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Below are highlights from the NDW Morning Update Video for the morning of 8/14/26. Access the the video on the NDW Morning Update Video page. 

• Markets pushed higher on Thursday, with both the S&P 500 and the Russell 2000 closing at all-time highs. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq-100 completed a second consecutive buy signal as it attempts to return to highs.
• Domestic equity participation continues to move higher with the market. The Bullish Percent for the Nasdaq-100 is at 75%--the highest level in over a year. Meanwhile, small cap participation has also been strong, with 65% of the S&P Small Cap 600 trading on a buy signal—matching its highest levels over the last several years.
• South Korean equities were some of the highest-flying areas of the global market before pullback sharply, but the country’s market is showing signs of rebound. The Franklin FTSE South Korea ETF (FLKR) has completed two consecutive buy signal this month, endings its previous streak of five straight sell signals.
• The broader technology sector had a productive day, with the SPDR select sector technology fund (XLK) rising 1.01%. However, Cisco was unable to capitalize on the broader market’s gain, as the stock fell 8% after reporting earnings. That said, the 4 for 5’er is potential buy on pullback candidate as it remains on a buy signal with support nearby at $108.
• International equities continue to be the strongest asset class with DALI’s rankings. However, the group’s lead over domestic equities has continued to narrow, with it now sitting just two signals ahead of US stocks, which is the smallest margin in around six months.

We are now almost halfway through the NDW Custom Model Competition. The improvement in US equities since the beginning of August looks to have helped our competitors. The leading model is now up just over 7% since the start of the competition, outperforming the S&P 500 (SPX) by 3% over the that period. 

While technology’s rebound may have garnered the most attention during early August’s trading, subsectors of basic materials have shown notable improvement. Among those to outpace technology subsectors like semiconductors in recent trading are precious metals (DWAPREC) and metals non-ferrous (DWAMETA), which have gained 20% and 14% since the beginning of the month (7/31 – 8/13).

The rally within the precious metals and metals non-ferrous subsectors has brought notable increases in participation, with the bullish percents for both subsectors reversing into Xs from the mid-teens to above 50% and 34%, respectively. While short- to intermediate-term trending indicators have seen similar improvements, highlighting stocks returning to buy signals and climbing above major trending moving averages, the magnitude of positive near-term relative strength has potentially been more surprising.

Since the beginning of August, the RS in Xs indicators for the precious metals (^RSXPREC) and non-ferrous metals (^RSXMETA) subsectors have increased more than 50% and nearly 40% after falling to or near single digits on their charts. Recall that the indicator measures the percentage for stocks maintaining positive near-term market relative strength against the S&P 500 Equal Weight Index (SPXEWI). In the case of the precious metals RS in Xs indicator, the rebound occurs after the indicator had fallen to its lowest level since 2014, while the metals non-ferrous RS in Xs indicator matched the 2024 low, marking only the third time the indicator has fallen to 10% or lower going back to the beginning of the indicator’s history in 1995.

Though trading over the past few days has seen the RS in Xs indicators for both subsectors slow their pace of improvement, last week’s trading was historic. Each of the days from 8/4 - 8/10 saw improvements that ranked within the top 10% of all trading days examined for the precious metals RS in Xs indicator going back to 1995. The 21% climb on 8/7 ranked as the 16^th best in terms of one-day improvement for the precious metals RS in Xs indicator, while the 5-day stretch ending on 8/10 ranked as the 19^th best 5-day stretch, with an increase of 48%. Meanwhile, the non-ferrous metals RS in Xs indicator witnessed improvement that was a little steadier, relatively speaking. Each of the days from 8/5 - 8/10 saw improvements that ranked within the top 1% of all trading days examined for the non-ferrous metals RS in Xs indicator going back to 1995. The 8.5% climb on 8/10 ranked as the 9^th best in terms of one-day improvement for the non-ferrous metals RS in Xs indicator, while the 5-day stretch ending on 8/10 ranked as the 4^th best 5-day stretch with an increase of 31%. For both RS in Xs indicators, the one-day improvements highlighted are the best since COVID days in March 2020, while the 5-day periods discussed marked the largest increase since November 2008 (precious metals) and December 2008 (metals non-ferrous).

The trending and relative improvement of the precious metals and basic materials groups pushed their scores on the Asset Class Group Scores (ACGS) page back above 3 for the first time since May and June of this year. Additionally, the basic materials sector has climbed from 10^th to 7^th within the NDW DALI Asset Class Rankings, grabbing 20+ buy signals since the beginning of August and ranking as the most improved sector for the month so far.

As examples of recent action within the aforementioned subsectors and the mining space, below are the charts of the State Street SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF (XME), VanEck Gold Miners ETF (GDX), and Sprott Copper Miners ETF (COPP). GDX and COPP returned to a buy signal in July, prior to XME and last week’s rally. GDX and COPP witnessed positive trend changes as both rallied to levels not seen since June. On a relative basis, all three ETFs saw their market relative strength charts return to a column of Xs, highlighting positive near-term relative strength by the mining space over the market. XME and GDX saw their fund’s score climb back above 3, while COPP’s fund score moved above 4. Each ETF has pulled back from recent rally highs, so investors will see if there is further fodder for this rally in the mining space.

While the mining space has shown notable near-term improvements—reflected within the indicators and ETFs discussed—potential exposure to the subsector will likely still maintain an equal to underweight position until longer-term leadership can be exhibited.

Featured Charts:

Portfolio View - Major Market ETFs

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

CVS Health Corp (CVS) Nov 20 $95 Call

Put

Block Inc (XYZ) Nov 20 $85 Put

Income

United Airlines Holdings (UAL) Sept 11 $117 Short Put