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

iShares Russell 2000 ETF / Technical Analysis

<ul>
<li>We discussed last week how consolidation was likely, so far that has played out with the SPX back testing the 4300-4325 area which we anticipated would cap upside for 2023.</li>
<li>We continue to watch short-term support at 4300, and we cannot be bearish if the S&amp;P 500 is above 4300.</li>
<li>The Russell 2000 (IWM) is back to test support at $180; we would expect to see this hold as support, but a failure to hold would mean a trip to $170
</li>
</ul>


We discussed last week how consolidation was likely, so far that has played out with the SPX back testing the 4300-4325 area which we anticipated would cap upside for 2023.
We continue to watch short-term support at 4300, and we cannot be bearish if the S&amp;P 500 is above 4300.
The Russell 2000 (IWM) is back to test support at $180; we would expect to see this hold as support, but a failure to hold would mean a trip to $170



Russell 2000 (IWM) Testing $180 Support; Breadth Remains Constructive; Construction/Engineering Buys

<ul>
<li>The S&amp;P 500 broke above 4200 and the 2-month megaphone pattern on Friday, and is already approaching the 4300-4325 area which we have anticipated would cap upside for 2023.</li>
<li>While we would be cautious at these levels given our expectation for inflation to remain elevated, we cannot get too bearish if the S&amp;P 500 is above 4165-4200.</li>
<li>Breadth remains weak within the S&amp;P 500, but we are starting to see breadth improvement within small-cap Russell 2000 (IWM). More on that below, IWM targets include $190 and $200-202.</li>
</ul>


The S&amp;P 500 broke above 4200 and the 2-month megaphone pattern on Friday, and is already approaching the 4300-4325 area which we have anticipated would cap upside for 2023.
While we would be cautious at these levels given our expectation for inflation to remain elevated, we cannot get too bearish if the S&amp;P 500 is above 4165-4200.
Breadth remains weak within the S&amp;P 500, but we are starting to see breadth improvement within small-cap Russell 2000 (IWM). More on that below, IWM targets include $190 and $200-202.


Russell 2000 Breakout Attempt Underway; Small-Cap Breadth Improving; KRE, KBE, XRT Test Key Levels

NASDAQ Composite Index / Technical Analysis

<ul>
<li>Since January 2023 we've anticipated for 4165-4200 to cap upside on the S&amp;P 500 for 2023, but that a rally to 4300-4325 is also possible; this remains our view.</li>
<li>In our 5/2/23 Compass we discussed how the Nasdaq Composite was testing 12,300 resistance, and that a breakout and reach to 13,180 is possible.</li>
<li>The Nasdaq Composite hit 13,154 Tuesday as Technology (XLK), and to a lesser extent Communications (XLC), are seemingly in a blowoff stage, while all other Sectors are neutral to bearish.</li>
</ul>


Since January 2023 we've anticipated for 4165-4200 to cap upside on the S&amp;P 500 for 2023, but that a rally to 4300-4325 is also possible; this remains our view.
In our 5/2/23 Compass we discussed how the Nasdaq Composite was testing 12,300 resistance, and that a breakout and reach to 13,180 is possible.
The Nasdaq Composite hit 13,154 Tuesday as Technology (XLK), and to a lesser extent Communications (XLC), are seemingly in a blowoff stage, while all other Sectors are neutral to bearish.


Downgrading Discretionary & Health Care to Market Weight, Staples & Utilities to Underweight

High Quality Stock Setups, Weekly Stock Bull Finder

Weekly Stock Bull Finder

High Quality Stock Setups

Finding high potential stock setups on quality companies

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>The exercise of catching bottoms and averaging down versus cutting losers and admitting you were wrong can and often is a painful lessons every investor goes through during points in their investing journey.</li><li>While scanning and examining companies and charts that are participating in strong uptrends is a worthwhile exercise, an equally important exercise is looking for companies which are currently in cycle downtrends but have strong underlying fundamentals which may not be presented reflected in today’s price.</li><li>In effect, they have been “thrown out with the bathwater” and are now potentially mispriced based upon their current and future underlying fundamentals.</li></ul>

The exercise of catching bottoms and averaging down versus cutting losers and admitting you were wrong can and often is a painful lessons every investor goes through during points in their investing journey.While scanning and examining companies and charts that are participating in strong uptrends is a worthwhile exercise, an equally important exercise is looking for companies which are currently in cycle downtrends but have strong underlying fundamentals which may not be presented reflected in today’s price.In effect, they have been “thrown out with the bathwater” and are now potentially mispriced based upon their current and future underlying fundamentals.

Equity Bottom-Up

Melco Resorts & Entertainment / Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>As investors we are faced with a deluge of noisy breaking news, business media talking heads, and what has felt like non-stop Fed speakers offering their differing views on the economy and the path of rate hikes going in 2023. </li><li>This week was no different. Fed Chair Jay Powell was front and center suggesting that interest rate hikes will likely be stepped down to 50bps in the upcoming December Fed meeting in a few weeks. </li><li>This was already discounted and expected by the market and effectively didn’t offer much of anything Wall St. didn’t already know.</li></ul>

As investors we are faced with a deluge of noisy breaking news, business media talking heads, and what has felt like non-stop Fed speakers offering their differing views on the economy and the path of rate hikes going in 2023. This week was no different. Fed Chair Jay Powell was front and center suggesting that interest rate hikes will likely be stepped down to 50bps in the upcoming December Fed meeting in a few weeks. This was already discounted and expected by the market and effectively didn’t offer much of anything Wall St. didn’t already know.

United States

Sterling Construction Company, Inc. conducts operations in construction and distribution.  The Company specializes in municipal and state contracts for highway paving, bridge, water and sewer and light rail projects.  Sterling also distributes automotive accessories, non-food pet supplies, and lawn and garden products.

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Sterling Construction Co (STRL US)

Russell 2000 (IWM) Testing $180 Support; Breadth Remains Constructive; Construction/Engineering Buys

Russell 2000 $IWM Testing $180 Support; $RTY $SPX Breadth Remains Constructive; Highlighting buy ideas in Services (Research/Consulting &...

Vermilion Research

Russell 2000 Breakout Attempt Underway; Small-Cap Breadth Improving; KRE, KBE, XRT Test Key Levels

Breadth remains weak within the $SPX, but we're seeing breadth improve within the small-cap Russell 2000 $IWM. All this points to a breakout above...

Vermilion Research

Downgrading Discretionary & Health Care to Market Weight, Staples & Utilities to Underweight

5/2/23 we discussed how $Nasdaq Comp was testing 12,300 resistance, and that a breakout and reach to 13,180 was possible. It hit 13,154 Tuesday as...

Vermilion Research

Weekly Stock Bullfinder - Week of 5/8

The exercise of catching bottoms and averaging down versus cutting losers and admitting you were wrong can and often is a painful lessons every...

Weekly Stock Bull Finder

Weekly Stock Bullfinder - Week of 12/5

As investors we are faced with a deluge of noisy breaking news, business media talking heads, and what has felt like non-stop Fed speakers offering...

Weekly Stock Bull Finder

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