Bullish Exhaustion = Pullback or Consolidation

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...

Don’t buy that TACO just yet

TACO stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out” in trade negotiations. Financial Times journalist Robert Armstrong coined the term “TACO trade” as a colourful way of characterizing the Trump Put. When questioned by a reporter, Trump turned livid when he learned what TACO stood for.   It is in that context when, later in the day,...

Don’t just obsess over NVIDIA

Mid-week market update: On the weekend, I presented this inverted chart of the S&P 500 as a different perspective and rhetorically asked, "Would you buy a stock with this chart?"     At the time, I had a slight bearish tilt on the market. Since then, the news backdrop has been calming. Trump extended the...

Bond vigilantes and trade tensions derail the momentum bull

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...

S&P 500: A Healing Patient Who Needs Rest

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 the Trade Détente Means for Investors

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent didn’t return from Switzerland and proclaim “Trade peace in our time” while waving a piece of paper. Instead, the interim deal represented a signal toward a trade détente and the acknowledgement that China is an equal in global trade with the U.S.   The agreement. lowered the U.S. tariff on Chinese...

From Fear to Greed

Mid-week market update: The market's turnaround on Monday was remarkable. Going into Friday, expectations for the Geneva trade talks weren't high. Trump had floated a reduction in the tariff rate to 80%. Instead, the U.S. cut the rate to 30%, and China cut its rate to 10%. With recession tail-risk fading, it's not a surprise...

A Sector and Factor Review of Market Internals

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...

Why the Detox Isn’t Over

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned that the economy may need to undergo a detox period before it returns to more stable growth. Since that warning, stock prices sharply pulled back and the VIX Index spiked to above 60, which are levels not seen since the 2024 bottom, the COVID Crash and the GFC. Related...

Trust the Thrust, or Sell in May?

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...

A ZBT buy signal update

Mid-week market update: Today's market action has a constructive quality to it. The S&P 500 managed to stage an upside breakout through 5500 resistance and fill the price gap just above that level. The latest development saw the index pulled back to succesfully test the 5500 resistance turned support       It's normal to...

4 reasons to be cautious about 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...

An American Emerging Market crisis?

Something unusual happened recently. During risk-off episodes, U.S. economic pain has been cushioned by falling bond yields and an appreciating USD, which translates into lower interest rates and more consumer spending power.   The risk-off episode that began in early April, which was just after the “Liberation Day” tariff announcements, saw the opposite. The price...

60/40 in an era of American Unexceptionalism

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...

Known unknowns, and unknown unknowns

Ahead of the Second Gulf War, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld famously referred to “known knowns”, “known unknowns” and “unknown unknowns” when responding to a question about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.   Fast forward to 2025, investors have to contend with a series of known unknowns and unknown unknowns as they consider their investment...