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UPGRADED TO A CATEGORY 2 STORM WARNING Given the recent frenzy of tropical storms that ravaged Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, the current dynamics of equity markets are drawing a corollary to natural destructive forces.  Roughly 3 weeks ago, I wrote of the appearance of short-term volatility risk signals... http://tancockstradingblog.blogspot.com/2017/11/technicals-highlight-short-term.html Following that post, markets did experience a brief round of volatility as the VIX spiked close to 60% in the 8 days of trading that followed.  However, in the scheme of things, the move was somewhat muted as broader indices suffered from the albatross of lateral movement in the tech sector.  After churning through high variance, techs resumed their march higher in the subsequent 8 days of trading and it seemed as though the storm had passed. This market action was akin to a category 1 hurricane warning and getting a tropical depression... not as bad as it could have been but there was definitely s

THE VERDICT IS IN In case there was any lingering debate as to the influence of technology in the 21st century, the recent outperformance of tech stocks has shattered all arguments to the contrary.  By any metric or interval, the sector's influence is undeniable.  Here's a glance at the relative performance of the tech-heavy NASDAQ composite to the S&P over the past 9 years: ...it's not even close. For the sake of context, the "Big Four" (AAPL, AMZN, FB, MSFT) now make up more than 10% of the S&P 500.  SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL, SPEAK NO EVIL Short of a totally unexpected rejuvenation of anti-trust regulation, there doesn't appear to be any legitimate threat to the strength or influence of technology companies in the foreseeable future. However, it is worth noting that short term market risks are beginning to flash yellow as a number of factors begin to align.  First off, the overall market is being carried by the strength of tech as other sectors suff

BORN TO RUN "Together we could break this trap... We'll run till we drop, baby we'll never go back..." -Born to Run, Bruce Springsteen In the 1975 American classic 'Born to Run', Bruce Springsteen sings of kindred spirits longing to escape their shackles and "get to that place (they) really want to go." Some 40+ years later, we are seeing another pair of kindred spirits trying to break out from a malaise of technical mediocrity in search of their collective potential.  Only differences are, this pair isn't American or beleaguered vagabonds; rather, WYNN and LVS are the manifestation of Asia's growing economic and geopolitical influence combined with a love of risk-taking. The pair of gaming companies have experienced tremendous growth over the course of the past decade - especially WYNN - but neither have fully recovered from the slide in Asian stocks in 2015.  That may be about to change. Looking at the long-term chart of WYNN (1 week interv