All About Dispersion

I follow about 500 stocks actively and rank them to see how many buys I have, how many sells I have and essentially everything in between. In addition, I look at various ETF's and see where the general strength tends to sit.

As of the close today, the findings show that I have 19 Strong Buys and 26 Strong sells on the stock side. Widening it out to Buys and sells, 62 Buys and 63 sells. This is an improvement from last week where there was about 3x the sells as there buys. Since last week, we have seen a surge in most names that were shorted and the covering, as you probably know, has been dramatic.

On the ETF side, of the 50+ that I follow, only 7 are listed as a buy. On the sell side, 27 stocks are now listed as shorts. Among those sectors that are now short, from my models, they include a large amount of International ETF's along with some energy sectors and broad based indexes. On the buy side, the Mexican Peso and Consumer Staples are leading the way for me.

From this data, I would list it all as essentially neutral for the US and bearish for the global marketplace. With so many international ETF's breaking down and the essential neutral status of the US markets, I wonder if foreign and domestic investors are looking back at the US for opportunities, thinking perhaps the worst is over? In any event, the next few weeks should show a break of the neutral status on the stock side and weakness in the international sphere.