The Week Ahead 4/26/26
Hello All,
I hope you’re all enjoying the weekend and getting some time away from the screens & wishing you all a successful remainder of ‘26.
Looking back at this past week, despite the back-and-forth geopolitical headlines, outside of Tech, it was largely a digestion week for the indices following the historic 2-week rally stretch.
On the week, the Q’s ended up being the best performing of the indices, closing higher by just over 230bps, whereas the Dow was the ‘worst’ performer, yet only finished lower by just over 40bps.
- Economic Data for the Coming Week:
In regard to economic data into the upcoming week, Powell’s final FOMC meeting is set for Wednesday, and aside from that, excluding geopolitics, the main focus will be on PCE #’s Thursday, along with a few other minor, sporadic datapoints throughout the week.
- STD Channels on Indices for Perspective: Weekly TF
- SPY
- QQQ
- IWM
- DJIA
Since starting this Substack back in June of ‘23, between individual names / tactical trades / baskets, we have netted a 190.51% return whilst in the same period, the Q’s have returned 88.67% / Spooz has returned 71.32% / Dow has returned 58.19% & Small-caps have returned 52.91%, so nice outperformance against all the indices whilst having a 82.1% win rate, averaging a 28.80% return on realized gains / winners & a 15.49% loss on realized losses / losers.
Looking forward to the future & continued success through ‘26.
And for anyone who wants to follow an actively managed portfolio in real time:
I’ve joined Plutus as the cleanest, day-to-day way to track an actively managed portfolio in real time. It’s a live dashboard that’s broader, more diversified, actively managed by me, & updated continuously.
The Eliant Flagship is published on RunPlutus.
Once your Plutus account is approved, you’ll have the option to allocate right away. If you do, it’s straightforward: create an account, link your brokerage (Available only for IBKR at this time), & select the Eliant Flagship (or any of the baskets I’ve built). Your money stays in your account, and trades, position changes, and rebalances are replicated automatically so there’s nothing manual to manage. The idea is to make it easier to access an actively managed portfolio run by me without the overhead of traditional fund structures or high minimums, whilst you keep full custody of your assets & I stay focused on research, positioning, and portfolio construction.
And just to be clear, NOTHING is changing with Substack. It’ll stay exactly what it’s always been since we originally launched in the Summer of ‘23: where I share the thinking, research, & select trades behind my personal PA, along with ongoing commentary across all markets.
Earlier in 2024, we launched a series titled Educational Pieces, covering a wide range of topics, many of which were suggested directly by you all (4-Part Series).
For those who may have missed the first installment, it covered topics including:
General background / knowledge on all option strategies
In-depth talk on risk / reversals & how to go about expressing / utilizing them
Options Structuring
When to used naked calls / puts vs. spreads
Choosing expiration dates
Identifying key pivots / supports / resistance zones
General briefing on stock gaps
What to look for in regards to fundamentals
Implementing fundamental / macro / technicals into a trade
Hedging
Creating risk/reward setups
Taking profits / managing losses
Overall Process
Book recommendations
A link to the original Educational Piece can be found here .
Given the positive feedback and how useful many of you found the first installment, we followed up with Educational Piece: Part Deux earlier in 2025 & for those who may have missed, a link to the piece can be found here & we then went on to release Educational Piece: Part Trois which can be found here.
And finally, the most recent installment, Educational Piece: Part Quatre, can be found here.
‘Risk management is the silent prerequisite for compounding & true wealth is built not by chasing the highest returns but by ensuring the survival necessary to realize them.’
Before we jump into the week ahead, looking back at this past week, despite Tech sharply outperforming, as we highlighted earlier, it was largely a digestion period for the indices, and on the week, Growth modestly outperformed Value, although the spread between the two groups was only just over 30bps:
And year-to-date, the spread between Growth and Value still sits at around 7%, although it has narrowed from the prior highs near 14%:
And in respect to factor performance, aside from Momentum and IPOs, which were among the best performing groups, there was a clear deterioration in breadth under the hood, as reflected by the underperformance of the majority of factors on the week, with Private Equity being the worst performing group:
And in regard to the specific factors and or ‘baskets’ we’ve built on Plutus, here are the best performers year-to-date:
1. Rebuilding U.S. Industrial Sovereignty
2. Industrial and Auto Analog Recovery
Whereas on the flip side, the worst-performing baskets year-to-date have been:
Moving along, following the digestion period across the indices, excluding Tech, this past week, the % of stocks above the 20D fell slightly to 67%, although in the shorter-term, still remains within overbought territory:
And on a broader timeframe, a similar statement can be made, with 62% of stocks currently remaining above the 50D, which isn’t necessarily extreme, but still reflects an overbought reading:
That said, following the recent historic 2-week rally, although the indices mostly consolidated this past week, excluding Tech, the Fear-Greed Index still remains within ‘Greed’ territory:
Historical context of the Fear-Greed Index overlaid with the S&P:
