Watch this chart like a hawk…

Stocks Won't Rally as Long as This Does The stock market has closed in the red three days in a row since the start of the year. This is highly unusual. Going back to 1990, it's only happened four other times: 1991 — 6 days 2005 — 3 days 2014 — 3 days 2015 — 3 days Normally, stocks start the year on a high note — with optimism carrying over from the "Santa Claus Rally." But not only are we not getting that… Santa Claus hardly came to town at all this year. After the S&P 500's breakout in mid-December, the index gained merely 1% more before the year closed out. What's going on? And more importantly, what can we do to know when the bleeding might stop? It lies in the chart of the very greenbacks we use to buy stocks… which we can track in the U.S. Dollar Index. Let me explain… RECOMMENDED LINK Urgent Broadcast: $5.4 Million A.I. Breakthrough On Tuesday, January 9 at 8 pm ET, Landon Swan and Louis Navellier are revealing a remarkable advance in predictive market power. Discover the $5.4 million A.I. program that can help you predict earnings with remarkable accuracy and capture gains 30X BIGGER than average. Click here to learn more and claim free access to this event. Stocks and the Dollar Aren't Getting Along For the past several years, the charts of the U.S. Dollar Index and the S&P 500 have had an inverse correlation (meaning, they move opposite each other.) Take a look at this chart of the S&P 500 (orange line) with the U.S. Dollar Index — a measurement of the dollar's performance against a basket of world currencies — in blue. I've marked vertical white lines at times when stocks and the dollar begin to trend away from each other, or otherwise show major divergences. With the exception of 2021, when the dollar meandered higher as stocks took off (starting at the yellow line), the effect is clear. Note how the dollar treaded water before beginning a downtrend in the aftermath of the pandemic shutdowns, while stocks quickly recovered and reached new highs. Also, look at how the dollar really picked up steam at the beginning of 2022 — when stocks began to crater. Then, just the same, notice how the dollar began to weaken at the outset of 2023 before bottoming out in… late July, just before stocks began a massive and volatile correction. And now, sure enough, the dollar has been rallying since late December, and stocks are faltering. So now that we know a strong dollar is bad for stocks, the question becomes simple. How long will the current dollar rally last? RECOMMENDED LINK America's Final Republican President Louis Navellier believes Donald J. Trump could go down as America's last Republican president. But NOT for the reasons you may think... Click here to see his 2024 election prediction. If he's right, the soul of this country will change forever... Things to Watch in the DXY Chart Let's zoom in on a daily candlestick chart of DXY and add a few key indicators: With just a quick glance at this chart, my take is we should prepare for at least a few more days of rough weather in the stock market. The dollar has been in a downtrend channel since early November, just before stocks began their miraculous year-end recovery. Friday's price action initially looked to break DXY out of the channel, potentially beginning a new uptrend. However, at time of writing, prices have backed off and thus far failed to escape the channel. That's one point for dollar bears. Either way, should the dollar follow-through and break out, it could indicate another long period of volatility that may last through the first quarter. Next, look at the colored moving-average lines around the candlesticks — which plot the average price level of DXY over a period of time. We have the 200-day moving average (in blue), the 50-day moving average (yellow) and the 9-day exponential moving average (orange) — a more short-term-oriented indicator. The 50-day MA is currently above the 200-day MA, and with enough positive price action in the coming days, could bounce off of it and start trending higher. The 9-day EMA, too, is working its way higher. Should the 9-day EMA rise well above the 50-day MA, and the 50-day MA gain some ground above the 200-day MA, that's a strong bullish trend for the dollar. And the evidence continues to pile up for that trend change. Both the moving average convergence/divergence (MACD) and relative strength index (RSI) indicators at the bottom of the chart are on a buy signal, with neither of them showing overextended conditions. All this leads me to think we'll see quite a bit more volatility as we proceed through the first quarter. Traders should tread carefully — holding any new short-term bullish positions with tight stops. Long-term investors, naturally should look to add to their favorite stocks at better prices. No matter how you invest, keep a close eye on the chart of the dollar. It's shown already to play its hand a bit earlier than the stock market — like when it began falling in early October well before stocks bottomed out. If we see the chart of DXY begin to slide and stocks haven't yet recovered, that'd be a strong sign to prepare for a proper recovery. To your health and wealth, Michael Salvatore Editor, TradeSmith Daily Sidenote: The timing of all this has exactly zero impact on earnings season traders with a great strategy. It's easy to forget that it's a market of stocks and not a stock market. Even if the S&P 500 chops around, there are hundreds of companies that will break from the pack and chart their own course. Earnings season is the moment for them to do so. In the coming weeks, we'll see single-day stock moves that could eclipse the percentage returns that index investors see in an entire year. That's why you have to check out Landon Swan's fast-approaching earnings season webinar on Tuesday, Jan. 9. Landon, co-founder of LikeFolio with his brother Andy, has an A.I.-driven earnings season strategy that taps into a highly misunderstood, but wildly predictive, dataset. He'll sit down with stock-picking legend Louis Navellier to discuss the coming earnings season and what his A.I. system has on offer. He's also inviting investors to join him for what's sure to be an earnings season for the record books. Go right here to sign up, and you'll immediately get the chance to check out a free special report, which highlights one unusual standout sector that Landon and Andy are targeting this earnings season. Get Instant Access Click to read these free reports and automatically sign up for research throughout the week. 25 Doomed Blue Chip Stocks 3 Stocks to Build Your Wealth in 2024 Customer Support: 866.385.2076 |  support@tradesmith.com Request Customer Service ©TradeSmith, LLC. All Rights Reserved. You may not reproduce, modify, copy, sell, publish, distribute, display or otherwise use any portion of the content without the prior written consent of TradeSmith. TradeSmith is not registered as an investment adviser and operates under the publishers' exemption of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The investments and strategies discussed in TradeSmith's content do not constitute personalized investment advice. Any trading or investment decisions you take are in reliance on your own analysis and judgment and not in reliance on TradeSmith. There are risks inherent in investing and past investment performance is not indicative of future results. TradeSmith P.O. 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