Iron Ore Stocks, Australian Dollar Fall After Chinese Steel Mills Resist

Iron Ore Resistance Iron ore prices have been on a tear this year, and China’s steel mills are not going to take it anymore. According to Reuters: “…eight steel mills will create an investigation group, led by Baowu and assisted by the others, to look into the pricing methodology of imported iron ore, to coordinate … Read more

From Loitering to Breakout: Stocks Look for Bad News Worthy of Rate Cuts – Above the 40 (June 21, 2019)

AT40 = 53.7% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 50.3% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAsVIX = 15.4Short-term Trading Call: neutral Stock Market Commentary The stock market is officially in bizarro world. The stock market is breathlessly rallying in anticipation of rate cuts that will come … Read more

Rate Cut Promises Rescued A Stock Market Near Oversold – Above the 40 (June 7, 2019)

AT40 = 38.9% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 44.8% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAsVIX = 18.9Short-term Trading Call: cautiously bullish Stock Market Commentary From opening at the edge of oversold trading conditions to closing on near panic buying, last week was a wild week! … Read more

Stock Market Indices Break South On Expanded Border Tensions – Above the 40 (May 31, 2019)

AT40 = 23.8% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) (hit a low of 20.7%)AT200 = 36.9% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs (2 1/2 month low)VIX = 18.7Short-term Trading Call: neutral Stock Market Commentary So much for the potential for follow-through on bullish divergence! Perhaps the failure is … Read more

Above the 40 (May 15, 2019) – Stock Market Flips from Bullish Support to Bearish Resistance As Signals Compete

AT40 = 43.8% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs)AT200 = 47.4% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAsVIX = 16.4Short-term Trading Call: neutral Stock Market Commentary Over the weekend, I wrote about a “constructive stock market” as a reference to the stock market’s consistently positive responses to U.S. vs … Read more

Above the 40 (May 3, 2019) – A Faithful Stock Market Push Through Bearish Divergence

AT40 = 63.4% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs)AT200 = 55.1% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAsVIX = 12.9Short-term Trading Call: neutral Stock Market Commentary The stock market is keeping the faith. The previous week ended with a U.S. GDP report for Q1 2019 that represented well the … Read more

Above the 40 (April 18, 2019) – Exhausted Buyers and Reluctant Sellers Make A Stock Market Dribble

AT40 = 58.9% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs)AT200 = 52.5% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAsVIX = 12.1Short-term Trading Call: bearish Stock Market Commentary The S&P 500 (SPY) ended the previous week looking ready to lunge for its all-time high. Surprisingly, buyers decided to take a rest, … Read more

Forex Critical: Mexican Peso Races Past Border Threats

When U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to close the U.S. border with Mexico last November, the U.S. dollar was in the process of making a major top against the Mexican peso (USD/MXN). When Trump threatened a border closure again on March 29th, oddly enough, a minor relief rally in USD/MXN came to an end. At … Read more

Recession Risks Revealed in the “Disindependence” of the Federal Reserve

Major central banks typically cut interest rates in response to economic stresses; they ease when the data force them to do so. Some important exceptions in recent history happened 1) in 2016 when Mark Carney’s Bank of England cut rates as a cushion against the potential downsides of the pro-Brexit vote, and 2) when the … Read more

The Federal Reserve Gives Gold A Good Heave Upward

“The federal funds rate is now in the broad range of estimates of neutral–the rate that tends neither to stimulate nor to restrain the economy. As I noted, my colleagues and I think that this setting is well-suited to the current outlook, and believe that we should be patient in assessing the need for any … Read more