The Vickers Top Buyers & Sellers is a daily report that identifies the five companies the largest insider purchase transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions as well as the five companies the largest insider sales transactions based on the dollar value of the transactions.

Morgan Stanley is a diversified global financial securities firm. Its businesses include institutional securities sales and trading, investment banking, retail securities brokerage, and institutional asset management. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, one of the largest banks in the world, owns about 23% of Morgan Stanley, and the two companies continue to expand their partnership.

The overall stock market had another very good day on July 16 -- but, once again, it was because of the now-loved (at least for now) little guys. To put this into perspective, the total market cap of the Russell 2000 (IWM) is said to be only as large as one of the multiple $3 trillion market-cap stocks in the 'Magnificent 7.' But let's not spoil the party as stocks are posting some historical returns on massive trading volume. Over the past five days, IWM has soared 11.5%. Excluding the comeback from the pandemic, the index has logged the greatest five-day period since October 2011. Before that, you have to go back to the initial rally after the March 2009 bear-market low to find such a move. The IWM is now only nine points (or about 4%) from its November 8, 2021, all-time high. It has completed a massive 31-month consolidation and, as they say, the larger the base, the higher in space. Over the past four days, IWM volume has exploded as investors have piled into the small-cap trade. The four-day volume totaled 227.4 million shares or 56.9 mln./day. The 50-day average for volume is 26.5 mln. shares and the 200-day average is 36 mln. shares. This is the largest cluster of volume during an IWM rally since December. Almost always, large clusters of huge volume happen during corrections and bear markets and many times represent downside capitulation. Market breadth has obviously been strong, with the four-day NYSE advances-declines hitting +1,004. This is a short-term breadth thrust and is usually associated with the beginning of an advance.

Second-quarter earnings season kicks off this week, with PepsiCo and Delta Air Lines reporting before the open on Thursday, and J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Bank of New York Mellon, and Fastenal reporting before the open on Friday. It is also "inflation" week, with June CPI and Initial Claims at 8:30am on Thursday, June PPI at 8:30am on Friday, as well as the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment at 10:00am Friday. Of note, the CBOE FedWatch Tool is showing a 71% chance that the Fed cuts 25 basis points (bps) at the September 18 meeting and a 74% probability of 50+ bps cut by the end of 2024. The S&P 500 (SPX) has been remarkably tranquil even though only a handful of stocks are propelling the index higher. The SPX has now gone 345 trade days without a daily 2% drop, according to Carson Investment Research. One would think that we are overdue, but there have been periods when this kind of calm market has persisted for much longer. The last time we saw this much calm was back in 2016 to 2018, when the SPX went 351 days without a big dip. Prior to that, and the longest streak since 1950, was the 2003-2007 period, when the SPX went an incredible 949 days without a 2% drop. Other periods of time that featured extended serene price action were 1994 to 1996, 1983 to 1986, 1970 to 1973, 1966 to 1969, and 1963 to 1966. Some of these periods were followed by additional calm and some were, of course, followed by very nasty conditions. So much for the saying that a low VIX is bearish for stocks. (Mark Arbeter, CMT)