What I am watching during Q4 earnings season

Mid-week market update: As we enter Q4 earnings season, the macro backdrop looks grim. The Economic Surprise Index, which measures whether economic releases are beating or missing expectations, is weakening.       Weak fundamentals From a bottom-up perspective, FactSet reported that the market entered Q4 earnings season with a trend of falling net margins....

Is the dip a gift from the breadth thrust gods?

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 Asset...

Will the soft landing green shoots be trampled?

The stock market began 2023 with a rally based on the "green shoots" narrative of a Fed pivot and optimism about the effects of China reopening its economy. Since then, the S&P 500 rose to test resistance as defined by its falling trend line and pulled back. Similarly, the equal-weighted S&P 500, the mid-cap S&P...

The hidden schism in the BoA Fund Manager Survey

Mid-week market update: BoA published its monthly Global Fund Manager Survey (FMS) this week and the results were not a big surprise. In the last few months, the FMS had increasingly become a price momentum indicator whose readings were fairly predictable based on recent market trends. Respondent risk appetite was turning up after bottoming out...

Key tests at resistance ahead of earnings season

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...