Mid-week market update: In my post written last Sunday (see September uncertainties), I outlined three disparate sources of uncertainty that faced investors in September. Legislative uncertainty over the debt ceiling and tax reform; Geopolitical uncertainty over North Korea; and Uncertainty over Fed action. While some of those problems have been temporarily resolved, developments since the weekend have raised further questions …
The bullish implications of the North Korean Bomb
In the wake of the news of the latest North Korean news, Donald Trump responded with his usual tweetstorm. The markets have learned that Trump doesn’t necessarily follow up presidential tweets with action. Official statements, on the other hand, are another matter. In the aftermath of the North Korean missile test which overflew Japan, the statement that “all options …
September uncertainties
Preface: Explaining our market timing models We maintain several market timing models, each with differing time horizons. The “Ultimate Market Timing Model” is a long-term market timing model based on the research outlined in our post, Building the ultimate market timing model. This model tends to generate only a handful of signals each decade. The Trend Model is an asset …
The surprising conclusion from top-down vs. bottom-up EPS analysis
Mid-week market update: Business Insider recently highlighted an earnings warning from Strategas Research Partners about possible earnings disappointment for the remainder of 2017 and early 2018. Expect a deceleration in EPS growth because of base effects: A big part of Strategas’ argument stems from the fact that the period against which current earnings are compared — the first half of …
Hurricane Harvey as a mini-stress test
Q: What’s George W. Bush position on Roe vs. Wade? A: He doesn’t care how people get out of New Orleans after Katrina. – Joke that circulated in the aftermath of Hurricane Kartina There are many stories coming out in the wake of Hurricane Harvey that hit Texas. I was most struck by this BBC account of the woman who …
Is the Fed tightening into a stalling economy?
Preface: Explaining our market timing models We maintain several market timing models, each with differing time horizons. The “Ultimate Market Timing Model” is a long-term market timing model based on the research outlined in our post, Building the ultimate market timing model. This model tends to generate only a handful of signals each decade. The Trend Model is an asset …
Trumponomics meets Mr. Market
Mid-week market update: As the stock market staged a bounce yesterday, it was still exhibiting a pattern of lower highs and lower lows. After the close, the market ran into a dose of Trumponomics that spooked the market and pushed the index below its 50 day moving average. Notwithstanding Trump’s fiery rhetoric about Charlottesville and immigration policy, which …
Imagining the next bear market
Preface: Explaining our market timing models We maintain several market timing models, each with differing time horizons. The “Ultimate Market Timing Model” is a long-term market timing model based on the research outlined in our post, Building the ultimate market timing model. This model tends to generate only a handful of signals each decade. The Trend Model is an asset …
A summer reading list
I will be off for a few days in Oregon, where I will (hopefully) observe the Great American Eclipse of 2017. The regular weekend commentary will continue to be published, but posting will be lighter than usual as internet access is expected to be spotty. Before I leave, I leave you with a summer reading list. I have been asked …
Bought for a good time, not a long time
Mid-week market update: Last Friday, subscribers received an email alert indicating that the trading model had flipped from short to long. In my weekend commentary (see “Fire and Fury” is hard) that my inner trader expected “the time horizon of that trade to be not much more than a week.” I am reminded of the Trooper song, “We’re here for …
“Fire and Fury” is hard
Preface: Explaining our market timing models We maintain several market timing models, each with differing time horizons. The “Ultimate Market Timing Model” is a long-term market timing model based on the research outlined in our post, Building the ultimate market timing model. This model tends to generate only a handful of signals each decade. The Trend Model is an asset …
Correction ahead
Mid-week market update: Narrow trading ranges are often technical signs of sideways consolidation, followed by further upside. In this case, bulls are likely to be disappointed, as market internals point to a correction ahead. I am reiterating my tactically cautious view that has been in place for the last two weeks (see Curb your (bullish) enthusiasm) for the …
Can China save the world again?
Japan saved the world in the aftermath of the Crash of 1987. When the panic selling of stocks cascaded around the world, the Nikkei Index bent, but did not break (via the FT): The Nikkei tumbled 15 per cent on its “Black Tuesday” in the wake of Wall Street’s violent collapse and lost a further 5 per cent before global …
Will overheating spoil the market rally?
Preface: Explaining our market timing models We maintain several market timing models, each with differing time horizons. The “Ultimate Market Timing Model” is a long-term market timing model based on the research outlined in our post, Building the ultimate market timing model. This model tends to generate only a handful of signals each decade. The Trend Model is an asset …
The things you don’t see at market bottoms: No fear edition
It is said that while bottoms are events, but tops are processes. Translated, markets bottom out when panic sets in, and therefore they can be more easily identifiable. By contrast, market tops form when a series of conditions come together, but not necessarily all at the same time. I have stated that while I don’t believe that the stock market …
Bullish exhaustion
Mid-week market update: You can tell a lot about the tone of the tape by how it reacts to news. There is growing evidence that the stock market is becoming immune to good news, which is a signal of bullish exhaustion. In all likelihood, the near-term path of least resistance for stock prices is down. The results from Q2 Earnings …
How Covel inadvertently exposed the chasm between investors and traders
As a rule, I don’t do book reviews. However, regular readers know that I am a big fan of trend following models and I use them extensively in my asset allocation work. When a publicist offered a free review copy of Michael Covel’s Trend Following, 5th Edition: How to Make a Fortune in Bull, Bear and Black Swan Markets, I …
No one rings a bell at the top, but…
Preface: Explaining our market timing models We maintain several market timing models, each with differing time horizons. The “Ultimate Market Timing Model” is a long-term market timing model based on the research outlined in our post, Building the ultimate market timing model. This model tends to generate only a handful of signals each decade. The Trend Model is an asset …
Curb your (bullish) enthusiasm
Mid-week market update: Subscribers received an email update of the tactically fragile environment for US equities on Monday. There are plenty of reasons to be cautious. Trade Followers observed that the Twitter breadth of all sectors are bullish, and such conditions are reflective of overbought market conditions: Last week, sector sentiment gleaned from the Twitter stream had every sector positive. …
Why the labor market is tighter than you think
As the FOMC meets this week, one key question for Fed policy makers is, “How tight is the labor market?” A related question is, “In the face of tame inflation statistics, when are we going to see evidence of rising wage growth?” Both questions are important for monetary policy. The New York Times had an article that lamented the lack …