Research from Water Tower Research, Water Tower Research

Water Tower Research

Research from Water Tower Research

Water Tower Research is a leading equity research firm that provides research on micro, small and mid cap companies.

Water Tower Research was founded by Wall Street veterans after witnessing a fundamental shift in the investment research industry with the result being a declining knowledge base among investors, a lack of awareness and a shrinking pool of fundamental research being conducted on companies across the small-cap and micro-cap spectrum. The same issues are now increasingly occurring in the mid-cap space. This sea change within the investment community is impacting not only the companies themselves but also current shareholders and potential investors. With significantly less active sell-side sponsorship by Wall Street, a substantial information gap has developed between companies and various constituents in the financial community. The net result is fewer channels for insight and information to flow between companies and investors.

Equity Research Firm

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>The WTR Sustainable Index was down by 3.2% W/W versus the S&amp;P 500 Index (down 1.5%), the Russell 2000 Index (down 3.7%), and the Nasdaq Index (down 3.1%).</li><li>Energy Technology (13.7% of the index) was down by 6.5%, while Industrial Climate and Ag Technology (50.6% of the index) was down 2.1%, ClimateTech Mining was up 10.3%, and Advanced Transportation Solutions was down 6.7%.</li><li>Top 10 Performers: AEVA, WAVE, PEV, PTRA, QS, PGTK, EFLVF, NXH, LIS, TMC</li></ul>

The WTR Sustainable Index was down by 3.2% W/W versus the S&amp;P 500 Index (down 1.5%), the Russell 2000 Index (down 3.7%), and the Nasdaq Index (down 3.1%).Energy Technology (13.7% of the index) was down by 6.5%, while Industrial Climate and Ag Technology (50.6% of the index) was down 2.1%, ClimateTech Mining was up 10.3%, and Advanced Transportation Solutions was down 6.7%.Top 10 Performers: AEVA, WAVE, PEV, PTRA, QS, PGTK, EFLVF, NXH, LIS, TMC

Weekly Sustainable Investing Surveyor  - Week Ended January 5, 2024

Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Technical Analysis

NASDAQ Composite Index / Technical Analysis

<ul>
<li>Following last week's pullback, a consistent theme we are seeing is that many broad market indexes and Sector ETFs are holding above (and bouncing at) major base supports.</li>
<li>As long as these base supports continue to hold, it tells us this is likely just a normal pullback within the overall bullish trend.</li>
<li>Important supports that we need to see hold in order to remain bullish include 4600 on the S&amp;P 500 and 14,400 on the Nasdaq Composite.</li>
</ul>


Following last week's pullback, a consistent theme we are seeing is that many broad market indexes and Sector ETFs are holding above (and bouncing at) major base supports.
As long as these base supports continue to hold, it tells us this is likely just a normal pullback within the overall bullish trend.
Important supports that we need to see hold in order to remain bullish include 4600 on the S&amp;P 500 and 14,400 on the Nasdaq Composite.


Major Base Supports Holding; DXY Testing the 2-Month Downtrend; 4600 on SPX Remains Key Support

<ul>
<li>Since 11/21/23 Compass we have discussed weekly that even a minor 2-5% pullback is far from a guarantee, considering "breakaway gaps" and what appeared to be an ongoing "lockout rally"</li>
<li>All we got was a 1% peak to trough decline in the S&amp;P 500, while the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) pulled back 2.9% (though left the 11/14/23 gap unfilled).</li>
<li>Now, SPX and QQQ are breaking out yet again after a multi-week consolidation period, including SPX breaking above 2-year resistance at 4600-4607. This is what a strong market looks like.</li>
</ul>


Since 11/21/23 Compass we have discussed weekly that even a minor 2-5% pullback is far from a guarantee, considering "breakaway gaps" and what appeared to be an ongoing "lockout rally"
All we got was a 1% peak to trough decline in the S&amp;P 500, while the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) pulled back 2.9% (though left the 11/14/23 gap unfilled).
Now, SPX and QQQ are breaking out yet again after a multi-week consolidation period, including SPX breaking above 2-year resistance at 4600-4607. This is what a strong market looks like.


Lockout Rally Continues; Breakouts Piling Up; SPX Breakout Above 2-Yr Resistance at 4600-4607

Global Multi-Asset Investment Strategist, True Insights

Jeroen Blokland

Global Multi-Asset Investment Strategist

Build Well-Diversified Multi-Asset Portfolios

True Insights

Our research helps investors build well-diversified multi-asset portfolios and profit from market developments. In addition, our unique and proven Macro – Sentiment – Valuation (MSV) investment framework ensures a consistent flow of new investment opportunities. Together with our market views, these opportunities will be reflected in our live ETF-based Global Multi-Asset Portfolios.

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul>
<li>The recent rise in interest rates is leading to a further shift in cross-asset valuation.</li>
<li>The volatility-adjusted yields of equity-related asset classes have become even less attractive than those of bond-related asset classes.</li>
<li>The case for bond investments becomes even stronger when considering that the correlation between equity and bond returns is remarkably high, diminishing diversification benefits.</li>
</ul>


The recent rise in interest rates is leading to a further shift in cross-asset valuation.
The volatility-adjusted yields of equity-related asset classes have become even less attractive than those of bond-related asset classes.
The case for bond investments becomes even stronger when considering that the correlation between equity and bond returns is remarkably high, diminishing diversification benefits.


Risk-Adjusted Yields and High Correlation Make Equities Unattractive!

<ul>
<li>China could become a ‘Credit Event.’ Despite a slew of new stimulus measures by the Chinese government, they are not comprehensive enough to rule out one or more credit events.</li>
<li>200-Day moving averages hit. Several equity market indices have dipped below their 200-day moving average, including the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. </li>
<li>Response to the latest US inflation figure. In contrast to previous favorable inflation figures, American stocks closed lower on the day following the publication.</li>
</ul>


China could become a ‘Credit Event.’ Despite a slew of new stimulus measures by the Chinese government, they are not comprehensive enough to rule out one or more credit events.
200-Day moving averages hit. Several equity market indices have dipped below their 200-day moving average, including the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. 
Response to the latest US inflation figure. In contrast to previous favorable inflation figures, American stocks closed lower on the day following the publication.


Back with a Bang! – Macro and Sentiment Call for an Underweight in Equities

United States

The NASDAQ Composite Index is a broad-based capitalization-weighted index of stocks in all three NASDAQ tiers: Global Select, Global Market and Capital Market. The index was developed with a base level of 100 as of February 5, 1971.

NASDAQ Composite Index (CCMP INDEX)

Weekly Sustainable Investing Surveyor - Week Ended January 5, 2024

The WTR Sustainable Index was down by 3.2% W/W versus the S&P 500 Index (down 1.5%), the Russell 2000 Index (down 3.7%), and the Nasdaq Index (down...

Water Tower Research

Major Base Supports Holding; DXY Testing the 2-Month Downtrend; 4600 on SPX Remains Key Support

A consistent theme we are seeing is that many broad market indexes and Sector ETFs are holding above (and bouncing at) major base supports...

Vermilion Research

Lockout Rally Continues; Breakouts Piling Up; SPX Breakout Above 2-Yr Resistance at 4600-4607

Lockout Rally Continues; Breakouts Piling Up; $SPX Breakout Above 2-Yr Resistance at 4600-4607, $COMP Breakout Above 14,400. This is what a strong...

Vermilion Research

Risk-Adjusted Yields and High Correlation Make Equities Unattractive!

Volatility-adjusted yields are much lower for equity-like asset classes than for bond-like asset classes, which does not bode well when correlation...

Jeroen Blokland

Back with a Bang! – Macro and Sentiment Call for an Underweight in Equities

We lower the weight of Emerging and Developed Market Equities on recent developments in China, indices dropping below their 200-day moving...

Jeroen Blokland