We’re happy to announce that the newest episode of Bespokecast is now available to the general public both here and via the various podcast platforms.  Be sure to subscribe to Bespokecast on your preferred podcast app to gain access to our full collection of episodes.  We’d also love for you to provide a review as well!

In our newest conversation on Bespokecast, we spoke to Pete Najarian, Co-Founder of Investitute.  Pete is a long-time contributor on CNBC’s Fast Money and Fast Money Halftime Report, and a financial markets veteran with experience across the options world including the CBOE’s pits where he got his start.  Prior to entering the financial industry, Pete played for the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the NCAA and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Minnesota Vikings in the NFL.  We loved talking to him about his experience playing football, how athletics helped him in the industry, and what he thinks about the future of the game.  Our conversation also touched on the skills necessary to have success trading options, some detail on strategies he uses to stay ahead of the market, and the impact of volatility products like VIX-linked ETFs or ETNs on the market for single name equity options.  If you’re interested in options, be sure to visit Pete and his brother John’s site — Investitute — where they run their “Unusual Options Activity” service.  We learned a lot chatting with Pete, and we hope you enjoy listening!

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The S&P 500 is up nearly 7% year-to-date, but the average stock in the index is up just 5.70%.  This means the largest stocks in the cap-weighted index are outperforming the smallest names.  Even still, two-thirds of the stocks in the S&P are up year-to-date, while 35% of stocks are up more than 10%.  Seventy stocks are up more than 20%, while just 25 are up more than 30%.

Below is a list of the 30 best performing S&P 500 stocks year-to-date.  As shown, Vertex Pharma (VRTX) is up the most with a gain of 55%, followed by Activision Blizzard (ATVI), Arconic (ARNC), CSX and Lam Research (LRCX).  Wynn Resorts (WYNN) — a Bespoke Model Portfolio name — ranks 7th best with a gain of 40.8%, while Adobe (ADBE) — another Bespoke Model Portfolio name — ranks 18th with a gain of 31.7%.  Apple (AAPL) ranks just behind ADBE at 31.68%.  As the largest stock in the world with a market cap of just under $800 billion, Apple’s gain this year has been a huge contributor to the cap-weighted S&P 500.  Another mega-cap Tech name that’s up more than 30% YTD is Facebook (FB).  Coach (COH) may be the most surprising name on the list in the 29th spot given the pain that Retail stocks have gone through.  But remember, since Coach is a retailer that has its own brand, it’s not part of our Death By Amazon (DBA) index of retailers that rely mostly on third party brands.  That’s where the real pain is.

If you’re not yet a Bespoke Premium member, start a 14-day free trial to gain access to our Death By Amazon index as well as our model stock portfolios.

You can find a number of Death By Amazon index members on the list of worst performing S&P 500 stocks year-to-date, however.  Remember, to be part of Bespoke’s DBA index, you have to be a retailer that relies mostly on third party brands.  See if you can spot a few of them on the list of 2017’s biggest S&P 500 losers:

After a pretty large uptick in positive sentiment last week, individual investors reined in their horns this week, even as the S&P 500 hit new all-time highs.  According to AAII’s weekly survey, bullish sentiment dropped from 38.07% down to 32.73% for the largest weekly decline since March 9th.  This week’s reading also extends the streak of sub-50% readings to a record 123 straight weeks.

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While bulls retreated, bears saw only a slight uptick this week as bearish sentiment increased from 29.95% up to 30.22% keeping it below the uptrend line that was broken to the downside last week.

With little uptick in bearish sentiment, all the bulls that were shaken out this week found themselves in the neutral camp as this measure increased to 37.05% from last week’s reading of just under 32%.  That’s the largest weekly increase since mid-March and the highest reading since before the election.  Perhaps it was this week’s abrupt firing of FBI Director James Comey or just a general feeling of unease at record highs, but individual investors definitely took on a more cautious attitude in the last few days.