Things you don’t see at market bottoms: Giddiness revival edition

The last time I published a post in a series of "things you don't see at market bottoms" based on US based investor enthusiasm was in January. That's because market exuberance had significantly moderated since the January top. Guess, what, the giddiness is baack! As a reminder, it is said that while bottoms are events,...

Can America still lead the world?

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...

What June swoon?

Mid-week market update: Sell in May? June swoon? Not so far! As the SPX convincingly staged an upside breakout above the 2740 resistance level, the bull case is easy to make. We have seen fresh all-time highs this week from the following: NASDAQ Composite Russell 2000 small caps NYSE Advance-Decline Line NASDAQ Advance-Decline Line I...

2 contrarian trades that will make you uncomfortable

Do you really want to be a contrarian investor? Most of the time, being contrarian means that your investment views are far from the crowd, and you will feel very isolated and uncomfortable. With that preface in mind, I offer two uncomfortable contrarian trades, based purely on technical analysis.   Fading a NAFTA breakdown Let’s...

Revealed: The market timers’ dirty little secret

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 hidden MACD message from the markets

Mid-week market update: Callum Thomas conducts a regular weekly (unscientific) Twitter poll of equity market sentiment, and the latest results show that both fundamental and technical bullishness are falling. These readings suggest that bullish momentum is waning.   Indeed, daily MACD has been decelerating and turned negative this week, indicating that the bears are taking...

Offbeat Thursday and Friday forecasts

Brett Steenberger recently warned that traders about trading on noise, which is advice to which I wholeheartedly agree: In other words, before we can determine whether or not we have an edge (in systematic or discretionary trading), we need to establish knowledge. A theory explains how and why something occurs. Testing of historical data can...

Could a weak consumer stall the 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...

Bear markets simply don’t start this way

Mid-week market update: There remains a fair amount of stock market skittishness among my readers and on my social media feed. Let me assure everyone that bear markets simply don`t start this way. SentimenTrader has an intermediate to long-term sentiment model called AIM "which averages the momentum of the four major sentiment surveys". This model...

Deconstructing the institutional pain trade

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...

How I learned to stop worrying and love rising rates

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 bulls are back in town

Mid-week market update: In my last mid-week market update (see Still choppy, still consolidating), I highlighted the weekly (unscientific) sentiment survey conducted by Callum Thomas. The poll showed fundamentally oriented investors to be very bullish, while technical survey was bearish. I suggested at the time that one of the signs that the sideways consolidation may...

Why you shouldn’t get wedded to any market indicator

Over the years, I have had a number of discussions with traders who have religiously embraced specific trading systems and investment disciplines. This is a cautionary tale of how systems fail. Charlie Bilello won the NAAIM Wagner Award for his work on the lumber/gold ratio: Lumber’s sensitivity to housing, a key source of domestic economic...

Why I am not ready to call a market top

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...

Still choppy, still consolidating

Mid-week market update: Stock prices are still consolidating sideways. The technical pattern could either be described as range-bound, or as a triangle. The market tested the bottom of the triangle this week, but support held.   The market indecision could be traced to the continued disagreement between fundamental and technical investors. Several weeks ago, I...