How a global leadership review reveals opportunities

Much has happened since my last global market review. Investors saw a bond market tantrum, followed by a down yield reversal and a risk-on rally in asset prices. Willie Delwiche at Hi Mount Research put the equity price surge into perspective when he observed that 94% of global markets in the MSCI All-Country World Index...

Three white soldiers lead the way

Mid-week market update: The “three white soldiers” candlestick pattern is made up of three long white candles, and typically occurs after a falling price trend. It is indicative of strong price momentum after a price reversal. This pattern is evident in the weekly S&P 500 chart shown below.  Usually, the market consolidates sideways after the...

How far can this rally run?

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...

Assessing economic risk through the Biden-Xi meeting lens

The markets took a risk-on tone in the wake of a softer-than-expected CPI report, followed by a tame PPI report and strong retail sales print. Even before these reports, Mohamed El-Erian issued a warning about the goldilocks scenario of lower oil prices and falling bond yields.     Is market psychology in a “bad news...

Too many people are fighting this rally

Mid-week market update: Until yesterday’s market melt-up, it seemed that individual investors were fighting the rally, which is a contrarian bullish sign. I noticed it on the weekend when the level of engagement on my bearish tweets were an order of magnitude higher than my bullish ones. In addition, the New York Fed’s recent consumer...

Will narrow leadership unravel the ZBT buy signal?

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...

Time for a ZBT price reset?

Mid-week market update: I have written extensively about the Zweig Breadth Thrust and its bullish implications in the past few days. In case you haven’t seen the numerous historical return studies floating around on the internet, here is one from Ryan Detrick of Carson Group.     In almost instance, the market cools off for...

Nine reason why this rally has legs

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...

The anticipation can be worse than the pain

Mid-week market update: I told you so. As I recently pointed out, psychology had become too stressed to the downside, which opened the door to a relief rally. The NAAIM Exposure Index, which measures the sentiment of RIAs who manage individual investors’ funds, fell sharply last week and below its 26-week Bollinger Band. Historically, theses...

Could this be the start of a major bearish episode?

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...

What a soft landing looks like

Has the Fed managed to achieve a soft landing? If so, Jerome Powell will go down in Federal Reserve history as a legend, and one of the greatest Fed Chairs who occupied that position.   There is some cause for optimism. The latest flash PMIs show that U.S. and China manufacturing PMI on the rebound,...

A better tone from the Treasury market

Mid-week market update: There was a lot of angst last week about how Treasury market, whose yields had been rising steadily, was the main driver of risk appetite. When I saw this cartoon circulating, I thought that it marked the top in yields as a contrarian indicator. Indeed, the bond market rallied when Bill Ackman...

Stocks want to go to the party, but bonds won’t go in the car

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...

3 reasons why stocks should rally into year-end

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...

The term premium red herring

About a week ago, market anxiety was high over surging Treasury yields, which was attributed to concerns over a soaring fiscal deficit and a rising supply of Treasury paper. This led to upward pressure on the term premium, or compensation for holding longer duration assets, and real yields.     Here’s what has happened since...