ECONOMICALLY-SENSITIVE TRANSPORTS HIT NEW HIGHS -- WHILE DEFENSIVE UTILITIES LAG BEHIND -- BITCOIN REBOUNDS

TRANSPORTS HIT NEW RECORD... It's usually a good sign to see more economically-sensitive groups hitting new highs, while more defensive groups are lagging behind.   Two examples of that are seen by comparing the transportation stocks and utilities.   Chart 1 shows the Dow Transports hitting a new record again today.   It's being driven higher by stronger airline stocks and truckers.   Chart 2, however, shows the Dow Utilities in decline over the last two months.   Utilities are considered to be more defensive in nature.   Rising bond yields may be one of the factors weighing on utility stocks which are dividend-paying stocks.  As a result, utilities usually weaken along with Treasury bond prices when yields are rising.  While the transports are hitting a new record today, utilities are one of the day's weakest sectors.   That's usually a sign of more optimism on the stock market and the economy.

BITCOIN REBOUNDS...Monday's message showed bitcoin correcting some of its recent gains.   It's shown some improvement since then.   An intra-day chart on Monday showed bitcoin testing a support zone ranging from $30,000 down to $28,500.   The hourly bars in Chart 3 show bitcoin having since then risen back up to $40,000 to strengthen its short-term picture.  It remains to be seen if it can hold onto those gains.