Below are highlights from the NDW Morning Update Video for the morning of 08/05. Access the the video on the NDW Morning Update Video page. 

• Market action on 8/4 was overwhelmingly strong. The return profile was nearly identical to that of results from 8/3, seeing the likes of the Russell 2000 (RUT), Nasdaq Composite (NASD) and Emerging Markets (EEM) lead the way each up ~2%. Meanwhile, the US Dollar (DX/Y) and Crude oil fell.
• Market breadth continues to expand. ^BPSPX, which measures the percentage of S&P 500 stocks trading on buy signals, moved to 2026 highs with yesterday’s action. It has yet to challenge highs from 2024 or 2025, but a breadth “concern” in early 2026 has quickly given way to open Q3.
• With the breadth expansion, SPXEWI moved to all time chart highs. It’s technical posture remains ironclad as it sits on a string of buy signals with a range of support below. More growth focused NDX returned to a buy signal but has yet to get back to its highs…. Speaking to the magnitude of the recent exhale for growth focused areas.
• Crude oil slipped back down below the seemingly key lower $80’s/upper $70’s mark on its chart. From here, a journey back down to the recent lows in the upper $60’s wouldn’t be out of the question and would also signal markets pricing in further deescalation in Iran.
• AMD fell ~8% in premarket trading. It remains a high attribute name but monitor relative peer and market RS charts for changes in technical attribute. LLY advanced, continuing its push towards ATH’s on its chart. It holds a 5/5 TA score. WDC reports after close. The 5% chart highlights support around $425 and some significant resistance around current levels.

Reports as recently as Monday have talked about the difference in performance between mega-cap options and the “rest” of the broad market. Of course, it is easy to look at performance and visually observe the different numbers, but understanding why performance is different can help contextualize the market landscape for conversations with clients. To put it simply, Dorsey Wright uses the term “participation” to observe what cohort of a given universe is driving markets. Most notably, participation can either be broad (lots of stocks moving in the same direction) or narrow (driven by just a handful of  names). Before going further, it is worth noting that performance and participation can diverge… meaning participation can be narrow but markets can improve handedly. These are typically market environments that feel quite fragile- think 2023 where the S&P 500 was driven higher at the hands of seven companies… things were productive but uncomfortably narrow in the moment. A divergence in performance and participation isn’t inherently “wrong” by any means, but can help clue us into market dynamics at any one point in time.

Monday’s report focused on XLG and its recent deterioration on a relative perspective against other areas of the market. To focus more specifically on the largest options, we can observe MEGATEN or MEGAFIVE which focus on the top ten or five largest names by market cap, respectively. MEGATEN (included below) has struggled so far this year, having advanced just over 5% so far in 2026. While the overall technical picture is still defendable, its relative picture leaves much to be desired. A 3.25% RS chart between MEGATEN and the equal weighted S&P 500 shows some relative consolidation between the two, backing off a highpoint of “relative price” since October of 2025. Since those relative highs on 10/29/2025, MEGATEN has gained just 3.5%- far behind the 12% gain for SPX or 16% gain for SPXEWI. This 3.25% chart has been particularly consistent over time, seeing either an RS switching (owning whichever asset sits on an RS buy signal) or a RS reversal strategy (owning whichever asset sits in a column of X’s) best a simple buy and hold portfolio of either asset on its own. Our longer run preference still sits with MEGATEN but the recent relative weakness (outside of the last few days) is certainly worth watching.

We opened this conversation specifically with the idea of participation, which is where we will journey next. ^BPSPX measures the percentage of S&P 500 stocks trading on PnF buy signals on their default chart acting as a decent sign of intermediate term strength for our domestic benchmark. Remember, since our indicator measures the percentage of S&P 500 stocks trading on buy signals, its calculation is completely agnostic of company size. As of 8/4, ^BPSPX sits at 68% signaling that just under seven out of every 10 S&P 500 stocks trades on a buy signal. Note, this is roughly double the metric established at the 2026 lows from March and above those highs established at the start of 2026 All this to say, while waning participation was a bit of a concern throughout Q1 & Q2, it has actually now become a strong point as markets look to get back to all time highs.

As mentioned throughout recent report pieces, there has been a bit of a rotation in leadership momentum is catching onto… evidenced by less high momentum names trading on buy signals. Using data through 8/2, we can construct our own kind of bullish percent calculation using the holdings of MTUM as a universe. Out of the 124 holdings underneath the hood of MTUM, only 51 of the traded on PnF buy signals on their default chart. This equates to roughly 41% of the universe, roughly 25% lower than that of the broader market. This fits in with previous commentary discussed over the last few weeks’ worth of reports that have detailed a rotation away from some of the previous leaders. While the last few days have seen a rather massive upswing from those leaders sending more back to buy signals, keeping tabs on this makeshift bullish percent can be another tool in the toolbox to gauge the strength of high momentum names on market exhales.

Each week the analysts at NDW review and comment on all major asset classes in the global markets. Shown below is the summary or snapshot of the primary technical indicators we follow for multiple areas. Should there be changes mid-week we will certainly bring these to your attention via the report.

Remember, these are technical comments only. Just as you must be aware of fundamental data for the stocks we recommend based on technical criteria in the report, so too must you be aware of important data regarding delivery, market moving government releases, and other factors that may influence commodity pricing. We try to limit our technical comments to the most actively traded contracts in advance of delivery, but some contracts trade actively right up to delivery while others taper off well in advance. Be sure you check your dates before trading these contracts. For questions regarding this section or additional coverage of commodities email james.west@nasdaq.com.

Data represented in the table below is through 08/04/2026:

Portfolio View - Commodity Indices

Cryptocurrency Update

Cryptocurrency Video (1:48)

The option suggestions featured here are pulled from the NDW Options Ideas tool. These are just a sample of the ideas that can be found there. The Options Idea tool contains numerous additional income and speculative plays. It also offers relative strength-based screens targeting the highest (and lowest) relative strength stocks and ETFs that have recently moved counter to their longer-term trend. To access or subscribe to the Options Ideas tool, click here.

Call

Apple Inc. (AAPL) Nov 20 $450 Call

Put

Lululemon Athletica (LULU) Nov 20 $125 Put

Income (Covered Call)

RTC Corp. Sep 04 $235 Covered Call