ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
Stock Market Commentary And just like that, the bullish expansion of market breadth hit a wall…a wall of inflation. The October Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all urban consumers apparently surprised financial markets by soaring 0.9% from September and 6.2% over October, 2020. The chart below shows that both surges are at the high end … Read more
The Bank of Canada (BoC) not only ended its quantitative easing (QE) program, but also the Bank refreshingly acknowledged the inflation issue in Canada. In his opening statement, Governor Tiff Macklem pointed out that higher energy prices and supply chain constraints are worse than previously assumed and are driving hotter inflation levels. Canadian inflation will … Read more
Stock Market Commentary In my previous post I looked ahead to the Fed meeting on Wednesday as a main wildcard facing down the stock market’s most predictable trading pattern. Instead, heavy headlines about a looming financial crisis in China ground the gears of the stock market. Sprinkle in some obligatory fear about the dire warnings … Read more
Deteriorating market breadth flashed warning signs for the stock market once again. A signal from the currency market is adding weight to the warning: the Australian dollar versus the Japanese yen (AUD/JPY). AUD/JPY represents the divergence dragging on the stock market. AUD/JPY topped out from March to June, a period over which many individual stocks … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The upward drift in the stock market continued another week. The latest narrative comes from the cascading impact of the infrastructure bill settled in the Senate (I feel like the U.S. has passed this bill 10 times already!). While more wrangling lies ahead in the House of Representatives, the stock market felt … Read more
Stock Market Commentary I feel like a broken record pointing out the shrinking participation accompanying the stock market’s persistent rally. However, the downtrend in market breadth becomes more and more notable over time. More signals converged this week of eroding underlying conditions despite the all-time highs on the S&P 500 and the NASDAQ. Even the … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Even the Federal Reserve must sit back and marvel as the S&P 500 (SPY) refuses to rest for long. Post-Fed handwringing sent the stock market into a period of doubt over previous assumptions of inflation fears. The previous week even ended with oversold conditions looming. However, as is the case with so … Read more
The Follow-Through Intro The stock market followed a rare stumble with a broad-based rebound from “oversold enough” conditions. Stocks were generally up across the board as buyers rushed in to grab “bargains.” AT40 (T2108), the percentage of stocks trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs), jumped from 37% to 46%. My favorite technical indicator … Read more
The Bitcoin bottom from a month ago continues to hold. However, the latest bounce off the Bitcoin (BTC/USD) bottom is dangerously different than the last one and the bottoms prior. Once again, Google search trends for “Bitcoin” is the key signal. Unlike the bottom in May where the Google Trends Momentum Check (GTMC) provided another … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The Federal Reserve seemed to change the rules of the game. To-date, easy money policies and stubborn dovishness in the face of rising inflation was a formula for higher asset prices, reflation and inflation-friendly trades, and even rising fears of an over-heating economy. Last week, Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell shifted the … Read more