There has been a dramatic increase in the amount of Stage 2 breakout attempts over the last few weeks, with more and more areas of the market attempting to move into early Stage 2, with many showing both strength and volume, which has caused the indexes to also attempt to move into early Stage 2, as highlighted in the last few days posts.

Stage Analysis Members midweek video discussing the Stage 2 breakout attempts in some of the major indexes, a look at the some of the key market breadth data, recent watchlist stocks and more on the small caps from yesterdays post.

Todays post is a special feature looking at the Small Caps, as ahead of the FOMC on Wednesday, the Russell 2000 Small Caps ETF (IWM) is attempting to breakout into early Stage 2 (see above weekly and daily charts). Hence, with Stage Analysis its the perfect time to drill down into this area of the market, looking at the Small Cap sector Relative Strength, leading Small Cap stocks already in early Stage 2 or testing their Stage 2 level, and some of the market breadth stats from the group to get a broader picture of their internal health...

The market pulled back today at key resistance, with multiple market indexes testing their Stage 2 levels at the end of last week. The Fed meeting looms over the market this week, which will be a key driver as to whether the market breaks out into a potential early Stage 2 environment or fails once more and reverses lower – which was the pattern through 2022. So it could be a pivotal week...

The week had a strong start with the Semiconductors group ETF SMH breaking out into potential Stage 2, with many stocks from the group doing the same. NVDA, AMAT, MPWR, TER to name a few...

The Percentage of US Stocks Above Their 150 day Moving Averages in the 11 major sectors has shown continued improvement over the last two weeks since the previous post of the 9th January 2023, increasing by a further +9.07% to 58.47% overall, which puts it at the top of the middle range (Neutral+), which is the Stage 1 zone.

The Stage Analysis members weekend video featuring analysis of the early Stage breakout attempt in Bitcoin, and then the regular content with the major US Indexes, the futures charts, US Industry Groups RS Rankings, IBD Industry Groups Bell Curve - Bullish Percent, the Market Breadth Update to help to determine the Weight of Evidence and finishing with the US Stocks Watchlist in detail on multiple timeframes.

For the watchlist from the weekend scans...

The IBD Industry Groups Bell Curve had a slight gain over the week of +1.56%. The amount of groups in Stage 4 decreased by -10 (-5%), and the amount of groups in Stage 2 increased by +9 (+4.5%), while the amount groups in Stage 1 or Stage 3 decreased by -1 (-0.5%).

Custom Percentage of Stocks Above Their 50 Day, 150 Day & 200 Day Moving Averages Combined Market Breadth Charts for the Overall US Market, NYSE and Nasdaq for Market Timing and Strategy.