Stock trader Mark Minervini and market strategist Ben Laidler join Alpha Trader

This week’s Alpha Trader podcast features hosts Aaron Task and Stephen Alpher chatting first with Ben Laidler, global markets strategist at eToro, and then with stock trader Mark Minervini, author of best-selling books Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard and Think and Trade Like a Champion, among them.Markets continue to underestimate the growth surprise in the U.S., says Laidler. Continual surprises on the upside for the economy should be good for earnings, and good for stock prices moving forward.Strong economic growth and rising inflation usually means the Fed coming into play sooner, rather than later, but Laidler suspects not this time, as full employment remains a ways off. There’s also been some large recent inflation prints, but Laidler reminds these are comped to the extraordinary weakness of one year ago, and the Fed has made clear it’s willing to tolerate “transitory” inflation stronger than the 2% target.“Never buy the numbers, never buy the story,” says Mark Minervini, “unless it’s confirmed by the technicals.” The result of this discipline has Minervini usually buying stocks in uptrends, near 52-week highs, and with at least the appearance of being expensive. As for where’s he’s seeing this sort of setup currently, Minervini mentions Yeti (YETI), PayPal (PYPL), and Duluth Holdings (DLTH).Maybe most interesting from the talk, Minervini says trading is the same today as when he started in the business several decades ago. Yes, there’s the rise of technology and zero commissions, but chart patterns and setups today look exactly like they did in 1980s, and for that matter look just like they did in the 1920s or the 1880s. The reason: Human nature never changes, no matter the era and no matter the market.Listen to the full forty minutes for plenty of great insights from these two market veterans.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices