Navigate the Stock Market

Monday, August 3, 2026

ISM Manufacturing … Construction Spending … Momentum Trading DOW Stocks & ETFs … Stock Market Analysis

“Trade what you see; not what you think.” – The Old Fool, Richard McCranie, trader extraordinaire.

“Far more money has been lost by investors in preparing for corrections, or anticipating corrections, than has been lost in the corrections themselves.” - Peter Lynch, former manager of Fidelity’s Magellan® fund.

“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.

“There’s a lot of exuberance out there,” Dimon continued. “But it was in 1972, 1986, 2000, 2007. That doesn’t give me comfort.” – Jamie Dimon

“The one thing I can tell you is for certain; Hasan Piker and James Carville are not going to be in the same political party. One of us is going to leave. It might even be me.” - James Carville, Democratic Strategist.

TRUMP ANTI WEAPONIZATION SLUSH-FUND NOT DEAD YET (CNBC)
“Trump, two of his adult sons and the Trump Organization, along with two of their attorneys, said in a joint filing Friday afternoon that they are appealing Judge Kathleen Williams’ scathing order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. Williams had ruled July 13 that the lawsuit, ostensibly stemming from the leak of Trump’s tax returns by an ex-IRS employee years earlier, was in fact brought to provide “judicial legitimacy for a ‘settlement’ that had no viable basis in law or fact.” Story at…
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/31/trump-appeals-irs-lawsuit-blanche-fund.html

THE WORLD OF COUNTERHISTORY (WSJ – Excerpt)
“Mr. Montefiore is a man who treats the sweep of history as his own backyard…his new book is titled “The Cauldron: The Making of the Modern Middle East…”
… “I call Gaza a semi-independent ‘statelet,’ and I think that’s important because there’s a pretense now that it was occupied from 2006 to 2023,” Mr. Montefiore says. He points out that since Israel withdrew troops and civilians from Gaza [in 2005] and the Palestinians held elections the following year, Hamas “had had prime minister, ministries, ministers and police.” It also had “what was in effect a formidable army of 40,000 paramilitaries, and it had a foreign policy. It was independent enough to launch a war.” Unlike anywhere else in the world, “it was a base for a military but it eschewed any need to educate or feed its citizens. That was the responsibility of international aid organizations. A very unique arrangement….”
…Mr. Montefiore quotes a Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri: “The price of the suffering is worth paying. The benefits are extensive.” Mr. Abu Zuhri added that “the wombs of our women will give birth to twice the number of martyrs.” Israel won “in the pitiful ruins of Gaza,” Mr. Montefiore says. “Hamas won in the West,” in part by controlling the media within Gaza and presenting all losses as civilian, a narrative that proved “irreversible even when Hamas’s allegations were later proven to be untrue.” – Opinion at…
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/we-live-in-a-new-world-of-counterhistory-0156ab8d

ISM MANUFACTURING PMI (ISM)
“The Manufacturing PMI^® registered 55.6 percent in July, 2.3 percentage points above the June figure and the highest reading since May 2022 (55.9 percent). The overall economy continued in expansion for the 21st month in a row.” Report at…
https://www.ismworld.org/supply-management-news-and-reports/reports/ism-pmi-reports/pmi/july/

CONSTRUCTION SPENDING (Reuters)
“U.S. spending unexpectedly fell in June…The Commerce Department's Census Bureau said on Monday that construction spending dipped 0.1%. Construction spending dropped 3.2% on a year-over-year basis in June…Spending on new single-family housing projects fell…3.3% on a year-over-year basis in June.” Story at…
https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-construction-spending-unexpectedly-falls-june-2026-08-03/

QUICK MARKET SUMMARY
-Monday the S&P 500 rose about 1.5% to 7601.
-VIX declined about 0.8% to 15.86.
-The yield on the 10-year Treasury declined to 4.686% (compared to about this time prior market day).

MY TRADING POSITIONS
QLD – Added 5/28/2026

NVDA – Added 12/1/2025, 2/6/2026 & 8/3/2026
“…the market appears to be pricing Nvidia as though its best growth opportunities are behind it. This is not the first time such a rerating has occurred with Nvidia. In earlier instances when Nvidia's forward P/E contracted amid consolidation or shifting sentiment, subsequent evidence of accelerating revenue and profitability triggered multiple expansions. This pattern is consistent: Once operational results confirm that the company's AI-driven growth is continuing, investors eventually reengage, and the valuation rerates higher… Patient investors who recognize that Nvidia's recent price action reflects investor caution rather than a fundamental deterioration of its thesis can position themselves to benefit from meaningful share price appreciation as the chip giant continues to execute.” – Motley Fool at…
Nvidia stock has only gained 5% so far in 2026. History is crystal clear on where the stock is headed next

XLK – Added 6/5/2026

CURRENT SUMMARY OF APPROXIMATELY 50 INDICATORS:
At the close today, of the 50-Indicators I track, 3 gave Bear-signs and 18 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.)

TODAY’S COMMENT
The daily, bull-bear spread of 50-indicators improved from -6 to +15 (15 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.

A swing from -6 to +15 is an improvement in spread of +21. Looking at the chart above we can see that one has to go back about a year to see that much improvement. When it occurred last August, the S&P 500 was flat for a few weeks and then moved higher. Now, I suspect the Index will continue higher because there is room on the chart before it will reach its upper trend line.

I added more Nvidia today. That pushes my total investment in NVDA to about 9% of my stock portfolio. Advisors would probably recommend that no more than 4 to 5% be invested in any single stock, so I am over invested in NVDA. (4 to 5% implies that 20-25 stocks are the minimum number of stocks required to maintain diversification.)

I may add more to the overall portfolio. If I do, it would be in SPY, the S&P 500 ETF. I’d prefer to add larger, high-quality stocks unless breadth improves. Breadth is somewhat weak now, but not yet giving a sell signal. This may be due to recent market weakness so I ‘m not too worried about it. It will be more meaningful when the S&P 500 makes a new high.

BOTTOM LINE
I’m bullish.

ETF - MOMENTUM ANALYSIS:
TODAY’S RANKING OF 15 ETFs (Ranked Daily) ETF ranking follows:

DOW STOCKS - TODAY’S MOMENTUM RANKING OF THE DOW 30 STOCKS (Ranked Daily)

The top ranked Stock receives 100%. The rest are then ranked based on their momentum relative to the leading Stock.
For more details, see NTSM Page at…
https://navigatethestockmarket.blogspot.com/p/a-system-for-trading-dow-30-stocks-my_8.html

MONDAY MARKET INTERNALS (NYSE DATA)-

My basket of Market Internals improved to BUY. (My basket of Market Internals is a decent trend-following analysis that is most useful when it diverges from the Index.)

My invested position is about 60% stocks, including stock mutual funds and ETFs. 50% invested in stocks is a normal, conservative position for a retiree. (80% is my max stock allocation when I am confident that markets will continue higher; 30% in stocks is my Bear market position.)

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.

Friday, July 31, 2026

… Momentum Trading DOW Stocks & ETFs … Stock Market Analysis

“You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig.” – Blondie, The Good.
SAD HILL CEMETERY (The Guardian)

“…a group of film fans spent two years restoring the cemetery to its former glories. The set, which was built by soldiers in the northern Spanish province of Burgos for Sergio Leone’s classic 1966 spaghetti western, had been forgotten and reclaimed by nature until the Sad Hill Cultural Association stepped in.” Story at…
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jun/22/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-graveyard-back-from-the-dead

“Trade what you see; not what you think.” – The Old Fool, Richard McCranie, trader extraordinaire.

“Far more money has been lost by investors in preparing for corrections, or anticipating corrections, than has been lost in the corrections themselves.” - Peter Lynch, former manager of Fidelity’s Magellan® fund.

“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.

“There’s a lot of exuberance out there,” Dimon continued. “But it was in 1972, 1986, 2000, 2007. That doesn’t give me comfort.” – Jamie Dimon

ANOTHER IMPEACHMENT? (The New Republic)
“It should provide the basis for the first article Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin and his Judiciary Committee draw up. It all has to do with the slush fund. The fund, you’ll recall, was the result of a settlement in a mind-bending legal proceeding in which Trump sued himself: That is, the president of the United States sued the Internal Revenue Service, seeking $10 billion for the (admittedly illegal) leak of some of his tax returns back in 2019. In May, Trump’s Justice Department, led at the time by Blanche as the acting attorney general, settled the suit between Trump the president and Trump’s IRS by establishing a $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, whose moneys were to go to parties Trump deemed to have been wronged by the deep state—starting of course with Trump himself. It also included a shocking clause granting Trump, his family members, and his companies immunity from prosecution for any tax-related crimes they may have committed before the date of deal.” Story at…
We now have the leading charge in Trump’s next impeachment
My cmt: The Dems would need to take back the House in the upcoming congressional elections to begin impeachment proceedings. The “anti-weaponization” fund was/is an unbelievably outrageous effort by Trump and his cronies. I don’t understand how DOJ has the power to settle this with payments well over a billion dollars. In my opinion, Congress should have been involved, but DOJ disagrees.

“The DOJ asserted that the Attorney General possesses broad inherent authority under existing federal statutes to settle lawsuits filed against the United States. The $1.776 billion was slated to be drawn directly from the U.S. Department of the Treasury Judgment Fund, which is a perpetual funding mechanism meant to satisfy court judgments and approved settlements without requiring immediate, individual congressional appropriations for each case.” - DOJ

“Legal experts and congressional critics argued that using the Judgment Fund to create a multi-billion-dollar administrative compensation program for political allies bypassed core congressional oversight and appropriations powers.” - Congressman Tom Suozzi (D–NY)

QUICK MARKET SUMMARY
-Friday the S&P 500 rose about 0.7% to 7490.
-VIX declined about 6% to 15.99. (That’s a 23% decline in 2 days – a bullish sign.)
-The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.718% (compared to about this time prior market day).

MY TRADING POSITIONS
QLD – Added 5/28/2026

NVDA – Added 12/1/2025 & 2/6/2026
“…the market appears to be pricing Nvidia as though its best growth opportunities are behind it. This is not the first time such a rerating has occurred with Nvidia. In earlier instances when Nvidia's forward P/E contracted amid consolidation or shifting sentiment, subsequent evidence of accelerating revenue and profitability triggered multiple expansions. This pattern is consistent: Once operational results confirm that the company's AI-driven growth is continuing, investors eventually reengage, and the valuation rerates higher… Patient investors who recognize that Nvidia's recent price action reflects investor caution rather than a fundamental deterioration of its thesis can position themselves to benefit from meaningful share price appreciation as the chip giant continues to execute.” – Motley Fool at…
Nvidia stock has only gained 5% so far in 2026. History is crystal clear on where the stock is headed next

XLK – Added 6/5/2026

CURRENT SUMMARY OF APPROXIMATELY 50 INDICATORS:
At the close today, of the 50-Indicators I track, 13 gave Bear-signs and 8 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.)

TODAY’S COMMENT
Internals were weak today. Declining-issues outpaced advancing-issues; down-volume was higher than up-volume; and New-lows outpaced new-highs. We also note that unchanged-volume was high. That can be a sign of investor confusion. Some think that this suggests a reversal in the markets, but there isn’t much correlation of this opinion. It could be an end of quarter stat caused by portfolio shuffling.

While internals were weak on the day, indicators improved.
The daily, bull-bear spread of 50-indicators improved from -9 to -5 (5 more Bear indicators than Bull indicators), a NEUTRAL 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 continued down, a BEARISH sign.

A couple of important indicators are:
-The McClellan Oscillator indicator is still in negative territory and that keeps the Hindenburg Omen bearish, too. The Oscillator is a breadth indicator so we need to see more new-highs on a daily basis.
-The 5-10-20 Timer indicator remains bearish along with its momentum indicator. If price continues higher, these indicators will improve.

Price improved again as the S&P 500 rose. The S&P 500 climbed 0.2% above its 50-dMA. That’s a good sign, but we still have some mixed signals. Let’s hope indicators give us a better confirmation of recent positive moves in the S&P 500.

BOTTOM LINE
I remain neutral.

ETF - MOMENTUM ANALYSIS:
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

DOW STOCKS - TODAY’S MOMENTUM RANKING OF THE DOW 30 STOCKS (Ranked Daily)

My basket of Market Internals remained HOLD. (My basket of Market Internals is a decent trend-following analysis that is most useful when it diverges from the Index.)

PCE Prices … GDP … Jobless Claims … Momentum Trading DOW Stocks & ETFs … Stock Market Analysis

“Trade what you see; not what you think.” – The Old Fool, Richard McCranie, trader extraordinaire.

“Far more money has been lost by investors in preparing for corrections, or anticipating corrections, than has been lost in the corrections themselves.” - Peter Lynch, former manager of Fidelity’s Magellan® fund.

“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.

“There’s a lot of exuberance out there,” Dimon continued. “But it was in 1972, 1986, 2000, 2007. That doesn’t give me comfort.” – Jamie Dimon

“Rep. Jim Jordan wants the Justice Department to investigate former special counsel Jack Smith for lying to Congress. Those of us who served with Smith as federal prosecutors know this accusation is almost farcical. For those who do not know him personally, a close reading of the testimony at issue makes clear this is less a good-faith dispute over something Smith told the House Judiciary Committee than an effort to manufacture a crime from a truthful answer.” Story at…
Here’s what Jack Smith testified — and why it bothers Jim Jordan so much

GDP
“Gross Domestic Product (GDP). GDP is simply the total amount of spending in an economy. GDP, as currently measured, does not distinguish between “good” spending and “bad” spending. GDP does not distinguish between consumption spending and investment spending. GDP also does not distinguish whether spending is generated by existing wealth, by going into debt temporarily, or by going into debt permanently. In this world, every dollar spent on education or new means of production, is counted the same as every dollar spent on epic bachelor parties and video games.” – Michael Lebowitz, Real Investment Advice

ADVANCE GDP (CNBC)
“Gross domestic product, a broad measure of goods and services, increased just 1.5% for the April-through June period, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis numbers adjusted for seasonality and inflation… While the GDP number was below expectations, the miss appeared to come from a decline in federal government spending and inventories. Other parts of the economy appeared strong.” Story at…
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/30/us-economy-slowed-to-1point5percent-growth-rate-in-q2-june-core-inflation-at-3point3percent.html

PCE PRICES (CNN)
“Overall inflation fell in June for the first time in six years. The Personal Consumption Expenditures price index – the gauge used by the Federal Reserve for its target inflation rate – dropped 0.1% from May, bringing the annual rate to 3.7% from 4.1%...” Story at…
https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/30/economy/us-pce-inflation-consumer-spending-june

JOBLESS CLAIMS (AP News)
“U.S. filings for jobless aid in the week ending July 25 rose by 9,000 to 197,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday. The previous week’s figure was revised up by 1,000 to 188,000 but remains the lowest in more than 50 years.” Story at…
https://apnews.com/article/unemployment-benefits-jobless-claims-layoffs-labor-99d765b2bbab7e278fb3eaed818d8319

QUICK MARKET SUMMARY
-Thursday the S&P 500 rose about 1.7% to 7438.
-VIX declined about 17% to 17.09.
-The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.651% (compared to about this time prior market day).

MY TRADING POSITIONS
QLD – Added 5/28/2026

NVDA – Added 12/1/2025 & 2/6/2026
“…the market appears to be pricing Nvidia as though its best growth opportunities are behind it. This is not the first time such a rerating has occurred with Nvidia. In earlier instances when Nvidia's forward P/E contracted amid consolidation or shifting sentiment, subsequent evidence of accelerating revenue and profitability triggered multiple expansions. This pattern is consistent: Once operational results confirm that the company's AI-driven growth is continuing, investors eventually reengage, and the valuation rerates higher… Patient investors who recognize that Nvidia's recent price action reflects investor caution rather than a fundamental deterioration of its thesis can position themselves to benefit from meaningful share price appreciation as the chip giant continues to execute.” – Motley Fool at…
Nvidia stock has only gained 5% so far in 2026. History is crystal clear on where the stock is headed next

XLK – Added 6/5/2026

CURRENT SUMMARY OF APPROXIMATELY 50 INDICATORS:
At the close today, of the 50-Indicators I track, 15 gave Bear-signs and 6 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.)

TODAY’S COMMENT
The daily, bull-bear spread of 50-indicators declined from -8 to -9 (9 more Bear indicators than Bull indicators), a BEARISH 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 continued down, a BEARISH sign.

We expect that internals and indicators will improve when there is a big price move like Thursday. That isn’t always the case. There wasn’t a big move in internals today (new-highs were anemic) and many indicators are built using moving averages, so it may take a few days for indicators to reflect improving market conditions. If indicators don’t improve in the next couple of days, we may have to conclude that this bounce may not last.

We did mention last Friday that conditions were improving. I wrote then: “Reviewing price action today (24 July) we note that volume declined, compared to yesterday’s low and there were improvements in market internals. These signals may be suggesting we’ll see higher prices next week.” So here we are and prices have jumped higher. That call will only be successful if the S&P 500 continues higher, breaks above its 50-dMA and doesn’t retreat below it. Based on price action, it appears to be likely that markets will continue to improve, but I need to see indicators improve too.

XLK (Technology Select Sector ETF) was up 5.5% Thursday and that is very encouraging. Our favorite chip-sector, bell weather, Micron Technology, was up 18% Thursday. Could the bottom finally be in for this value stock? Maybe, but there are still plenty of bear signs to worry about.

Thursday was a statistically significant up-day. That just means that the price-volume move exceeded my statistical parameters. Statistics show that a statistically-significant, up-day is followed by a down-day about 60% of the time. That said, futures look good as I write this suggesting another positive day Friday.

BOTTOM LINE
I am cautiously neutral and more hopeful now that a bottom may have been made Thursday. This bears repeating: If indicators don’t improve in the next couple of days, we may have to conclude that this bounce may not last.

ETF - MOMENTUM ANALYSIS:
TODAY’S RANKING OF 15 ETFs (Ranked Daily) ETF ranking follows:

My basket of Market Internals remained HOLD. (My basket of Market Internals is a decent trend-following analysis that is most useful when it diverges from the Index.)

Wednesday, July 29, 2026

FED Results … Momentum Trading DOW Stocks & ETFs … Stock Market Analysis

DEMOCRATS DISMISS CONSTITUTIONAL TRADITIONS AS NOSTALGIA (The The Hill/Jonathan Turley blog)
“After Yuri Bezmenov, a KGB agent working in the media, defected in 1970, he revealed the four stages by which the Soviets hoped to bring about revolutionary change in the U.S. It began with undermining our institutions and values, with the help of journalists and academics…
…In a New York Times op-ed — “The Constitution Is Broken and Should Not Be Reclaimed” — law professors Ryan Doerfler of Harvard and Samuel Moyn of Yale called for the nation to “reclaim America from constitutionalism.”
In yet another New York Times editorial, Jennifer Szalai denounced “Constitution worship” and claimed that “Americans have long assumed that the Constitution could save us. A growing chorus now wonders whether we need to be saved from it.”
Berkeley Dean Erwin Chemerinsky insists that it is time to trash the Constitution in favor of “radical changes.”
These voices are seeking to remove all of the moderating elements of our system —the safety features that have produced the world’s most successful and stable republic. They are the very constitutional elements protecting us from the tyranny of the majority, protecting us from ourselves.
Without those protections, we will unleash the self-destructive forces that have been tearing apart other democratic systems since Athens…history has shown that such radical proposals ultimately produce not democracy, but what the Framers called mobocracy. If we let that happen, many Americans will indeed look back at the last 250 years with a tragic sense of nostalgia.” - Jonathan Turley, law professor and the New York Times bestselling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.“ Commentary at…
https://jonathanturley.org/2026/07/20/democrats-dismiss-our-constitutional-traditions-as-nostalgia/#more-247218

“Trade what you see; not what you think.” – The Old Fool, Richard McCranie, trader extraordinaire.

“Far more money has been lost by investors in preparing for corrections, or anticipating corrections, than has been lost in the corrections themselves.” - Peter Lynch, former manager of Fidelity’s Magellan® fund.

“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.

“There’s a lot of exuberance out there,” Dimon continued. “But it was in 1972, 1986, 2000, 2007. That doesn’t give me comfort.” – Jamie Dimon

FOMC MEETING (CNBC)
“The Federal Reserve released its latest interest rate decision on Wednesday, opting to keep rates at a range of 3.5% to 3.75%. Though markets largely expected the Federal Open Market Committee to stay on hold, recent talk from several officials indicate there’s a sizable constituency to at least consider a hike.” Story at…
https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/29/fed-meeting-today-live-updates.html

QUICK MARKET SUMMARY
-Wednesday the S&P 500 rose about 0.2% to 7429.
-VIX declined about 2% to 18.21.
-The yield on the 10-year Treasury declined to 4.606% (compared to about this time prior market day).

MY TRADING POSITIONS
QLD – Added 5/28/2026

NVDA – Added 12/1/2025 & 2/6/2026
“…the market appears to be pricing Nvidia as though its best growth opportunities are behind it. This is not the first time such a rerating has occurred with Nvidia. In earlier instances when Nvidia's forward P/E contracted amid consolidation or shifting sentiment, subsequent evidence of accelerating revenue and profitability triggered multiple expansions. This pattern is consistent: Once operational results confirm that the company's AI-driven growth is continuing, investors eventually reengage, and the valuation rerates higher… Patient investors who recognize that Nvidia's recent price action reflects investor caution rather than a fundamental deterioration of its thesis can position themselves to benefit from meaningful share price appreciation as the chip giant continues to execute.” – Motley Fool at…
Nvidia stock has only gained 5% so far in 2026. History is crystal clear on where the stock is headed next

XLK – Added 6/5/2026

CURRENT SUMMARY OF APPROXIMATELY 50 INDICATORS:
At the close today, of the 50-Indicators I track, 15 gave Bear-signs and 7 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.)

TODAY’S COMMENT

The daily, bull-bear spread of 50-indicators declined from +1 to -8 (8 more Bear indicators than Bull indicators), a BEARISH 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 continued down, a BEARISH sign.

I asked Google AI why the stock market dropped today at 3 pm. Here’s the answer via Yahoo Finance:
“The stock market extended its losses into the late afternoon on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, as investors reacted to the Federal Reserve’s decision to hold interest rates steady at 3.5%–3.75%, a "hawkish hold" that featured three dissenting votes favoring a rate hike, alongside ongoing remarks from Fed Chair Kevin Warsh. Selling pressure was also amplified by surging oil prices following renewed Middle East tensions and a deepening sell-off in AI chip stocks.”

There was only about a 33% chance of a rate hike today so the Fed decision was in line with expectations. It doesn’t seem likely that the FED was the primary driver of today’s declines. The issue may have been the “surprise” that 3 voting members voted to raise interest rate. That’s a surprise?

We did see that XLE, the Energy Select Sector ETF, was a big winner today, up nearly 2%. In the Dow 30, CXV (Chevron) was up over 2%. It would appear that oil prices (up 7%) were the bigger factor.

One question we always ask, “Is the bull market over?” Sir John Templeton, one of the world’s most successful mutual-fund managers, gives us a clue. He famously said, “Bull-markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism and die on euphoria.”
I don’t think the current market action is demonstrating euphoria. Breadth was also reasonably good at the all-time high in June so I think higher highs are ahead. However, it is hard to tell if the current market weakness is done, but there were some bullish signs.

-Bollinger Bands were oversold today and RSI was within a whisker of oversold. These signals suggest a bottom was formed today.
-Wednesday was a statistically significant down-day. That just means that the price-volume move exceeded my statistical parameters. Statistics show that a statistically-significant, down-day is followed by an up-day about 60% of the time. Bottoms almost always occur on/or near Statistically-significant, down-days, but not all statistically-significant, down-days occur at bottoms. Today could be a bottom, especially since Bollinger Bands and RSI were oversold.

The S&P 500 came within about 1/2% of the 10 June prior low of 7267. In that regard, Wednesday might be considered a test of that low. If it was, the Index failed the test - volume was higher and internals deteriorated. This suggests that the Index did not make a bottom.

We’re left with mixed signals; however, I think it does suggest the market is trying to make a bottom and it would not be a surprise to see the S&P 500 re-test the 7267 area.

BOTTOM LINE
I am bearish, but more hopeful now that a bottom is closer than many suspect.

ETF - MOMENTUM ANALYSIS:
TODAY’S RANKING OF 15 ETFs (Ranked Daily) ETF ranking follows:

My basket of Market Internals declined to HOLD. (My basket of Market Internals is a decent trend-following analysis that is most useful when it diverges from the Index.)

Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Consumer Confidence … Richmond FED Manufacturing … Momentum Trading DOW Stocks & ETFs … Stock Market Analysis

WHAT THE FOUNDERS DIDN’T TRUST (WSJ – Excerpt)
“Ponder a wonderful passage in Paul Johnson’s “A History of the American People” (1997). Noting the “dismal succession of nonentities” to take the job of British prime minister from 1763 to 1782, Johnson observes that “this might not have mattered quite so much if the men they faced across the Atlantic had been of ordinary stature, of average competence and character.”
As it was, “the generation that emerged to lead the colonies into independence was one of the most remarkable group of men in history—sensible, broad-minded, courageous, usually well educated, gifted in a variety of ways, mature, and long-sighted, sometimes lit by flashes of genius.” Johnson calls the American Founders “the Enlightenment made flesh, but an Enlightenment shorn of its vitiating French intellectual weaknesses of dogmatism, anticlericalism, moral chaos, and an excessive trust in logic.” …
…When the authors of the Federalist Papers spoke of the “passions of men,” or of men consistently failing to behave like angels, they acknowledged themselves, too, as passion-prone and defective. The old understanding of man as inherently flawed had a humbling and leveling effect, just as the rejection of it has encouraged political actors across the West to treat their opponents as subhuman spreaders of evil. To recover a saner, less embittered politics may be as simple, and as difficult, as recovering the Founding Fathers’ anthropology.” – Barton Swain, Opinion Columnist, Unruly Republic, The Wall Street Journal. Commentary at…
https://www.wsj.com/opinion/what-the-founders-didnt-trust-787a9419?mod=author_content_page_1_pos_5

“Trade what you see; not what you think.” – The Old Fool, Richard McCranie, trader extraordinaire.

“Far more money has been lost by investors in preparing for corrections, or anticipating corrections, than has been lost in the corrections themselves.” - Peter Lynch, former manager of Fidelity’s Magellan® fund.

“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.

“There’s a lot of exuberance out there,” Dimon continued. “But it was in 1972, 1986, 2000, 2007. That doesn’t give me comfort.” – Jamie Dimon

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE (Conference Board)
“Consumer confidence moderated slightly in July, continuing a general downward sloping trajectory since late 2021,” said Dana M Peterson, Chief Economist, The Conference Board...” Consumer appraisals of current business conditions and, to a lesser extent, perceptions of the current labor market both softened. Looking ahead, consumers anticipate little improvement in business conditions over the next six months, but expectations for the labor market were slightly less negative. Expectations for household incomes moderated but remained optimistic overall.”

Report at…
https://www.conference-board.org/topics/consumer-confidence/

RICHMOND FED SERVICES (Richmond Fed)
“Fifth District manufacturing activity was mostly flat in July, according to the most recent survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. The composite manufacturing index was nearly unchanged in July…” Report at…
https://www.richmondfed.org/region_communities/regional_data_analysis/business_surveys/manufacturing

QUICK MARKET SUMMARY
-Tuesday the S&P 500 rose about 0.2% to 7429.
-VIX declined about 2% to 18.21.
-The yield on the 10-year Treasury declined to 4.606% (compared to about this time prior market day).

MY TRADING POSITIONS
QLD – Added 5/28/2026

NVDA – Added 12/1/2025 & 2/6/2026
“…the market appears to be pricing Nvidia as though its best growth opportunities are behind it. This is not the first time such a rerating has occurred with Nvidia. In earlier instances when Nvidia's forward P/E contracted amid consolidation or shifting sentiment, subsequent evidence of accelerating revenue and profitability triggered multiple expansions. This pattern is consistent: Once operational results confirm that the company's AI-driven growth is continuing, investors eventually reengage, and the valuation rerates higher… Patient investors who recognize that Nvidia's recent price action reflects investor caution rather than a fundamental deterioration of its thesis can position themselves to benefit from meaningful share price appreciation as the chip giant continues to execute.” – Motley Fool at…
Nvidia stock has only gained 5% so far in 2026. History is crystal clear on where the stock is headed next

XLK – Added 6/5/2026

CURRENT SUMMARY OF APPROXIMATELY 50 INDICATORS:
At the close today, of the 50-Indicators I track, 9 gave Bear-signs and 10 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.)

TODAY’S COMMENT
The daily, bull-bear spread of 50-indicators improved from -9 to +1 (1 more Bull indicators than Bear indicators), a NEUTRAL 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 improved, but continued down, a BEARISH sign.

Breadth improved today. For now, when we look at the last two weeks, more issues have gone up than have gone down. That’s always a good sign. The 10-dMA of breadth is one of the first warning signs of trouble.

The S&P 500 improved, but is 0.4% below its 50-dMA. That’s better, but still a worry.

We noted yesterday that perhaps Monday’s Bullish Outside reversal would lead to a “Turning Tuesday.” As Jeffrey Saut once wrote regarding a past downturn: “… once the markets get into one of these weekly downside skeins, they rarely bottom on a Friday. Nope, they typically give participants over the weekend to brood about their losses and then they show up the next Monday in “sell mode” leading to Turning Tuesday.”

We got a turn today. Now we need to see if it is a durable turn and not just a one-day move.

I checked on our old buddy Micron Technology as a proxy for the chip stocks. It was down about 9% today. Its trailing PE has fallen to 18.5 making Micron an odd value stock. It is still about 60% above its 200-dMA which may be contributing to some of the profit taking in this stock. Another is that it quadrupled in price this year. The most concerning issue may be the fear that the AI trade won’t continue. I don’t know why it continues to decline, so I won’t guess. The chip decline still looks overdone to me, but I have been wrong.

BOTTOM LINE
I am bearish and will remain so until the S&P 500 climbs above its 50-day. Indicators did improve, but a neutral indication is not bullish enough for me. Both the chart and indicators remain concerning.

ETF - MOMENTUM ANALYSIS:
TODAY’S RANKING OF 15 ETFs (Ranked Daily) ETF ranking follows:

My basket of Market Internals improved to BUY. (My basket of Market Internals is a decent trend-following analysis that is most useful when it diverges from the Index.)