It has been over a week since the Fed’s decision to cut rates by a half-point, and that’s a decent interval to assess the market reaction. Investors should be aware of one crucial detail about market psychology. Even as the Fed offered a “commitment not to fall behind the curve” as a way of...
The latest BoA Global Fund Manager Survey shows that a soft landing for the U.S. economy is the overwhelming consensus. Fed Chair Jerome Powell leaned into that narrative at the post-September FOMC press conference after announcing the rate cut. He characterized the cut as “an appropriate recalibration of our policy stance”. The economy “has...
The latest BoA Global Manager Survey is a dramatic illustration of market anxiety. In July, 18% of respondents believed that a U.S. recession was the biggest tail risk. That figure surged to 39% in the August survey, which was taken August 2–8 right at the height of the market panic. During the market...
The U.S. economy is showing signs of weakness. The Citigroup Economic Surprise Index, which measures whether economic releases are beating or missing expectations, has been trending down. In addition, Chair Powell has more or less made it clear that a September rate cut is in the works, as long as the inflation data stays low....
In the wake of Biden’s subpar debate performance and the assassination attempt on Trump, the prediction markets’ odds of a Trump victory in November have substantially risen. Equally important is Wall Street’s reaction, which has investors sitting up to take notice of the implications of a second Trump Administration in 2025. Despite the...
The Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite all achieved new all-time highs last week. It is said that there is nothing more bullish than a stock making a new high. This is not a time for caution. Higher stock prices are ahead. Here are the reasons why I am bullish. Bullish...
The market adopted a risk-off tone when headline Q1 GDP came in lower than expected at 1.6%, compared to an expected 2.5%. More importantly, core PCE rose at an annualized rate of 3.4%, which was hotter than expectations and led to stagflation fears. Upon closer inspection, nominal GDP growth was dragged down by the combination...
During Fed Chair Powell’s testimony to the Financial Services Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, he said that it will likely be appropriate to begin cutting rates “at some point this year”. At the same time, he reiterated the message that other Fed officials sent to the markets that the Fed is not ready...
Now that Donald Trump has become the presumptive Republican nominee for President, Wall Street is scrambling to model how a Trump White House may affect capital markets. A recent Bloomberg article summarized the consensus: Bond market: Expect rising yields from upward pressures on term premium. Currencies: Rising yields will put a bid under the USD....
As the 10-year Treasury yield flirts with the 4% level and the yield curve steepens from its inverted condition, it’s worthwhile to keep in mind that the universe is unfolding as it should. Monetary conditions are tight, inflation is moderating, the jobs market, though tight, is weakening, and the economy is chugging along with no...
The S&P 500 staged an upside breakout in December through a cup and handle pattern but it was rejected at all-time-high resistance, which is a somewhat disappointing development. Instead of worrying about whether it can rally through resistance, here is another index that staged a cup and handle breakout, but to all-time-highs. It’s...
I am not fond of the ritual of “year ahead” forecasts. Street strategists’ forecasts are far more dispersed compared to past years. The 2024 year-end target for the S&P 500 varies from 4200 to 5200. So let’s make this brief. Analysis from Ryan Detrick of Carson Group shows that the S&P 500 rises an...
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 Zweig Breadth Thrust buy signal in early November sparked a price surge and a price momentum chase. Already, the S&P 500 made a late-day charge above 4600 for a new recovery high. The price momentum factor is defined as stocks that beat the market continue to beat the market. The red line in...
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...
The S&P 500 exhibited a surprise price reversal on the weekly chart. After violating an uptrend line that stretches back to the COVID Crash bottom which scared the living daylights out of a lot of investors, the index staged an upside reversal while the weekly stochastic recycled from oversold to neutral, which has been a...
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...
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,...
Last week, I pointed out that the Citi Inflation Surprise Index was turning up around the world. While one month doesn’t make a trend, what if the Fed is making a different kind of policy error? Instead of over-tightening into a recession, what if the U.S. economy achieves a soft landing or no landing and...
It’s finally happened. The monthly MACD of the NYSE Composite turned positive at the end of July. This has been a reliable long-term buy signal in the past. The sell rule in this model is a negative 14-month divergences. In the words of Ronald Reagan when he was negotiating an arms control treaty...
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