21 July 2025
Here’s your latest Sentiment Heatmap update—with a few upgrades to the Heatmaps this week, especially in the commodities section:
- Each commodity Heatmap now includes indicator ratings and historic buy/sell thresholds.
- We’ve also created aggregated sentiment indicators for each commodity, making it easier to rank sentiment across the space.
- Most bullish sentiment: Gold (no surprise).
- Least bullish: Natural Gas.
What Stood Out This Week
Sentiment Overview
- The Risk-On/Risk-Off Heatmap sits at the 53rd percentile—still neutral. It’s well above the April lows but below last year’s highs in the upper 60s.
- Option SKEW is high, but it remains an unreliable indicator and hasn’t improved over the past year.
- Net Call Volume in equity options has triggered a sell signal—one of the better-performing indicators in this space, though currently an outlier.
- Only one buy signal: STAX (Schwab Trading Activity Index), a retail sentiment gauge. That said, it’s monthly, so the data is likely a bit stale now.
Equities
- Most bullish sector: Communication Services
- Most bearish sector: Consumer Discretionary
- Tech: Bullish, but not at extreme levels
- No clear tilt between cyclical and defensive sectors