Something Isn’t Adding Up… And The Bulls Love It 🚀

By Grant Hawkridge

May 7, 2026

Today's number is... 2

Two extremes just hit at the same time: the riskiest stocks on Wall Street just hit all-time highs relative to the S&P 500, while the safest stocks just hit all-time lows.

Here’s the chart:

Let's break down what the chart shows:

The top panel shows High Beta vs S&P 500 in blue.
The bottom panel shows Low Volatility vs S&P 500 in black.

The Takeaway: High Beta stocks are leading again. And they haven’t just been outperforming for a few weeks. This ratio has now pushed to fresh all-time highs after spending years building a huge continuation base above the old breakout.

At the same time, Low Volatility stocks are sitting at fresh all-time relative lows. That combination is about as risk-on as it gets. Money is flowing toward aggressive areas of the market, higher beta, momentum, growth, and speculative names.

The macro story changes every six months. But the market trend never really did. Inflation spikes, recession calls, banking stress, rate shocks, war headlines, every one of those events looked like the moment investors were finally supposed to go into hiding. But every time fear showed up, money eventually rotated right back toward leadership and risk again.

That is why price matters more than the macro story.

If you listened to headlines over the last few years, you would think investors should be hiding in utilities and consumer staple stocks. But the market kept saying the opposite.

High Beta kept outperforming.

Low Volatility kept breaking down.

You can argue with the macro story. You cannot argue with the trend.

Price does not care about the macro story when investors still want risk.

Bull markets do not usually end with High Beta breaking out to all-time highs. They end after risk appetite fades, leadership narrows, and defense starts outperforming. We are not seeing that here.

So, this is the kind of environment where I want to stay leaning toward momentum, breakouts, and relative strength leadership, not defensive stocks going nowhere.

Let me know!

Grant Hawkridge | Chief Aussie Operator, All Star Charts

Every day, Spencer sits across from some of the smartest analysts in the business and listens to their best trade ideas. Long-term core positions, swing trades from the analyst network, and a monthly options play. One year, $199.