A possible Non-Farm Payroll surprise?

Mid-week market update: In the wake of Federal Reserve vice chair Stanley Fischer's remarks about Friday's Job Report, the market is mainly playing a waiting game for the results of that announcement. However, there are signs that the Jobs Report may be setting up for a negative surprise which could be bullish for bond and...

The roadmap to a 2017 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...

Showdown at Jackson Hole? Forget it!

The markets have been nervous as we await Janet Yellen's speech at Jackson Hole. Now that the agenda for the Jackson Hole symposium has been released, I believe that Yellen is unlikely to announce any major shift in monetary policy in her speech. The intent of the Jackson Hole symposium is for Federal Reserve officials...

The market’s hidden message for the economy, rates and stock prices

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...

Jackson Hole preview: Fun with statistics

As we await the Fed`s annual Jackson Hole symposium on August 25-27, Bloomberg highlighted a research paper by Fed economist Jeremy Nalewaik. Nalewaik found that inflation and inflationary expectations had tracked each other well but started to diverge in the mid 1990's.     This paper is important to the future of Fed policy, as it pushes the Fed towards...

Party like it’s 1999, or 1995?

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 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...

FOMC preview: How hawkish the tone?

As we approach another FOMC this week, much of the short-term tone of the market will depend on the Fed. In order to analyze what the Fed is likely to do, let`s begin with their mandate, which is price stability (fighting inflation) and full employment. In addition, the Fed has taken on a third objective...

How to get in on the ground floor of a market bubble

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 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 I learned about Fed policy this week

Rather than indulge in instant analysis, I wanted to give myself a few days to reflect on Janet Yellen's speech on Monday (see full transcript). In doing so, I learned a number of things about Fed policy that I didn't know before: How much does the Fed want to raise before it considers rates to...

Get ready for a market of maximum frustration

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 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 Model is...

The roadmap to 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 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 Model is an...

The correction is (probably) over

Mid-week market update: About two weeks ago, my inner trader turned cautious on the US stock market (see my tweet and subsequent post Tactically taking profits in the commodity and reflation trade). I had cited as reasons the weakness from China, the commodity markets and, later, Europe (see Waiting for the storm to pass), which was...

Yield curve: Correlation vs. causation edition

Further to my last post (see Three steps and a stumble?), I would like to clear up some misconceptions about how I interpret the yield curve and its investment implications. Much of the confusion revolves around the idea of correlation vs. causation. Yield curve inversions don't cause anything. Yield curve inversions are a signal (correlation)...

Three steps and a stumble?

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 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 Model...

Will an oil spike kill the market bull?

I recently wrote about my scenario for a market top in 2016 (see My roadmap for 2016 and beyond), which goes something like this: Unemployment is now at 5.0%, which is a point at which the economy historically started to experience cost-push inflation. Inflation edges up, which is already being seen in commodity prices. Initially,...

We are all helicopter pilots now

In Ben Bernanke's famous 2002 helicopter speech, he made the point that the Fed has numerous tools to fight deflation, even if interest rates was at the zero bound: The U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes...

My roadmap for 2016 and beyond

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 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 post-FOMC market blastoff, but in which direction?

Mid-week update: I thought that I would write my mid-week update a day early, because of the binary outcome of the FOMC meeting. This meeting could turn out to be a critical turning point for the short and medium term tone of the markets. It`s becoming fairly clear that the Fed is unlikely to raise...