Housing Index … 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.
 
“A Democratic city council member who once welcomed the "change" from socialist Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson is now admitting he is "gravely concerned" about the business exodus affecting the major American city.
This comes as blue states like Washington and New York face a business exodus in favor of more market-friendly red states. Starbucks, a major player in Seattle’s business scene, recently announced a major expansion into Nashville while simultaneously cutting Seattle-based corporate jobs, a move that has intensified concerns about Seattle’s business climate and economic competitiveness.” Story at…
Dem who welcomed socialist mayor's 'change' now sounding alarm over billionaire exodus: 'Gravely concerned'
 
CLEANING HOUSE AT CITY HALL (Secret Life of Mom)
“When the Festus City Council approved a $6 billion AI data center on March 30, 2026, it probably expected a degree of community frustration. What happened next exceeded any reasonable expectation. Eight days later, every one of the four incumbent council members up for reelection had been thrown out of office by voters running specifically on opposition to the project.” Story at… 
Town votes out every council member who approved a $6 billion AI data center
 
WE’RE ALL IN DEBT – HOW WILL THE US ECONOMY FUNCTION IF GLOBAL LENDING DRIES UP (Moneywise)
“What happens when the world stops lending to the United States? That's the question raised by economist and gold advocate Peter Schiff in a recent appearance on The Iced Coffee Hour, where he laid out a stark warning about the foundation of the American economy…"When the world doesn't do that, what do we got?" Schiff continued, "How does this economy function?"
Schiff has recently been vocal in his warnings about the direction of the U.S. economy. Just a couple of weeks ago, he wrote on X that, "We are headed for a full-blown financial crisis." Story at… 
We're all in debt: Peter Schiff questions how the US economy will function if global lending dries up — here's what it means for investors
 
LOW HIRING (Moneywise-Thursday)
“CNBC's Rick Santelli could hardly hide his surprise when the latest U.S. jobs data hit the wire. [Thursday – They were low.] "That is truly incredible. We're looking at levels truly that we probably haven't seen since the late '60s. This is very, very incredible."
He wasn't exaggerating the scale of the move. According to the Department of Labor, seasonally adjusted initial claims fell to 189,000 for the week ending April 25, down 26,000 from the previous week's revised level of 215,000…
…Bloomberg reported that the figure marked the lowest level since 1969. Economists had expected 212,000 claims — meaning the actual number came in far below forecasts.” Story at…
'Wow!': CNBC host stunned as 'truly incredible' US jobs number plunges to 189,000 — the lowest level since 1960s. Time to bet on Trump's economy?
My cmt: I commented at the time that this number was below levels needed to employ new hires entering the market. I didn’t realize that it was historically low.
 
NAHB HOUSING INDEX (advisor Perspectives)
“Builder confidence posted a modest gain in May despite persistent affordability challenges and economic uncertainty. The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Housing Market Index (HMI) rose 3 points from April to 37 this month, marking the 25th consecutive negative reading. The latest reading was higher than the forecast of 34.”

Analysis and charts at…
https://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/2026/05/18/nahb-housing-market-index-builder-confidence-may-2026
 
QUICK MARKET SUMMARY
-Monday the S&P 500 declined about 0.1% to 7403.
-VIX declined about 3% to 17.82.
-The yield on the 10-year Treasury declined slightly to 4.593% (compared to about this time prior market day).
 
MY TRADING POSITIONS
SPY – Added 12/1/2025. – SOLD 5/18/2026
I sold SPY just to cut back on stocks a bit. This takes me back to about fully invested at about 50% in stocks.
 
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.” – 11 May. Story at…  
Goldman Sachs sends blunt message on Nvidia stock after GTC
“According to the 54 analysts' twelve-month price targets for NVIDIA, the average price target is $278.73. The highest price target for NVDA is $360.00, while the lowest price target for NVDA is $205.00.”- MarketBeat at… 
https://www.marketbeat.com/stocks/NASDAQ/NVDA/forecast/
 
SSO – Sold 5/14/2026.
 
CURRENT SUMMARY OF APPROXIMATELY 50 INDICATORS:
At the close today, of the 50-Indicators I track, 11 gave Bear-signs and 12 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 remained from +1 (1 more Bull indicator 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 reversed higher, a BULLISH sign that is more important than the daily numbers.
 
I still expect a pullback in the 3-5% range. It could go higher, but the 50-dMA was 8.6% below the S&P 500 when it made its high on Thursday.  It is now 6.8% above the 50-day. Those are the likely max declines unless we get further bad news.
 
Monday, there was another Hindenburg Omen.
“The Hindenburg Omen is a technical analysis indicator that attempts to predict stock market crashes by identifying periods of market instability. It is named after the Hindenburg disaster, a German airship that caught fire in 1937. The omen is triggered when specific market conditions, such as a large number of stocks making both new 52-week highs and lows, occur within a short time frame.” – Investopedia.
 
Hindenburg Omens don’t have a great record of being correct; however, they do tend to give a good signal if there is a cluster of Omens. We’ve seen 4 in the last 6 days. The short-term Fosback High-Low Logic Index uses a similar method of analysis. It is very close to issuing a sell-signal too.
 
Breadth is weak; only 49% of issues on the NYSE have been up over the last 2 weeks. For now, longer term breadth values are still ok.
 
Breadth, as measured by issues advancing on the NYSE, was ok at the top so that suggests that if we do see a correction that it would be less than 10%. On the low side, pullbacks of 3% to 5% are normal and happen all the time. Indicators are still neutral so the guess now is that we are likely to see a small correction. 
 
The S&P 500 is 6.8% above its 50-dMA.
 
BOTTOM LINE
I am bearish in the short-term expecting a relatively small pullback.
 
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)
 

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 remained SELL. (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 50% 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.
 
 

Sold some More Stocks

Based on last week's data I cut stock holdings to get me back to a fully invested position of about 50% in stocks. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. Since I am expecting some level of pullback, why not take a little more off the table?

Industrial Production … NY Fed Manufacturing … Momentum Trading DOW Stocks & ETFs … Stock Market Analysis

 
It’s been busy; I am finally posting Friday’s blog.
 
“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.
 
 LATE NIGHT TRUTH SOCIAL STORMS THAT OFFER A WINDOW INTO THE RESIENT’S MIND (WSJ-Excerpt)
“…On Dec. 1, from 8:17 p.m. until just before midnight, the president’s account posted nearly 160 times—more posts than on any other day in his second term. The bursts of social-media activity feature content from other accounts—including images, videos and text—that appeal to the president and his team… 

…Natalie Harp, Trump’s executive assistant, plays an integral role in Trump’s Truth Social activity. She brings the president stacks of printed-out draft social-media posts for his approval. The proposed posts often recycle content from other accounts that Harp or advisers think would appeal to Trump, according to people familiar with the matter.
Harp then logs onto the president’s account—at times outside of normal work hours—and posts batches of Trump-approved messages…” Story at…
https://www.wsj.com/politics/trump-truth-social-late-night-posts-167cb47a
My cmt: Trump claims January 6 was orchestrated by Nancy Pelosi??!!!
- "Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."- George Carlin
- “When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.” - Thomas Sowell,
 
AOC COULD TURN BACK THE BLUE WAVE (WSJ)
“Why shouldn’t Democrats be confident of a big midterm sweep in November? … Near the top of the list is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez … In a recent “It’s Open With Ilana Glazer” podcast, she revealed just how far she is from the mainstream. AOC blamed opposition to open borders on a “deep racism” and the “impulse . . . to feel like there is another class of people that is below you.” When Ms. Glazer suggested the death of AOC’s father from lung cancer was the fault of capitalism, Mr. Ocasio-Cortez agreed, calling our market system “barbarism.” … AOC isn’t the only Democrat whose utterances unsettle mainstream voters. The Democratic lineup this year is rife with kooks… That crucial part of the electorate could draw a simple, politically lethal conclusion: Too many Democrats are too radical for America.” - Karl Rove, Senior adviser and deputy chief of staff for President George W. Bush and author of “The Triumph of William McKinley” (Simon & Schuster, 2015).
 
NY FED MANUFACTURING (Sharecast)
“Manufacturing activity across New York State grew at its highest rate in more than four years in May, according to data from the region's Federal Reserve on Friday, with new orders and shipments surging over the month.” Story at…
https://www.sharecast.com/news/international-economic/empire-state-manufacturing-gauge-hits-four-year-high-but-price-pressures-rise--22498720.html
 
INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION (Staffing Industry Analysis)
“US industrial production rose in April by the most in over a year, pointing to nascent momentum in the sector. The 0.7% increase in output at factories, mines and utilities followed a revised 0.3% drop in March…The report adds to evidence that the manufacturing sector is holding
https://www.staffingindustry.com/
 
QUICK MARKET SUMMARY
-Friday the S&P 500 improved about 1.2% to 7409.
-VIX rose about 7% to 17.26.
-The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.597% (compared to about this time prior market day).
 
MY TRADING POSITIONS
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 – Sold 5/14/2026.
 
CURRENT SUMMARY OF APPROXIMATELY 50 INDICATORS:
At the close today, of the 50-Indicators I track, 11 gave Bear-signs and 12 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 +3 to +1 (1 more Bull indicator 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 continued lower, a BEARISH sign that is more important than the daily numbers.
 
The S&P 500 was almost 9% above its 50-day moving average (50-dMA) on Thursday. That’s unusually high except after big bottoms. We had other Top-indicators warn on Thursday. Now we have the hard part – how far will the Index drop?
 
Breadth, as measured by issues advancing on the NYSE, was ok at the top so that suggests that if we do see a correction that it would be less than 10%. On the low side, pullbacks of 3% to 5% are normal and happen all the time. Indicators are still neutral so the guess now is that we are likely to see a small correction.  
 
The S&P 500 is 7% above its 50-dMA so 3-5% makes sense unless there is more significant bad news. The latest PPI news of 6% inflation was significant bad news. We don’t need more.
 
BOTTOM LINE
I am Neutral watching indicators and market action.
 
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)

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
 
FRIDAY MARKET INTERNALS (NYSE DATA)

My basket of Market Internals remained SELL. (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 55% 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.
 

Retail Sales … Jobless Claims … Momentum Trading DOW Stocks & ETFs … Stock Market Analysis

 
From a Facebook meme…
A beautiful woman said, “Hi” to me at the grocery store.
Me: Do we know each other?
Her: I think you’re the father of one of my kids!
Me: OMG! Are you one of the strippers from my Bachelor Party?!
Her: No, I am your son’s teacher.
 
“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.
 
HIGH YIELD BONDS FLASH WARNING (McClellan Publications)

“The daily Advance-Decline (A-D) Line for high yield corporate bonds is making a bearish divergence versus the SP500.  This is a concern because it conveys a message saying that there are liquidity problems…This is not a trend change "signal".  It is just a warning of trouble, and one which could get rehabilitated.  It will bear watching in the days ahead, especially as the calendar now transitions into the worst 6 months of the year.” - Tom McClellan, Editor, The McClellan Market Report. Analysis at…
https://www.mcoscillator.com/learning_center/weekly_chart/high_yield_bonds_flash_warning/
 
JOBLESS CLAIMS (AP News)
“The number of Americans filing for jobless aid rose last week but remains historically low despite the economic uncertainty caused by the war in Iran. U.S. applications for unemployment benefits for the the week ending May 9 rose by 12,000 to 211,000…” Story at…
https://apnews.com/article/unemployment-benefits-jobless-claims-layoffs-labor-b57b326ca4c4b04cf3881e80d5a48a90
 
RETAIL SALES (CNN)
“Retail sales climbed 0.5% in April from the prior month, the Commerce Department said Thursday, down from March’s 1.6% and marking the third consecutive monthly increase.” Story at… 
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/14/economy/us-retail-sales-consumer-spending-april
QUICK MARKET SUMMARY
-Thursday the S&P 500 improved about 0.8% to 7501.
-VIX declined about 3% to 17.26.
-The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.483% (compared to about this time prior market day).
 
MY TRADING POSITIONS
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 – Sold 5/14/2026.
 
CURRENT SUMMARY OF APPROXIMATELY 50 INDICATORS:
At the close today, of the 50-Indicators I track, 11 gave Bear-signs and 14 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 +7 to +3 (3 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 reversed lower, a BEARISH sign that is more important than the daily numbers.
 
Regular readers know that I read Paul Schatz’s blog at Heritage Capital with some regularity. Because of Paul, I have been following a “possible” indicator (It’s not in my 50-indicator system yet), Junk minus S&P 500 Spread. Here’s the current chart showing a trend similar to the one indicated by Tom McClellan’s “divergence” in the Advance-decline lines of Junk bonds and the S&P 500 Index (above). Junk Bonds act like stocks so when there is divergence it can be a signal that many follow. In my chart below, falling spread (Green line) indicates trouble.

 
We did not get another Hindenburg Omen today – that’s good, but the Omen remains in effect for 30-days except when the McClellan Oscillator is positive.
Hindenburg Omens don’t have a great record of being correct; however, they do tend to give a good signal if there is a cluster of Omens. We saw three, Monday thru Wednesday.
 
The S&P 500 made a new, all-time, high today (Wednesday). 132 issues on the NYSE made new, 52-week-highs today; that is below the 5-year average for this stat, but high enough to avoid trouble. Breadth, as measured by issues advancing on the NYSE, is ok too; we don’t need to worry about a correction >10% anytime soon. Since the S&P 500 recently had a 9% correction, the likelihood of another seems unlikely, so that’s one reason I’m guessing 3-5%. Even 5% may be too high, given the bullish mood of investors.
 
I sold my SSO position Thursday, because I got a top-signal, mid-day on Thursday. I posted a discussion on the reasons earlier.
 
BOTTOM LINE
I am cautiously bullish, but indicators suggest that we may see a short-term retreat of 3-5%.
 
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)
 

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
 
THURSDAY MARKET INTERNALS (NYSE DATA)

My basket of Market Internals declined to SELL. (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 55% 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.
 

Short Term Top?

 
Top Signals warned of a Top at mid-day. The chart below is a plot of Top / Bottom signals; it was -6 (Top Warning) at today’s high. If the S&P 500 closes below 5717 there won’t be a top-warning in my system. Wall Street is watching the same thing I am – the Index pulled back when the Bollinger Bands became overbought around noon.

This doesn’t have to be a major top. Since we have seen good breadth at tops recently, this does not look like a major top. I expect a 3-5% normal retreat.
 
If the S&P 500 closes below 5717 today, perhaps the index will continue higher. For me, I am selling SSO since I suspect the close today might be “close enough.” I don’t like holding leveraged positions when a pullback of any amount is anticipated or suggested.
 
Short-term trading is impossible, they say, so who knows if this will work out. I do know that it is never wrong to take profits.

PPI … Momentum Trading DOW Stocks & ETFs … Stock Market Analysis

 

…Only in California.
From Las Vegas Review-Journal at…
https://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/michael-ramirez/
 
“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.
 
DEMOCRATS REDISTRICTING OUTBURST (WSJ-Excerpt)
“The most bizarre aspect of the left’s reaction to their recent gerrymandering setbacks is that they claim to be shocked and surprised. Yet the U.S. Supreme Court has been moving for years to tighten the Voting Rights Act, and its recent decision in Louisiana v. Callais (reining in racial gerrymanders) had been predicted since oral arguments in October. Virginia Democrats were separately warned last fall—by Republicans and legal scholars—that they had missed the window to amend the state constitution, which would have been necessary to impose the new map lawfully—which is exactly what the Virginia Supreme Court ruled last week. Liberal shock over the twin rulings is either feigned or obtuse….
…The same left that is beating up the U.S. Supreme Court is also begging it to intervene on its behalf. Virginia Attorney General Jay Jones on Monday filed an emergency appeal [with laughable misspellings on the cover page] asking the Supreme Court to invalidate the Virginia Supreme Court decision on grounds that the state court “overrode the will of the people.” This case is going nowhere fast, since the Virginia Supreme Court ruled that the process Democrats used to redistrict violated the state constitution—and the U.S. Supreme Court is typically loath to tell a state high court how to interpret its own constitution. So why bother with the emergency request? The cynical take is that this too is about politics—that Democrats are banking on getting turned down by the justices, a rejection they’ll use to pile on complaints that the high court is partisan and stacked against them…” – Kimberly Strassel, WSJ Editorial Board.
My cmt: The Virginia Supreme Court “overrode the will of the people?” The Democrats objected to having the Court rule before the referendum thus wasting $83-million spent by both parties on ads and about $5-million in taxpayer money to conduct the referendum.
 
RECESSION PLAYBOOK IS BROKEN (Markets Insider)
“Torsten Sløk, the top economist at Apollo Global Management… recently revealed in a blog post that he thinks the next recession will be different, mainly because of a troublesome fiscal situation facing the US. "Do not expect lower interest rates to bail out valuations." he warned. "The standard recession playbook that growth slows, the Fed cuts, rates fall and multiples expand breaks down when the sovereign borrower is already stretched."…Sløk isn't predicting a recession outright, but he says that whenever one strikes, it will likely be different from previous downturn cycles because the US government will have less wiggle room to respond.” Story at…
A Wall Street chief economist says a key part of the market's recession playbook is broken
 
IS THIS 1999 ALL OVER AGAIN? (Heritage Capital)
“There has been so much chatter lately that this is a repeat of 1999. It’s not. People are all over Twitter comparing AI to the Dotcom stocks. They’re dead wrong. Other people are forecasting financial Armageddon worse than Dotcom and 2008. That’s laughable.
When I push back on the notion that this is 1999 again, people call me a “perma-bull” or tell me that I am not analyzing it correctly. For decades I have said that bubbles are generational. The word itself is the most overused word in investing. I can’t go a single day without people declaring that something is a bubble. Add in the word “crash” and you have most letter writers two favorite words. This is a bubble. That was a crash. Tell you what; these people are clueless. They have no idea what they’re doing. It’s just clickbait and nonsense…
…Investing money during bubbles or parabolic advances is really, really difficult. It is so easy to say, “just hang on”! In real time, it is very tough. I learned later in my career to always prune position size during behavior like this. People don’t pay me to buy the bottom in size and try to hold for every last cent. They pay me good money to try and responsibly manage their financial life which includes their portfolio.” – Paul Schatz, President Heritage Capital. Commentary at…
https://investfortomorrow.com/blog/is-this-1999-all-over-again-semiconductors-partying-big-time/
 
PPI (CNN)
“PPI, a measure of wholesale inflation, increased in April to 6% on an annual basis from 4% in March, well exceeding economists’ expectations. On a monthly basis, the index increased 1.4%...It’s also the second-largest monthly gain dating back to the index’s inception in 2010.
 

Story and charts from CNN at…
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/13/economy/us-ppi-wholesale-inflation-april
 
QUICK MARKET SUMMARY
-Wednesday the S&P 500 improved about 0.6% to 7444.
-VIX declined about 0.9% to 17.83.
-The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose slightly to 4.467% (compared to about this time prior market day).
 
MY TRADING POSITIONS
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.
 
CURRENT SUMMARY OF APPROXIMATELY 50 INDICATORS:
At the close today, of the 50-Indicators I track, 9 gave Bear-signs and 16 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 +7 (7 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 was higher, a BULLISH sign that is more important than the daily numbers.
 
As noted in the above article, today’s PPI report was bad. There is now about a 40% chance of a Fed rate-hike by the Fed at the December meeting according to the CME Fed Watch tool at…
https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/interest-rates/cme-fedwatch-tool.html
There is no chance of any rate-cuts this year.
 
Wednesday there was a third Hindenburg Omen in a row.
“The Hindenburg Omen is a technical analysis indicator that attempts to predict stock market crashes by identifying periods of market instability. It is named after the Hindenburg disaster, a German airship that caught fire in 1937. The omen is triggered when specific market conditions, such as a large number of stocks making both new 52-week highs and lows, occur within a short time frame.” – Investopedia.
 
Hindenburg Omens don’t have a great record of being correct; however, they do tend to give a good signal if there is a cluster of Omens. The short-term Fosback High-Low Logic Index uses a similar method of analysis. It is very close to issuing a sell-signal.
 
RSI is overbought along with several other top-signals. I still have not seen enough top-indicators to call a top.  Bollinger bands are still not overbought. If both Bollinger Bands and RSI were overbought, that would suggest a top warning.
 
As a sign of good news, Breadth improved over 2-week and 5-month timeframes so that is not an issue at present.
 
The S&P 500 made a new, all-time, high today (Wednesday). 110 issues on the NYSE made new, 52-week-highs today; that is below the 5-year average for this stat, but high enough to avoid trouble. Breadth, as measured by issues advancing on the NYSE, is ok too; we don’t need to worry about a correction >10% anytime soon. Concerns remain though.
 
I almost sold my SSO position Wednesday, because today’s internals were weak, but Indicators were not falling. Further, Bollinger Bands still have not signaled overbought, so I resisted the urge to sell.
 
BOTTOM LINE
I am cautiously bullish, but I expect that I’ll get a top warning if Bollinger Bands become overbought.  A 1% up-day would probably give that warning, assuming RSI remains overbought.
 
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)
 

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
 
WEDNESDAY MARKET INTERNALS (NYSE DATA)

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.) 
 
 

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.
 

CPI … Business Optimism … 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.

 

CPI (CNBC)

“Prices that consumers pay for a wide range of goods and services increased at a faster-than-expected pace in April, as another burst in energy prices raised further concerns about inflation’s impact on the U.S. economy.

The consumer price index rose at a seasonally adjusted 0.6% for the month, putting the one-year pace at 3.8%...the core CPI increased 0.4% and 2.8%, respectively…”

Story and charts at…

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/05/12/cpi-inflation-april-2026-.html

 

NFIB BUSINESS OPTIMISM (NFIB)

"The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose 0.1 points in April to 95.9, below its 52-year average of 98.0 for the second consecutive month…“Inflationary pressures continue to be a challenge for Main Street,” said NFIB Chief Economist Bill Dunkelberg. “While small business optimism is currently fragile, the benefits of the Working Families Tax Cut Act should start to feed into the private sector over the next few months.” …As reported in NFIB’s monthly jobs report, the NFIB Small Business Employment Index fell 1.2 points from March to 100.4. This decline is indicative of weakening in the labor market, though the level still suggests balance.” Report at…

https://www.nfib.com/news/press-release/new-nfib-survey-small-business-optimism-remains-below-average-but-stable-5/

 

QUICK MARKET SUMMARY

-Tuesday the S&P 500 declined about 0.2% to 7401.

-VIX rose about 2% to 17.99.

-The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.465% (compared to about this time prior market day).

 

MY TRADING POSITIONS

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.

 

CURRENT SUMMARY OF APPROXIMATELY 50 INDICATORS:

At the close today, of the 50-Indicators I track, 9 gave Bear-signs and 15 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 +11 to +6 (6 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 was flat, a NEUTRAL sign that is more important than the daily numbers.

 

There was a Hindenburg Omen yesterday.

“The Hindenburg Omen is a technical analysis indicator that attempts to predict stock market crashes by identifying periods of market instability. It is named after the Hindenburg disaster, a German airship that caught fire in 1937. The omen is triggered when specific market conditions, such as a large number of stocks making both new 52-week highs and lows, occur within a short time frame.” – Investopedia.

 

Hindenburg Omens don’t have a great record of being correct; however, they do tend to give a good signal if there is a cluster of Omens. So far, we’ve seen just one. The short-term Fosback High-Low Logic Index uses a similar method of analysis. It is not issuing a sell.

 

Breadth is falling and again is issuing a warning signal - over the last 2 weeks, and the last 5 months, more issues on the NYSE have gone down than have gone up.

 

I’ll consider selling my SSO position Wednesday if conditions continue to decline.

 

BOTTOM LINE

I am cautiously bullish.

 

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)

 

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

 

TUESDAY MARKET INTERNALS (NYSE DATA)

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.) 

 

 

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.