Could it be more all over the map? Disney's (DIS) bad, no it's okay, hold it, darn thing's strong with CEO Bob Iger calling a bottom for ESPN in the Q&A. Nvidia's (NVDA) off a couple with the rest of the semis, set up for a shortfall or a disappointment no matter what, and then the call begins and the CFO's talking numbers that make this thing look like Intel (INTC) after the 386 hit the ground running. As we say in Fantasy, Nvidia went off. (Click here to read the best piece on Nvidia you will read.)
Then, while we thought that Macy's (M) and Kohl's (KSS) were simply not as bad as expectations, Nordstrom (JWN) after the close just nails it, nails it better even than Matthew Boss said it would be, and that JP Morgan analyst has the hottest hand imaginable. Nordstrom is coming in hot to the holidays, with little inventory and the right product.
All in all, it was a fitting evening capping off a rotation that's so vicious that no one wants to get in front of this freight train unless they own FANG -- Action Alerts PLUS holding Facebook (FB) , Growth Seeker name Amazon.com (AMZN) , Netflix (NFLX) and Alphabet (GOOGL) -- where the freight train is off the rails.
Who needs high growth from consistent growers on the side of Clinton when you can get metal benders like Parker-Hannifin (PH) and Boeing (BA) and Arconic (ARNC) for peanuts? And yes, that's Arconic, the better half of the smoke show that is Alcoa, a stock that's taking off on the back of the 14-day upwards streak in copper, the longest skein in the books for the red metal.
You know I had West Point cadets in town for Mad Money last night -- hence my sparse filings -- and off lone we were all marveling about the improbabilities of this rally and how it's going worst to first. There's the suddenly liquid Freeport McMoRan (FCX) .
There's the spring-in-the-step rails that carry coal and the concomitant crash in nat gas as the EPA's heavy hand now ends.
But the real irony of this Trump rally? Wells Fargo (WFC) . Now, I know Trump doesn't bank with Wells. In fact, in another ironic windfall, Deutsche Bank's (DB) his lender, but a week ago we were thinking of a House ruled by Elisabeth Warren with a President that would use Wells as the ultimate whipping boy.
Now, though? Wells is the golden boy, the one that everyone sold that's behind the group and about to get a rate hike that puts it in front. It's the ultimate worst-to-first.
I was asked if it's a buy and I said simply that at this point there are so many people who have given up on it because of the ethics issue, that it's probably under-owned.
And then the next four questions were all about equally under-owned stocks.
Which made me think that the hallmark of this rally is its "under-ownedness." Sure, Nvidia may be the exception, but yesterday's rallies came from under-owned sectors: retailers, banks, materials. These had killed your performance and could only get worse.
Now, there's not enough supply to go around. And the short-base didn't bother to cover. Where are those sellers of Wells Fargo, the ones who annihilated it down from $48 to $45, hitting it endlessly? Where are the sellers of Freeport? Boeing? Caterpillar (CAT) ?
No supply.
These act like small-cap stocks, for heaven's sakes.
Somewhere, there must be supply. Somewhere. Maybe today?
But we keep blowing through levels -- check out Bruce Kamich's stuff -- and I keep thinking that there will be profits taken, but the issue is that the stocks are moving so far so fast the sellers don't even seem to have a chance to come the table.
It will be interesting today to see if Nvidia can't spark a reverse rally in the beaten-up techs.
In the meantime, if its under-owned -- including Disney, by the way, where all of the smart money was saying ESPN's dropping like a stone -- it's still spiking until that supply is at last brought out. If there is any.
It's likely that we see some by tomorrow afternoon. I wouldn't sell the opening, because there are too many still on the wrong side of the trade.
But ask yourself, after this improbable, one-for-the- books record breaker, you have to believe there's someone who bought Wells at $45 and now wants to exit. Someone who has Boeing at $135 or CAT at $84 -- remember that short? -- who wants to take profits.
Who wouldn't want to go home with some winnings for the weekend, other than the people who have suffered through years of owning these stocks and aren't about to part with them after waiting in the wilderness so long for them?
It's just beginning.
