What’s the real test? The 200 dma or you?

As the SPX sold off today and tested the 200 day moving average (dma) while exhibiting positive RSI divergences, a Zen-like thought occurred to me. Is the market testing the 200 dma, or is it testing you?     Oversold, but... The stock market is obviously very oversold. My Trifecta Bottom Spotting Model flashed another...

Is this what a regime change looks like?

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...

Technicians nervous, fundamentalists shrug

Mid-week market update: Both my social media feed and the my questions this week have a jittery tone. Will the 200 day moving average (dma) hold as the SPX tests this important support level? What sectors or groups could step up to become the next market leaders if technology stocks falter? Callum Thomas of Topdown...

Is the NASDAQ trend still your friend?

Mid-week market update: There have been a number of questions of whether the NASDAQ run is over. Marketwatch reported that Jim Paulsen of Leuthold Group highlighted the vulnerable nature of technology stocks. Paulsen pointed to the Tech/Utilities ratio as a way of showing that Tech is nearly as stretch as it was during the height...

When the story changes…

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...

A test of bullish resolve

Mid-week market update: Last weekend, I wrote that while I was intermediate term bullish, I expected some equity market weakness early in the week. The hourly RSI-5 had exceeded 90, which is an extremely overbought reading, which was not sustainable. Even during the January melt-up, such episodes resolved themselves with either a pullback or sideways...

Will diversified portfolios be doomed in the next recession?

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...

Tariff Tantrum, or Trade War Apocalypse?

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...

The animal spirits are back, but which ones?

Mid-week market update: Just when the V-shaped bottom was becoming evident, something comes along and derails that train. The SPX decisively blasted through its 61.8% retracement resistance levels on Monday, but saw a bearish outside reversal day Tuesday, and the market continued to weaken.   After the panic bottom in February, it appears that the...

No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die

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...

A pause at 61.8%

Mid-week market update: After much indecision, the SPX paused at its 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level.     The 50 day moving average (dma) which could have acted as support did not hold. I had also previously identified a possible Zweig Breadth Thrust buy signal setup. Unless the market really surges in the next two days,...

Powell Fed: Market wildcard

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...

How the market could fool us again

Mid-week market update: I can tell that a stock market downdraft is a correction and not the start of a major bear market when the doomsters crawl out of the woodwork after the market has fallen (see Is the 'short volatility' blowup Bear Stearns or Lehman Brothers?) and analysis from SentimenTrader shows that their smart...

Five reasons not to worry (plus 2 concerns)

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...

Risk on, or risk off?

Mid-week market update: In view of this week's market volatility, I thought that I would write my mid-week market update one day early. After the close on Monday, my Trifecta Market Spotting Model flashed a buy signal. As shown in the chart below, this model has been uncanny at spotting short-term market bottoms in the...

A house on fire?

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...

A glass half full, or…

Mid-week market update: I turned cautious on equities last Wednesday (see Out of words for 'extreme' and 'unprecedented'). Since then, the market rallied, and fell for two straight days on Monday and Tuesday, ending the last five days slightly negative.     Is this the start of a downside break, or just a blip in...

The pain trade signal from the bond market

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...

Out of words for ‘extreme’ and ‘unprecedented’

Mid-week market update: most of this rally (see Embrace the blow-off, but with a stop-loss discipline published last November), but the scale of the unrelenting grind-up has been breathtaking. I have run out of words to describe "extreme" and "unprecedented" conditions. In short, the market has been dominated by momentum.     Josh Brown recently...