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Happy hump-day, friends and fellow traders, and what a day it was! Stocks ripped (deeper) into record-high territory - again - in response to what President Trump had to say last night; the bulls didn't even give it a second thought. We'll just remind you that all of this persistent bullishness has been founded on only the hope of earnings growth rather than actual earnings growth.

It's fitting to have this discussion today simply because today's the day we're going to give you our final recap on the fourth quarter's earnings season. More than 96% of the S&P 500's constituents have posted their numbers, and it could be a long while before the final 4% is tallied. What we've got today is where we are, and where we are isn't quite as great as earnings were expected to be before earnings season started.

Before we get to it though, we wanted to give you all a heads-up to look for a new small cap trading idea in your inbox tomorrow morning... right around the time the opening bell rings. In fact, one of the reasons we have to cut the newsletter you're currently reading right now a little short is because we have to get back to work putting the finishing touches on our analysis. Something subtle happened this morning that in reality is a far bigger deal than most traders gave the company credit for. They'll figure it out soon enough though. We'd like to beat them to the punch.

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Howdy folks. How was your Tuesday? It wasn't a great one for the market - the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke its 12-day winning streak with a small loss today, only tying a similarly impressive win streak logged back in early 1987.

Still, what a run it was. And just for the record, it's not as if the market has been put into a tailspin. Stocks did give us plenty to think about though, which we'll detail below. However, before we get to any of the analysis we've got a couple of news items we need to share with you. In no particular order...

We didn't get a chance to tell you this in yesterday's newsletter because we wanted to put 100% of the focus on Nexus Gold (NXXGF, CVE:NXS). It's still worth repeating today, though, even if the news is actually one day old. That is, another one of our Featured Stocks -- Lexaria Bioscience (LXRP, CNSX:LXX) -- has applied for a patent in Australia, but within the text of that news release unveiled something very interesting we weren't quite aware of.

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It's official - this market is nothing less than amazing. Although it was a 'just barely' situation, the Dow Jones Industrial Average just logged its twelfth straight daily gain, which is just one day shy of the record-breaking streak logged back in 1987.

Our stance is still the same though. That is, while the bigger picture momentum is never something you want to stand in front of, we can't deny the effort sure looks like it's running out of gas, as if today's the apex.

Fortunately for you we have a defensive idea that could thrive in the near-term no matter what the equity market does (and perhaps especially thrive should stocks implode, as traders scurry out of equities and into any safe-haven they can find). That defensive idea is gold, and we think Nexus Gold Corp. (NXXGF, CVE:NXS) is an ideal way to play it.

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The most frustrating part about the current market environment? Remaining patient. We know the market is likely to do something in the foreseeable future. And, we know from the rally that's taken shape over the course of February that the majority of traders are expecting bullish catalysts. We also know, however, if the headlines don't deliver, the rally is subject to a fairly significant reversal. What we don't know is when any of this will matter.

Giving credit where it's due, I think it was hedge fund manager Doug Kass that may have said it best today:

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Do you ever have one of those moments where you kick yourself and ask "Why didn't I do that sooner?" I had one of them a couple of days ago as I started to assemble some interesting information -- and charts -- of earnings trends and projections for indices other than the S&P 500. While it bugged me for me, it really gnawed at me for you since this is information that could quietly do each of you a lot of good.

What I'm talking about are the earnings trend and outlook for the S&P 400 mid cap index and the S&P 600 small cap index. We keep closest tabs on the S&P 500's corporate earnings information, simply because that encompasses the majority of the market. What we should've been doing more of, however, is taking a broader look at the market as a whole and pinpointing the areas that differ from the norm. Right now, the S&P 600 and the S&P 400 (including their earnings data) look considerably different than the picture the S&P 500's earnings trend paints. Color me surprised... seriously.