Mid-week market update: As 2022 opens, I have become increasingly cautious about the stock market. The put/call ratio (CPC) is a bit low, indicating rising complacency. Past instances of a combination of a rapidly falling CPC and low CPC have seen the market struggle to advance. While this is not immediately bearish, it is a...
The Fed has spoken by pivoting to a more hawkish trajectory for monetary policy. The FOMC announced that it is doubling the scale of its QE taper, which puts the program on track to end in March. The December median dot-plots show that Fed officials expect three quarter-point rate hikes in 2022 and three quarter-point...
Stock markets were recently sideswiped by the dual threat of a new Omicron strain of COVID-19 and Jerome Powell's hawkish pivot. Global markets adopted a risk-on tone and the S&P 500 pulled back to test its 50-day moving average. This week, I assess the damage that these developments have done to the investment...
My Trend Asset Allocation Model has performed well by beating a 60/40 benchmark on an out-of-sample basis in the last few years. The early version of the Trend Model relied exclusively on commodity prices for signals of global reflation and deflation. While the inputs have changed to include global equity prices, this nevertheless raises some...
Jack Schannep at DowTheory.com described a classic Dow Theory buy signal this way: The classic Buy signal is developed as follows: After the low point of a primary downtrend in a Bear market is established, a secondary uptrend (this is the most often debated part of the Theory) bounce will occur. After that, a...
Where are we in the market cycle? The accompanying chart shows a stylized market cycle and changes in sector leadership. Bear markets are characterized by the leadership of defensive sectors such as healthcare, consumer staples and utilities. Early-cycle markets are sparked by the monetary stimulus or the promise of monetary stimulus. The market leaders in...
The recent pullback in the S&P 500 has deflated the forward P/E to 20.1 as of close last Thursday, which is in the bottom of the post-COVID Crash recovery range. The P/E derating is not surprising as bond yields have risen to put downward pressure on P/E ratios. What's next? The upcoming Q3...
Mid-week market update: Last week, the market was rattled by the prospect of an Evergrande default. This week, it's rising yields. Both the 5 and 10 year Treasury yields surged decisively this week and the 2s10s yield curve has steepened. Are rising yields destined to spook stock prices? Good news, bad...
Recently, a number of major investment banks have published warnings for the US stock market. The strategists at BoA, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley have issued either bearish or cautionary outlooks. On the other hand, Ryan Detrick at LPL Financial documented the effects of strong price momentum on stock prices. History...
As the infrastructure and budget bills make their way through Congress, I was surprised to see that the latest BoA Global Fund Manager Survey did not mention a corporate tax increase as a key risk to the S&P 500. The Biden tax proposals have been well telegraphed and most of the details have...
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...
Mid-week market update: As the market enters into Q2 earnings season, FactSet reported that consensus estimates are calling for an astounding 63.3% YoY EPS growth. While that growth estimate appears to be a high bar, investors have to keep in mind the low base effect. As well, the historical record shows that actual...
It's been over a year since the stock market bottom at the height of the Pandemic Panic. The market consensus has evolved from an early cycle recovery to a mid-cycle expansion, as evidenced by the BoA Global Fund Manager Survey. What that means for investors? Here are the key questions we focus on:...
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 headlines from last week sounded dire. It began when China’s May economic activity report was disappointing, with industrial production, retail sales, and fixed-asset investment missing market expectations. Then the Federal Reserve took an unexpected hawkish turn. The statement from the FOMC meeting acknowledged that downside risks from the pandemic were receding as vaccination...
Mid-week market update: It's always difficult to make any kind of coherent market comment on FOMC meeting days. The market reaction can be wild and price moves can reverse themselves in the coming days. Nevertheless, experienced investors understand that it's not the announcement that matters, but the tone announcement compared to market expectations. Bloomberg...
Remember when I called for a bond market rally (see What a bond market rally could mean for your investments). The 10-year Treasury yield broke support last week and shrugged off a hot CPI print. Is the bond market tempting FAIT, or the Fed's Flexible Average Inflation Targeting framework? Here are some of...
Mid-week market update: Traders have an adage, "Bulls make money. Bears make money. Pigs just get slaughtered." It's time for equity bulls to be near-term cautious on stocks, though I expect any market weakness to be relatively shallow. In my weekend update, I had set out a number of tripwires (see Time is running...
Several readers asked me to address the valuation warning from Jason Goepfert of SentimenTrader, who found that the S&P 500 is wildly overvalued based on a combination of real earnings yield and dividend yield. Let's begin by unpacking Goepfert's chart (annotations are mine). There were five instances since 1970 when the market appeared...
Did anyone notice the upside breakouts in both gold and gold mining stocks? In the short-term, gold may have to contend with overhead resistance at the site of its 200-day moving average (dma). While I am no gold bug, the breakout could be a technical signal of an intermediate bullish phase for precious metals. ...
Our site uses cookies and other technologies so that we, and our partners, can remember you and tailor your user experience on our site. See our disclaimer page on our privacy policy, how we manage cookies, and how to opt out. Further use of this site will be considered consent.
