[images style=”0″ image=”https%3A%2F%2Ftheotrade.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2024%2F07%2FSector-Leader-Bullseye-Thumbnail-1024×576-1.jpg” width=”1024″ align=”center” top_margin=”0″ full_width=”Y”] Last week delivered what bulls have been waiting for since February: fresh all-time highs in U.S. stock indices, with the Nasdaq blazing the trail higher. This isn’t just any rally—it’s a growth-driven surge that signals the market’s real appetite for risk is back. The outperformance of growth sectors since the April 7 low has been building momentum for weeks, and after last week’s breakout, this trend is accelerating into what could be a powerful third quarter. Take a look at this… Growth is Accelerating into Q3 [images style=”0″ image=”https%3A%2F%2Ftheotrade.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F06%2FScreenshot-2025-06-30-115911.png” width=”639″ align=”center” top_margin=”0″ full_width=”Y”] The sector leaderboard tells the story perfectly. Communications and technology are leading the charge, with industrials and financials close behind. Take a moment to appreciate what’s missing from this list: not a single defensive sector in sight. That’s pure bullish conviction. Tech came roaring back last week, slightly outpaced by

Since May, I’ve been ranting and raving about the Great Tech Reset. And just today, we finally saw the S&P 500 make a new all-time high for the first time in over four months. This rally, of course, is being driven higher by the technology sector. This isn’t surprising given it accounts for 30% of the S&P 500. In fact, if we go back to the April 7 low, the XLK Technology ETF is up over 37%. That’s pretty remarkable considering it hasn’t even been two months. But what if I told you there’s another component within tech that’s up even more? Check this out…  Great Tech Reset Pillar #1: Super-Chip Technology There are three pillars of the Great Tech Reset, but today, I just want to focus on the first in super-chip technology. Let’s be frank: none of the revolutionary tech we’re seeing today, from artificial intelligence to quantum

Geopolitical tensions are through the roof right now. Will Iran retaliate? Will they close the strategically important Straight of Hormuz? We could spend a lot of time guessing what could happen, but that’s not likely to contribute to our portfolio’s bottom line. I would like to remind readers that we saw energy prices make an important high back in 2022, not long after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It was a true case of “buy the rumor, sell the news.” I can’t say whether that’s happening again this time, but we can certainly take stock of the current situation based on what’s leading.  Check this out…  A Dangerous Cocktail for Bulls   The energy sector is absolutely running the table in the near-term. It’s solidifying its place as the top-performing sector on a weekly and monthly basis, which raises the eyebrows for the bulls. If this momentum continues, it could lead

  It’s tough to overstate the impact quantum computing is going to have on just about everything.  To compound the issue, there’s a ton of extraneous hype and misinformation flying around about what quantum computing is and is capable of.  I’m going to oversimplify here, but today’s most sophisticated commercially available computers can process trillions of operations per second; it can even do these tasks in parallel now. So-called “supercomputers” can now process more than 1 quintillion floating point operations per second.  But for all the impressive speed and sophistication, it’s still a binary game: 0 or 1, on or off, yes or no.  Enter quantum computing, the capabilities of which we’ve barely scratched the surface of. Thanks to the “qubit,” its basic unit, we’re leaving “or” territory and entering the land of “and.”  It sounds simple but when we talk about 1 and 0, on and off, yes and

I try not to complicate things when I trade. I want to participate in the strongest markets to the upside, and completely avoid the weakest markets to the downside.  Following this simple rule will save you from a lot of stress, and to keep making good decisions in this trading business, you have to stay on top of stress management. I’m always on the lookout for the next big move in markets, and right now, I’ve got Ethereum right at the top of my list. Here’s why…  Stocks Will Move to the Blockchain Can you imagine paying for a good or service with a stock like Tesla or Nvidia? You read that right. Forget about the Dollar, gold, and all of these random cryptocurrencies (most of which will go to zero) for a second, and think about what I just said. Back when I started in the business, it took

With everything going on in the world, you might be wondering why I’m starting this week off going after the Fed. I talked about it on Friday – the spike in oil prices has put the Fed on notice when it comes to inflation. To be clear – one day or even one week does not make or break a trend, but there were notable shifts underneath the surface of the market last week. Does this put the rally on weaker footing going forward?  Let’s discuss… Bulls Don’t Want to See Energy Lead   The price of crude oil exploded higher late last week, sending the energy sector (XLE) soaring with it. The rally was so strong that it overtook technology as the best-performing sector on a 30-day basis as well.  Energy is a sector that tends to lead in the later stages of the market cycle. So, after nine

The geopolitical situation is heating up in the Middle East, and, unsurprisingly, this coincided with one of the biggest crude oil rallies in years. This comes just days after another cool inflation report that implied price increases weren’t a problem.  But crude oil’s spike alters the situation. You see, nothing drives inflation more than rising prices in crude oil – and that goes well beyond what you pay at the pump to fill up your car. And now, my concern is that the Fed missed its window of opportunity to lower rates while inflation was tame.  Let me explain…  Politics and Portfolios Don’t Mix It’s kind of like oil and water. You can try to mix them, but eventually, they separate. It’s been several months since there’s been any hot inflation report, but the Fed has stayed put on the rate front since December because “tariffs cause inflation.” Tariffs are

Summer is just around the corner, and I’m getting ready for a big introduction! Before you get too excited, it’s nothing to do with trading. It’s just about family in this case. Most of my family still lives overseas in Europe, spread across Italy, France, and Switzerland. I even have some family in Canada, but over here in the United States, there is hardly anyone outside of my immediate family. So needless to say, I’m pretty excited about my daughter Aurelia’s debut to the family this summer…  I Talk About “Time” All the Time My son Gaetano, who was born first, already got to meet the family back in summer 2023. He was eleven months old at the time and certainly had no problem flattering the family over in Italy. When I say “Italy,” I don’t want you to think of Rome, Venice, or Florence. We are very far removed

We’re in the middle of the Great Tech Reset, and many market participants are still asleep at the wheel. To be completely upfront with you, I’m okay with it – and here’s why. There always has to be someone who thinks differently from you to take the other side of a trade. Without opposing viewpoints, markets don’t function properly. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found that spending time and energy trying to convince others of something they don’t want to believe is a losing proposition. Instead, I’ve learned that trading against them is a much more valuable endeavor. Let’s take a look at how bulls are still running the tape…  It’s a Big World of Tech I cannot stress enough how bullish tech’s leadership is for the overall stock market. Not only does it account for ~30% of the S&P 500, but we also must recognize when tech tends to

I’ve been talking a lot about the “Great Tech Reset” in recent weeks, and after what I’ve seen over the past few days, I’m even more optimistic about this outlook. If you didn’t catch my presentation on this back on May 22, you can watch it here. But since I’m seeing these themes accelerate even more just a few weeks later, I want to give you a quick run-down on what will be the biggest market drivers over the next 6-12 months… The Great Chase is On To put it mildly, the big money managers on Wall Street completely fumbled the market’s pullback earlier this year. They’ve only now started to cover their shorts, which is only adding fuel to this rally. We’re seeing leadership come from the technology sector, which is normal out of a market bottom, but even more importantly, we’re seeing semiconductor stocks outperform notably. This plays