Alcoa Corp. is a global provider of bauxite, alumina, and aluminum products. The company is based in Pittsburgh, and has approximately 13,600 employees in 15 countries. The shares are a component of the S&P 400 Midcap Index.

As of this writing, major indices are getting closer and closer to their all-time highs (ATHs) from July 10 and July 16 (S&P 500 and S&P 400, respectively). The only major index that has bounced enough to reclaim ATH territory is the NYSE Composite, probably due to the minor 5.6% pullback the index saw in the second half of July and early August. The S&P 500 (SPX) is within 1% of its July 16 all-time closing high of 5,667.20 and remains on its 'V' shaped formation and trajectory. The Chande Trend Meter is back up to 83%, indicating a strong and strengthening trend; the Vortex Indicator is close to bullish territory; the 14-day Relative Strength index is back above the midline 50% level; the daily MACD is back in positive territory; and the 21-day rate-of-change has cycled back into bullish territory after dropping into negative territory at the start of August. Some 75% of SPX stocks are above their key 200-day average, while 73% (up from 44% on August 5) are above their 50-day. More impressive, the more-concentrated S&P 100 (OEX) is showing 83% of its stocks above their 200-day average, up from a recent 65%. Both the SPX and OEX advance-decline (AD) lines have surged to ATHs prior to price; historically, that has been very bullish for at least the intermediate-term period. The Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) is 4.5% from its ATH near 503 and its AD line has posted an ATH prior to price. Some 71% of QQQ issues are above their 200-day, up from 44% just 10 days ago, while the percentage above the 50-day has jumped to 61% from 29% on August 7.

As if Big Tech needed a greater bullish tailwind, the second half of the year since the bear-market bottom in 2002 has seen a seasonal dominance for the group. In the past 20 years, the Nasdaq 100 (NDX) has risen 4% on average in the second half, with a 90% win rate. Standout months have been November, with a 74% win rate and an average 2% return, while both August and October have a 58% win rate and average gains of 0.8% and 1.4%, respectfully. The NDX saw second-half gains in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2023. Many of these gains clocked in between 15% and 40%. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. The second-quarter earnings season is about to begin, so investors can shift their focus from economic data to corporate performance. The major banks kick off the action, with reports coming from the likes of JPM, C, BK, and WFC (with PEP and DAL also stepping up). Many bank stocks have perked-up recently, although there was some selling late last week. Treasury yields also took a dive at the end of the week, with the 10-year dropping to 4.27% after running smack into channel resistance drawn off the peaks since April 25. The 10-year has also been oscillating almost perfectly between its downward-sloping Bollinger Bands. A 61.8% retracement of the move from December to April lies at 4.14%, while the bottom of the channel is at 4.1% looking out a week. The five-year looks very similar to the 10-year. The two-year tanked on Friday, falling to 4.6%. It looks like the Fed is behind the eight ball and a September cut now seems very likely. (Mark Arbeter, CMT)

According to economist John Maynard Keynes, "The market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent." What can we say? The love affair between investors and Big Tech continues -- and again is leaving the rest of the market in the dust. No, this is not 1999, when the major high-growth technology stocks took off, sported huge P/E ratios, and, for some time, were the only action.