Still in the upper room

TODAY'S MASS

✠ TODAY'S MASS

Wednesday of the 7th Week of Easter · Year II https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/052026.cfm

First Reading — Acts 20:28-38 Paul finishes his farewell to the elders of Ephesus. He warns them: after he leaves, wolves will come in among the flock. Men who distort the truth for personal gain. His protection against this is not walls — it is formation, built over three years of working with his own hands and taking nothing he wasn't owed.

"I commend you to God and to that gracious word of his that can build you up."

He doesn't leave them a checklist. He leaves them a character. The checklist fails eventually — the formation holds.

Gospel — John 17:11b-19 Jesus prays for the eleven. Not for their safety. Not for ease.

"I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the Evil One. They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world."

Present in the world. Distinct from it. These are not the same as each other. The easier discipline is to exit. Cash out, go home, stop watching. That is a kind of safety but it is not the vocation. The call is to remain in the middle of it — positioned, alert, not absorbed. The stops are set. The sizing is honest. Now we hold.

UPPER ROOM — Day 6 of 9

✠ UPPER ROOM — Day 6 of 9 We are between Ascension and Pentecost. Jesus ascended Thursday, May 14. Pentecost is Sunday, May 24. In that span, the Church has always prayed a nine-day novena to the Holy Spirit — the original novena, the one the disciples themselves prayed. Today is day 6. One hundred and twenty disciples in one room. Acts 1 tells us what they were doing: "All these devoted themselves with one accord to prayer." Not analysis. Not repositioning. Not scenario-modeling what form the Spirit would take. Prayer. They knew the outcome was certain — Jesus had promised it. They did not know the day. They did not know what form it would take. They had never seen it happen before. What they had was his word, and that was enough to keep them in the room for nine days. Investors who sit through a major catalyst understand this posture differently than those who read about it. You built the position. You sized it correctly. You set the stop. You went to bed. Now you wait in the upper room. The outcome is no longer in your hands. Your job is to hold still and not manufacture certainty where there is none. The disciples didn't renegotiate. They didn't hedge. They stayed. Day 6. Three more days.

MARKET

✠ MARKET A correction first: yesterday's issue stated NVDA reports after the bell on Tuesday, May 19. That was wrong. NVDA reports tonight, Wednesday May 20, after the market close — earnings call at 5 PM ET. The rest of yesterday's analysis stands: the position sizing, the stop levels, the market posture. Only the date was wrong. Corrections go at the top, not the bottom. Now — the hour comes tonight. NVDA reports Q1 FY2027 after the bell — conference call at 5 PM ET. Wall Street expects $79B revenue (79% year-over-year) and $1.78 EPS (120% year-over-year). NVIDIA's own guidance was $78B ±2%. They have beaten consensus four quarters straight — including a 28% beat last Q1. Every fund manager on the planet is watching. Three subplots matter beyond the headline number:

• Data center revenue — does it hold at roughly 90% of total sales? That is the AI infrastructure demand signal.
• Hyperscaler guidance — what do Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta say about 2026 capex? ($725B committed heading in.)
• China — any comment on export restrictions and what it means for forward revenue.

Our system entered NVDA at $225.32. Hard stop: $211.80 (−6%). That stop was set at entry. It does not move because tonight is a catalyst. We hold through the report and let the stop decide.

How the stock scanner works Every day after the close, the system runs every stock in the S&P 500, 400, and 600 — roughly 1,500 names — through seven sequential gates. A stock must pass all seven to become a candidate. Most don't. Gate 0 is the Catholic screen. Every company is checked against USCCB socially responsible investment guidelines — gambling, tobacco, abortion, predatory lending, and others. A company that fails never enters the pipeline. No override. Ever. Gates 1–6 look for institutional accumulation (unusual volume), price strength (RS — how the stock ranks against every other stock in the universe), a Stage 2 uptrend (price above all key moving averages and rising), and a VCP — Volatility Contraction Pattern. VCP is a tight base: the stock has pulled back in successive smaller swings, volume has dried up, and the range is compressing. That compression is stored energy. The breakout from a VCP on volume is the entry signal. If a stock passes all seven gates, it gets a composite score from 0–100. Score 75+ earns a position. Position size is set by the Kelly formula — a mathematical calculation that sizes each trade proportionally to its edge. Higher score, more edge, larger position. Score 90+ gets roughly 14% of the portfolio. Score 75–80 gets almost nothing — the math says the edge is too thin.

Scanner — May 19 close Zero setups pass all 7 gates. System is in cash on new entries. Ten symbols pass Stage 2 and RS but block at VCP — bases still too wide and volatile ahead of tonight's catalyst. This is the same pattern as yesterday: no quality stock rests cleanly into a market-moving earnings report. The names are there. The bases aren't formed yet. Near-misses worth watching after tonight clears: | Symbol | RS | Price | Sector | |--------|-----|-------|--------| | ASTS | 96 | $88.10 | Industrials | | LUNR | 95 | $32.46 | Industrials | | CAT | 93 | $860.15 | Industrials | | GOOGL | 92 | $387.66 | Technology | | TSM | 89 | $392.61 | Technology | All five pass Stage 2 and RS. All five are waiting on VCP. If tonight's NVDA result resolves the uncertainty and volatility contracts over the next two weeks, some of these bases tighten into entries. That is what post-earnings setup season looks like. → The disciples in the upper room did not design the form of the answer. They prepared to receive. Wind. Fire. Divided tongues. None of that was in the prospectus. They were ready anyway because they had done the prior work. We have done ours.

ENOCH PORTFOLIO

Every name runs through the USCCB Catholic screen before scoring.

✠ ENOCH PORTFOLIO Every name runs through the USCCB Catholic screen before scoring.

All positions above their hard stops. AMD is the only one underwater — sitting −2.4% with a −6% stop, well inside the risk envelope. RKLB is green. NVDA reports tonight. New entries require all 7 gates. No new positions before tonight's report.

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Enoch Capital Management · 2121 S. Broadway, #511, Denver CO 80210

Educational content only. Not investment advice. Publisher's Exemption (Lowe v. SEC, 472 U.S. 181, 1985).