A buy signal. but with a *

Mid-week market update: Further to my last post (see A buy signal setup), the 14-day RSI of the S&P 500 Intermediate Term Breadth Momentum Oscillator (ITBM) flashed a buy signal when it recycled from oversold to neutral. By the book, this is a legitimate buy signal.     Under the current circumstances, I have some...

Near term volatility ahead, but don’t fret

Is the U.S. progress on inflation a case of two steps forward, one step back? Even before the stronger-than-expected September CPI report, bond prices were declining in the wake of the Fed’s jumbo half-point rate cut decision.   The Treasury market is exhibiting signs of anxiety from a technical analyst’s perspective. The 7–10-year Treasury ETF...

Survive October

Mid-week market update: Ryan Detrick has been correctly bullish during the rally from late 2023. He recently pointed out that it may be time for the stock market to take a breather, "October higher only once out of six times it was up 30% or more going into Q4 and Q4 below avg returns as...

A powerful buy signal, with caveats

There is an adage on Wall Street that investors shouldn’t fight the Fed (or central banks in general), but the devil is in the details.   Callum Thomas of Topdown Charts that global central banks are engaged in a broad-based easing campaign. The limited sample of the history of such episodes (annotations are mine) show...

The winners and losers from central bank stimulus

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...

An October stall?

Mid-week market update: I continue to believe that the stock market is vulnerable to a setback. It's not just the negative RSI divergence, which is concerning, it's the inability for breadth to broaden out that's worrisome. As the accompanying chart shows, the equal-weighted S&P 500 to S&P 500 ratio stalled out at a relative resistance...

S&P 500 breakout or fake-out?

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...

FOMC decision: A lesson in managing expectations

Mid-week market update: The Fed hates to surprise markets, but for the first time in a long time, market expectations of FOMC action was highly uncertain. Is the Fed going to cut by 25 or 50 bps? On the weekend, the majority expected a 25 bps cut, but by Monday, it had shifted to 50....

What if the Magnificent Seven are done?

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...

Trading the seasonal weakness

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...

Sector leadership review: Bear market vibes?

Now that the 2s10s yield curve has un-inverted, a review of sector leadership is showing bearish vibes. In particular, the relative performance of defensive sectors is turning up.     I conducted an extensive sector and factor rotation review to determine the extent of the damage.     Bearish vibes For the purposes of analyzing...

Prelude to a correction

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...

Bullish momentum vs. bearish seasonality

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...

An almost Zweig Breadth Thrust buy signal

Mid-week market update: The market almost flashed a Zweig Breadth Thrust buy signal this week, though there is some dispute over the calculations. As a reminder, a ZBT buy signal is triggered when the market rises from oversold to overbought within 10 trading days. According to StockCharts, the market never reached the oversold condition on...

4 reasons why you should be tactically bullish

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...

What will lead the anticipated market rebound?

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...

Assessing the damage: Not just the carry trade

After strengthening rapidly, the Japanese Yen (bottom panel) has stabilized has stabilized in the 140-150 range. The 10-year Treasury-JGB spread also stabilized and found support. So did the Nikkei Average after suffering the greatest one-day decline since the Crash of 1987. The Bank of Japan sounded a dovish tone when deputy governor Shinichi Uchida said...