellow Virginians. Here’s a map of the referendum’s vote results.
DEMOCRATS WANT TO REFORM SUPREME COURT
“Democrats are calling for reforms to the Supreme Court again after a pivotal decision from the high court weakened the Voting Rights Act…” Video at…
Democrats renew calls to reform Supreme Court as trust in high court plummets in new poll | Watch
VICTORY FOR VOTING RIGHTS (WSJ)
“To hear the critics tell it, the Supreme Court on Wednesday gutted the 1965 Voting Rights Act and made it harder for racial minorities to vote. It did no such thing. A 6-3 majority in Louisiana v. Callais took a large step toward ending the partisan abuse of race to carve up Congressional districts in a way that violates the Constitution…” – The Editorial Board, WSJ. Opinion at…
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/lousiana-v-callais-supreme-court-voting-rights-act-samuel-alito-4f060bdb?mod=article_inline
“For decades we disagreed with [Supreme] Court rulings when progressives held sway, but we never called the Court illegitimate. But now that the left has lost the Court as a backup legislature for its policy goals, the institution is supposedly broken. Tell us again who is the threat to democratic institutions?” – WSJ Editorial Board.
“Dalio’s fiscal warning remains as stark as ever. The U.S. currently spends roughly $7 trillion annually while collecting about $5 trillion in revenue—a gap that has the federal government paying billions every week in debt service and has left the country carrying debt approximately six times its income. He likens the situation to “plaque building up” in an artery: no heart attack yet, but the nation’s financial “MRI” suggests one is coming if spending isn’t curtailed.
(In fact, Dalio understated how much the U.S. pays in interest each week: The Peter G. Peterson Foundation reports the U.S. paid $970 billion in interest in 2025, with the CBO projecting $1.039 trillion in 2026—working out to roughly $19 billion–$20 billion per week.)
The most likely outcome, in Dalio’s view, is a stagflationary spiral reminiscent of the 1970s, in which the Federal Reserve is eventually forced to print money to cover its obligations. “My grandchildren and great-grandchildren not yet born are going to be paying off this debt in devalued dollars…” Story at…
Ray Dalio: The ‘heart attack’ of America’s debt crisis is just the beginning of a ‘great turbulence’ that will reshape the country
“The U.S. economy added 115,000 jobs in April, a sign that the labor market retained its resiliency even in the face of a global energy shock triggered by the U.S. war with Iran. The unemployment rate remained steady at 4.3%.” Story at…
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/april-jobs-report-iran-war-pressure-rcna344166
My cmt: 200,000 jobs-created was once considered a minimum necessary to allow for young people entering the work force.
“Consumer sentiment was essentially unchanged this month, coming in a scant 1.6 index points below April’s reading and comparable to the trough reached in June 2022… consumers continue to feel buffeted by cost pressures, led by soaring prices at the pump. Middle East developments are unlikely to meaningfully boost sentiment until supply disruptions have been fully resolved and energy prices fall. Year-ahead inflation expectations softened a touch from 4.7% last month to 4.5% this month.” Report at…
https://www.sca.isr.umich.edu/
-Friday the S&P 500 rose about 0.8% to 7399.
-VIX rose about 0.6% to 17.19.
-The yield on the 10-year Treasury declined to 4.360% (compared to about this time prior market day).
SPY – Added 12/1/2025.
NVDA – Added 12/1/2025 & 2/6/2026
“Despite all the bearish noise, Goldman Sachs isn’t backing down on Nvidia (NVDA) stock yet. After another stellar GTC showing, the bank reiterated its $250 price target and maintained a buy rating, underscoring confidence in the AI giant’s tremendous upside from current levels.” Story at…
Goldman Sachs sends blunt message on Nvidia stock after GTC
SSO – Added 5/7/2026.
At the close today, of the 50-Indicators I track, 5 gave Bear-signs and 17 were Bullish. The rest are neutral. (It is normal to have a lot of neutral indicators since many of the indicators are top or bottom indicators that will signal only at extremes.)
The daily, bull-bear spread of 50-indicators improved from +8 to +12 (12 more Bull indicators than Bear indicators), a BULLISH indication. I consider +5 to -5 the neutral zone. The 10-dMA curve of the spread (purple on the chart above) that smooths daily fluctuations reversed higher, a BULLISH sign that is more important than the daily numbers.
I am cautiously bullish.
TODAY’S RANKING OF 15 ETFs (Ranked Daily) ETF ranking follows:
The top ranked ETF receives 100%. The rest are then ranked based on their momentum relative to the leading ETF.
*For additional background on the ETF ranking system see NTSM Page at…
http://navigatethestockmarket.blogspot.com/p/exchange-traded-funds-etf-ranking.html
For more details, see NTSM Page at…
https://navigatethestockmarket.blogspot.com/p/a-system-for-trading-dow-30-stocks-my_8.html
I trade about 15-20% of the total portfolio using the momentum-based analysis I provide here although I don’t trade as much as I used to. When I see bullish signs, I add a lot more stocks to the portfolio, usually by using an S&P 500 ETF as I did back in October 2022 and 2023.
