ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
Earlier this week, the iShares MSCI Brazil ETF (EWZ) tested its October, 2023 low. This test of support stopped just short of a 20% correction from the last high set on December 19, 2023. At the closing low, EWZ reached an 18.3% pullback from that last high. I decided to pull an early trigger on … Read more
Stock Market Commentary A plunge in market breadth on Wednesday made me expect a more bearish take on the markets for my next blog post. A sharp rebound led by strong earnings from various retail companies, quickly changed the narrative from a continued NVDA hangover to a bullish divergence and then a bullish setup. Friday’s … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary What happened in the housing market in May, 2024? Homebuilders suddenly soured on the prospects for the housing market. In my previous Housing Market Review, I pointed out signs of topping and sales headwinds. The data in May delivered a picture of broadening weakness as a follow-through to the warnings … Read more
Stock Market Commentary I looked to last week’s earnings from NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA) with great anticipation. The indices gathered momentum with all-time highs and seemed to point to a big moment for NVDA. NVDA did indeed have a big moment, but it helped precious few. In fact, NVDA’s gain looked like a net loss. Buyer’s … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The simple and quiet breakout for the stock market found follow-through last week. Both the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ hit fresh all-time highs during the week. The April CPI (consumer price index) report paved the way on Wednesday’s all-time highs. A softer than “expected” number revived hopes for a rate cut … Read more
Stock Market Commentary I saw a simple test for distinguishing bearish and bullish signals after META’s post-earnings swoon last month. A quick rebound following failed tests at resistance complicated the picture. The price technicals and dynamics returned to simple as a synchronized yet quiet breakout unfolded last week across the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ. … Read more
When I wrote about the Bank of Japan’s (BoJ) currency trap, the presumed intervention looked ineffective on balance. However, it appears the Bank of Japan has a multi-phased plan. Last week’s presumed intervention generated a fresh phase of weakness for USD/JPY (strength for the Japanese yen and Invesco CurrencyShares® Japanese Yen Trust ETF (FXY)). That … Read more
Stock Market Commentary In the prior week a post-earnings pricequake from Meta Platforms (META) dominated the stock market headlines. Last week, an Apple buyquake dominated the headlines and week-ending trading after the company announced a record $110B buyback. The subsequent gain in AAPL turned my simple test dividing bearish and bullish trading action into a … Read more
When Jim Cramer gets exorcised about something, I sit up and pay attention. As a student of market extremes, Cramer’s extremes offer their own special trading signals. At the onset of the pandemic, I wrote about “Cramer in turmoil” as a demonstration of how quickly financial narratives can change in response to market extremes, revealing … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary What happened in the housing market in April, 2024? After four months of growing more positive, home builders proceeded into the spring selling season thanks to drag from the South. In my previous Housing Market Review, I pointed out a positive start to the spring selling season. April painted a … Read more