New Highs in Individual Stocks Continue to Lag Headline Prices

After a modest surge in June in which the percent of stocks in the MSCI World Index making new 52-week highs rose to 23%, new highs have languished. Currently the percent of stocks at new one year highs stands at just 7% for the World Index, 9% for North American stocks, just 3% for Europe stocks and 10% for Pacific stocks. We've belabored the point on this blog that we generally like to see expanding breadth during bull markets and since the middle of 2013 we've seen precisely the opposite. Only time will tell if breadth catches up to stock prices or if stock prices catch down to breadth.