I must admit, I didn't expect this to go as well as it did... Like millions of Americans, my wife and I went shopping on Black Friday. And put simply, the deals just didn't seem great.

The Power Gauge Perspective on Black Friday By Vic Lederman, editorial director, Chaikin Analytics I must admit, I didn't expect this to go as well as it did... Like millions of Americans, my wife and I went shopping on Black Friday. And put simply, the deals just didn't seem great. We went to the mall near where we live in north Florida. And it was packed. It felt like visiting the mall in the late 1990s. Things felt vibrant. But the sales all seemed small – like "20% off" or "buy one, get one half off." We didn't see any "doorbuster" deals. I'm sure you remember how it was in decades past. The deals could be so incredible that people would get into actual fights trying to get the products. But that's just not the state of retail right now. And as I told my wife, "I don't think this will be enough to motivate people to spend." Well, it turns out I was right... and wrong. And as I'll explain, the Power Gauge sees the nuance... 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Billionaire Ray Dalio, who runs one of the world's most successful hedge funds, says, "Things are going to get worse for our economy." What are these billionaires so worried about? Click here to see why experts and insiders may be preparing for the biggest financial crisis of the last 200 years. The official Black Friday numbers are starting to roll in. And it went a lot better than I expected it would. You see, it's true that in-store sales weren't inspiring. The data shows that. According to some preliminary data from credit-card giant Mastercard (MA), in-store spending grew just 0.7% from last year. When you account for inflation, this means that in-store spending fell roughly 2%. So it turns out that my feeling about the in-store experience was correct. People were out to shop. But they didn't find the deals they wanted in store. But online, it was a different story... As Mastercard also reported from preliminary data, online sales grew a whopping 14.6% from last year. Even with inflation, that's still a massive jump. Early data shows that shoppers favored Amazon (AMZN) and Walmart (WMT). It also shows that Best Buy (BBY) and Target (TGT) struggled. This is particularly interesting because I recently discussed that the Power Gauge saw Target struggling as we headed into the holiday season. Walmart was the clear winner against Target before the race even started. We see this tale of winners and losers playing out in the Power Gauge... In our system, we use the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLY) to measure the consumer-discretionary sector. And right now, XLY earns a "bullish" rating in the Power Gauge. But this strong rating doesn't mean every holding in the fund is rated so highly... In fact, the majority of the stocks in XLY currently earn a "neutral" rating from the Power Gauge. And five stocks earn a "bearish" or "very bearish" rating. XLY is up about 25% this year. That's a solid return. But some of the stocks in the fund are holding it back. Just consider Nike (NKE)... The apparel giant has held a "bearish" rating in the Power Gauge for most of this year. And the stock has tumbled about 27% so far in 2024. That's a massive loss. And it's one that could have easily been avoided with the help of the Power Gauge. It's a reminder that even in a strong market, blinding buying isn't good enough. Let's say you have a great idea, like "I think we're going to see strong retail spending this year." You still need a way to filter that down to the winning stocks. I use the Power Gauge for that. This year, consumer spending is still strong. But as I saw firsthand, consumers are fickle. They want real deals. And they're selective about where they spend. As the early data shows, online retail beat out in-store retail. Again, the Power Gauge sees the strength in the consumer-discretionary sector. But that doesn't mean every stock involved is an automatic winner. Good investing, Vic Lederman Market View Major Indexes and Notable Sectors     # Hld:     Bullish     Neutral     Bearish Dow 30 -0.3% 10 12 8 S&P 500 +0.18% 128 287 86 Nasdaq +1.07% 28 52 21 Small Caps -0.04% 612 1024 283 Bonds -0.09% — According to the Chaikin Power Bar, Small Cap stocks and Large Cap stocks are Bullish. Major indexes are all bullish. *  *  *  * Sector Tracker Sector movement over the last 5 days Communication +1.88% Discretionary +1.77% Health Care +1.21% Information Technology +1.01% Staples +1.01% Materials -0.36% Industrials -0.4% Financial -0.45% Utilities -0.55% Real Estate -0.76% Energy -0.87% *  *  *  * Industry Focus Bank Services 28 67 0 Over the past 6 months, the Bank subsector (KBE) has outperformed the S&P 500 by +23.11%. Its Power Bar ratio, which measures future potential, is Very Strong, with more Bullish than Bearish stocks. It is currently ranked #3 of 21 subsectors and has moved up 7 slots over the past week. Top Stocks BK The Bank of New York EQH Equitable Holdings, COLB Columbia Banking Sys *  *  *  * Top Movers Gainers SMCI +28.99% LRCX +6.17% NCLH +5.43% EL +5.35% ENPH +5.15% Losers PCG -4.99% TRGP -4.78% VST -3.58% WMB -3.54% EXC -3.37% *  *  *  * Earnings Report Reporting Today Rating Before Open After Close DCI CRM MRVL, OKTA, PSTG CNM No earnings reporting today. Earnings Surprises ZS Zscaler, Inc. Q1 $0.77 Beat by $0.14 CLSK CleanSpark, Inc. Q4 $0.28 Beat by $0.44 CRDO Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd Q2 $0.07 Beat by $0.02 *  *  *  * You have received this e-mail as part of your subscription to PowerFeed. If you no longer want to receive e-mails from PowerFeed, click here. You're receiving this e-mail at indra21poetra@gmail.com. For questions about your account or to speak with customer service, call +1 (877) 697-6783 (U.S.), 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Eastern time or e-mail info@chaikinanalytics.com. 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