1.Tech Companies Now Biggest Market Cap Stocks with Half the Employees of Former Leaders.

Josh Brown

Chart o’ the Day: How quickly things have changed

Posted November 6, 2017 by Joshua M Brown

Your favorite stock; see if it’s a buy, sell or hold opportunity

I came across this infographic from Wharton via 13D Research and I think it makes a powerful point about how quickly things have changed.

One of the biggest posts of the year here on TRB was “Just own the damn robots.“, where I talked about the mood right now surrounding the automation meteor headed right for us. This is another way of understanding the reality:

Getting bigger by market cap – and by revenues – with less people is the new normal. It’s not going back the other way. The only escape for our children is to join the education arms race and hope they choose the right major – or to embrace entrepreneurialism and create their own jobs.

http://thereformedbroker.com/2017/11/06/chart-o-the-day-how-quickly-things-have-changed/
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1.Momentum Factor has Dominated 2017….MTUM Up Over Double the S&P YTD

But has the gap between the performance of the two indexes grown too big? MKM Partners technical analyst Jonathan Krinsky compared how big that gap is relative to its 200-day average, and found it’s at a level that often signals a peak in momentum. Sometimes it’s simply a pause—that was the case in 2005—but sometimes it can signal an impending peak, as it did in 2008. “Momentum names are stretched relative to the market,” Krinsky says. “But they can become more stretched.”
http://www.barrons.com/articles/new-highs-for-this-momentum-powered-market-1509765341

www.yahoofinance.com

https://www.ishares.com/us/products/251614/ishares-msci-usa-momentum-factor-etf

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Short Version Today – No Top Ten Tomorrow.

1.Positive Earnings is Only Having Mild Upside Reaction

 Equity Markets: Market reaction to better than expected earnings reports has been muted (on average).

Source: BofAML

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1.2017-The Least Volatile October Since 1928

And it is strange how quiet the market is. October, remember, is supposed to be the market’s most volatile month. Through Thursday, however, it was the least volatile October on record going back to 1928, according to Ben Bowler, global head of equity derivatives research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch

http://www.barrons.com/articles/stocks-surge-to-highs-as-tech-roars-again-1509158124

 The Most Volatile Month Not This Year.

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1.ISM Hits a 14 Year High

But now, Kostin warns that this could be as good as it gets. He points to the ISM Manufacturing Index, which jumped to a 13-1/2-year high of 60.8 in September. Any reading above 50 signals growth.

“Although economic data are extremely strong now, an ISM reading above 60 typically marks the peak of growth and presages economic and equity deceleration,” he said. “Since 1980, the ISM has exceeded 60 in eight separate episodes; four of those lasted only one month.”

“Economic growth is the most important driver of corporate earnings and equity performance,” Kostin said.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/goldman-sachs-warns-peak-growth-falling-stock-prices-3-6-months-100353338.html

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