The S&P 500 has strung together two days of gains, with a pop of more than 2.8% for the first time since early November of 2024. Back then, stocks were coming out of the second-half October 2024 pullback. Meanwhile, the latest weekly insider-sentiment data from Vickers Stock Research suggests that insiders seem to think stocks are now a bargain. Looking at the major one-week sell/buy ratios from Vickers, we note that the NYSE/ASE one-week ratio is now 1.71 on a scale where anything below 2.00 is bullish and anything above 6.00 is bearish. The ratio was as high as 8.48 just a few weeks ago. For the standalone NYSE, the one-week ratio is 1.75 (again bullish) and was 9.00 a few weeks ago. For the Nasdaq, the current ratio is 3.14 (neutral), but it was as high as 14 at the start of February. One week does not make a trend, but it is a very good start. Of note, insiders historically jump in before many other investors when an apparent opportunity presents itself. The last time Vickers' ratios were in bullish territory was late-October/November of 2023, and that turned out to be a very good time to buy stocks. On a sector basis, insider buying exceeded selling in Energy last week, with shares valued at $103 million bought versus $87 million sold, as well as in Materials, with shares valued at $11.3 million shares bought versus $10.9 million sold. Buying was also notable in Consumer Discretionary, lagging the level of selling by a factor of just 1.2-times. Selling was the greatest in Information Technology over the past week, with shares valued at $2.9 billion sold versus $43 million bought, as well as Healthcare ($1.3 billion sold versus $78 million bought). (Mark Arbeter, CMT)

Freeport-McMoRan owns stakes in 10 copper mines, led by its 49% ownership of the Grasberg copper and gold operations in Indonesia, 55% of the Cerro Verde mine in Peru, and 72% of Morenci in Arizona. It sold around 1.2 million metric tons of copper (its share) in 2024, making it the one of the world’s largest copper miners by volume. It also sold about 900,000 ounces of gold, mostly from Grasberg, and 70 million pounds of molybdenum. It had about 25 years of copper reserves at end December 2024. We expect it to sell similar amounts of copper midcycle in 2029, though we expect gold volumes to decline to about 700,000 ounces then due to falling production at Grasberg.

American Airlines is the world’s largest airline by aircraft, capacity, and scheduled revenue passenger miles. Its major US hubs are Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Washington, D.C. It generates over 30% of US airline revenue connecting Latin America with destinations in the United States. After completing a major fleet renewal, the company has the youngest fleet of US legacy carriers.

Freeport-McMoRan owns stakes in 10 copper mines, led by its 49% ownership of the Grasberg copper and gold operations in Indonesia, 55% of the Cerro Verde mine in Peru, and 72% of Morenci in Arizona. It sold around 1.2 million metric tons of copper (its share) in 2023, making it the one of the world’s largest copper miners by volume. It also sold about 900,000 ounces of gold, mostly from Grasberg, and 70 million pounds of molybdenum. About 75% of 2023 revenue was from copper, with a further 15% from gold and about 10% from molybdenum. It had about 25 years of copper reserves at end December 2023. We expect it to sell similar amounts of copper midcycle in 2028, though we expect gold volumes to decline to about 700,000 ounces then due to falling production at Grasberg.