TOPLEY’S TOP 10 January 10, 2025

1. Tuesday Nasdaq Volume Was Highest Since 1995

From Marketwatch: Retail traders have been particularly active in the market lately, Mizuho’s Azarm said, which suggests that they were responsible for much of the action in these more speculative names.

Trading volume in the U.S. equity market exploded earlier this week. Nasdaq Composite trading volume rose to nearly 14 billion shares on Tuesday, the highest level on record going back to 1995, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The market wasn’t as active on Wednesday. According to data tracked by Azarm, roughly 55% of activity in the U.S. market over the past two weeks has been tied to platforms typically used by individual investors.

“This is massive. Even during the 2021 meltup, we hardly saw anything this elevated,” he said, referring to the meme-stock frenzy that saw shares of GameStop Corp. Some of the recent surge in trading volume across the U.S. market appeared to be tied to penny stocks, Joe Saluzzi, partner and co-founder of Themis Trading, told MarketWatch. Volume in shares of companies trading at $1 or less has been unusually high lately, he said.

2. Two-Year Rise in S&P Puts It in 93^rd Decile of 2-Year Returns

3. S&P Profit Growth 2024 vs. 2025

Via Reuters

4. Chinese Internet ETF Falls Right Back to 2-Year Sideways Pattern

Via StockCharts

5. Brazil Small Cap: Worst 2024 Equity Performance

Here is EWZ Brazil small cap vs. Vanguard international index.

Via StockCharts

6. Equity Research on Public Stocks

Via Bloomberg

7. Mortgage Apps Falling

DC Lite Blog Mortgage demand. “Mortgage demand is crumbling. For the week ending January 3, mortgage loan applications for purchase sank 6.6%, the 4th decline in the last 5 weeks. The level of conventional purchase apps lowest since 2011! 30-year FRM back to 7%.”