The analysis of more than one related asset class or financial market to determine the strength or weakness of the financial markets or asset classes being considered. Instead of looking at financial markets or asset classes on an individual basis, this type of analysis looks at several strongly correlated markets or asset classes such as stocks, bonds and commodities.


This type of analysis expands on simply looking at each individual market or asset in isolation by also looking at other markets or assets that have a strong relationship to the market or asset being considered. For example, when studying the U.S. market it is worthwhile to look at the U.S. bond market, commodity prices and the U.S. dollar. The changes in the related markets, such as commodity prices, have an impact on the U.S. stock market and need to be understood to obtain a greater understanding of the future direction of the U.S. stock market.