It was a very decent trading week for the markets in general, including a new episode of ATHs for the S&P, and in particular for big tech and semis.
Two Power Stages in Four Trading Days
What I really liked to see and noticed was a second solid bullish day on Tuesday, just three sessions after the first real rocket launch in a while on Thursday, July 31st.
This has not happened in a while.
It caught my attention.
Prime Real Estate Revisited
The markets were able to build on a very decent end to the previous week and started off with a strong bid, taking advantage of fresh tailwinds from Hormuz, which took WTI down around 13% throughout Monday and Tuesday.
Both the Nasdaq and the Russell ended Monday in the upper half of their 1-year daily Keltner Channels and stayed there until the end of the week.
For me, this matters.
The SOX followed the same pattern, but it took one more day to get there.
A Slight Breeze off Overperformance
My dearest semiconductors displayed some positive signs throughout the week, which one might say was inevitable as the Majors were climbing. I will disagree with that, as I have seen multiple episodes of relative weakness from this sector versus the overall market trend.
Therefore, it was with a bit of a smile on my face that I observed scattered signs of...
Resilience on Monday and Thursday.
Overperformance on Tuesday and Friday.
The semiconductors leveraged ETF, SOXL, kissed the Keltner Channel's great divide twice, on Wednesday and Friday, but couldn't seal the deal by the end of either session.
Despite these two touch-and-go moments, I see signs of leadership re-emerging — the kind of leadership SOXL would display during countless stages in April and May, when it was at the front of the peloton throughout the trading sessions.
High Korean Voltage Decoupling
Korea scored a better week in my opinion, with a smaller weekly candle. This matters, and can only support my own theory that a bottom is slowly being drawn, followed by a period of consolidation with an upward slope.
If the AI trade can somehow start to decouple from the highly concentrated KOSPI, then this is another important step in the right direction.
This week, I smelled a bit of this on one or two occasions, when SOXL displayed much better price action than KORU.
The Week Ahead From the Deck
I will be watching the inflation print on Wednesday and, on earnings, there isn't much that excites me as the bulk of the heavyweights has already reported.
But that's fine too... and I always have some popcorn bags ready just in case.
In a Solar Eclipse week, let's wait for the markets to tell us whether there is more brightness ahead or not... One thing for sure, I will wear my fancy glasses.