Maximum Yen Bullishness Faces Off Against the Bank of Japan

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on April 25, 2016. Click here to read the entire piece.) Currency speculators are at “maximum bullishness”: bullish bets on the Japanese yen (FXY) have reached levels unseen since at least 2009. Source: Oanda’s CFTC’s Commitments of Traders Facing off against this … Read more

Forex Critical: Trader Confidence Continues to Grow

In the previous week, forex traders extended existing positioning trends. This consistency reveals an on-going confidence in the given trends. Where these changes are consistent with currency moves, traders seem indeed justified in the confidence. However, there are some cases where these positions are starting to run counter to potential shifts in currencies. I expect … Read more

Far-Reaching Ripples From Japan’s Newly Negative Rates

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on February 1, 2016. Click here to read the entire piece.) On Wednesday, January 27th, the U.S. Federal Reserve stared down volatile conditions in financial markets and decided to avoid addressing them directly. {snip} When the Bank of Japan (BoJ) came up … Read more

The Bank of Japan Maintains Stimulus Levels Even As Inflation Sits Well Below Target

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on October 7, 2015. Click here to read the entire piece.) The Bank of Japan put on a brave face as it announced its latest decision on monetary policy (October 7, 2015) with a big miss on its inflation target looming in … Read more

A Good Time for Adjusting the Bearish Trading Strategy on the Japanese Yen

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on November 23, 2014. Click here to read the entire piece.) {snip} Ironically, this situation was essentially manufactured by these same authorities, but sure enough the first attempts to rein in the runaway train have appeared. Almost right on schedule, Japanese Finance … Read more

Bank of Japan Further Diverges from the U.S. Fed – Risk Trades In Focus

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on October 31, 2014. Click here to read the entire piece.) It seems somehow appropriate in these extraordinary times for central banking that less than two days after the U.S. Federal Reserve officially ends quantitative easing (QE) through its bond purchasing program, … Read more

T2108 Update (May 9, 2014) – A Looming Cessation of Hostilities for Momentum Stocks?

(T2108 measures the percentage of stocks trading above their respective 40-day moving averages [DMAs]. It helps to identify extremes in market sentiment that are likely to reverse. To learn more about it, see my T2108 Resource Page. You can follow real-time T2108 commentary on twitter using the #T2108 hashtag. T2108-related trades and other trades are … Read more

The Yen, the Nikkei, and the S&P 500: Watch the Trends and Correlations

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on July 2, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) Starting November, 2012, Japan’s longstanding efforts to devalue its currency finally began experiencing sustained success. Since the massive devaluation process started, both the Nikkei (EWJ) (NKY) AND the S&P 500 (SPY) … Read more

Mind Over Yen – The Monetary Psychology Of Reflating Japan’s Economy

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on June 18, 2013. Click here to read the entire piece.) “There is something you should know about me, about inception. An idea is alike a virus, resilient. Highly contagious. The smallest seed of an idea can grow. It can further define … Read more

T2108 Update (July 31, 2013) – Potential Consolidation As the S&P 500 Waits Out Growing Negatives

(T2108 measures the percentage of stocks trading above their respective 40-day moving averages [DMAs]. It helps to identify extremes in market sentiment that are highly likely to reverse. To learn more about it, see my T2108 Resource Page. You can follow real-time T2108 commentary on twitter using the #T2108 hashtag. T2108-related trades and other trades … Read more