Now that 2020 has come to an end, it's time to deliver the Humble Student of the Markets report card. While some providers only highlight the good calls in their marketing material, readers will find both the good and bad news here. No investor has perfect foresight, and these report cards serve to dissect the...
Mid-week market update: Not much has changed since my last post, so I just have a brief update during a thin and holiday-shortened week. The S&P 500 remains in a shallow upward channel while flashing a series of "good overbought" conditions during a seasonally positive period for equities. The index staged an upside breakout at...
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. ...
There has been some recent hand wringing over Warren Buffett's so-called favorite indicator, the market cap to GDP ratio. This ratio has rocketed to new all-time highs, indicating nosebleed valuation conditions for the stock market. Worries about this ratio are overblown. Here's why. Dissecting market cap to GDP Let's begin by...
Mid-week market update: In my last post (see Trading the pre-Christmas panic), I pointed out that the VIX Index had spiked above its upper Bollinger Band, which is an indication of an oversold market. In the past year, stock prices have usually stabilized and rallied after such signals (blue vertical line). The only major exception...
What should traders make of the pre-Christmas panic today? S&P 500 futures were down as much as -2.5% overnight. The market opened up down about -1.5%, but recovered most of its losses to a -0.4% retreat today. More importantly, the bulls were able to hold support at 3650. The VIX Index surged above...
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. ...
As the clock ticks down on Trump's days in the White House, and Biden election has been confirmed by the Electoral College, it's time to ask if a Biden Administration will reset the Sino-American relationship. The key questions to ask are: What does each side want, and what are the sources of friction? What constraints...
Mid-week market update: It's difficult to make a coherent technical analysis comment on the day of an FOMC meeting, but the stock market remains in a holding pattern. While the S&P 500 remains in an uptrend (blue line), it has been consolidating sideways since late November and early December. Until we see either...
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. ...
In late 2017, the stock market melted up in a FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) stampede as enthusiasm about the Trump tax cuts gripped investor psychology. The market corrected in early 2018 and rose steadily into October, though the advance could not be characterized as a melt-up. In late 2019, the market staged a similar...
Mid-week market update: I highlighted this chart as a possible warning on the weekend (see Melt-up, or meltdown?). In the past, high levels of correlation between the S&P 500 and VVIX, the volatility of the VIX, has generally led to market stalls. In addition, high correlations between the S&P 500 and the VIX Index has...
In response to my recent publication (see A focus on gold and oil), a number of readers asked, "What about Bitcoin (BTC)?" Indeed, BTC has diverged and beaten gold recently. Even as gold prices corrected, BTC has been rising steadily since early October. Here are the reasons why you should and shouldn't invest...
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. ...
I received considerable feedback from last week's publication (see How to outperform by 50-250% over 2-3 years), mostly related to gold and energy stocks. In last week's analysis, I had lumped these groups in with other cyclicals. Examining them further, I conclude that both gold and energy stocks have bright futures over the next...
Mid-week market update: As the S&P 500 pushed to another fresh high, more cracks were appearing in the market internals, indicating that it may be time for the rally to take a pause. Negative divergences, such as the 5-day RSI and a trend of falling NYSE new 52-week highs, are warning signs for the near-term...
