Canadian Dollar Weakens Further Despite Earlier Policy Warnings

Central banks are getting pretty good at having it both ways. Despite two rate hikes, one in July and one in September, the Bank of Canada (BoC) has talked its way to a net no change in the Canadian dollar (FXC) versus the U.S. dollar (DXY0). Source: FreeStockCharts.com As the chart above shows, the Canadian … Read more

Above the 40 (October 23, 2017) – The S&P 500 Flips 180 And Wavers

AT40 = 63.5% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) – ended 12 straight days overbought AT200 = 58.8% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 11.1 Short-term Trading Call: cautiously bullish (downgrade from bullish) Commentary Just when I thought it was safe to stay bullish, the stock … Read more

Above the 40 (October 20, 2017) – The S&P 500 Swishes Past A Bearish Divergence

AT40 = 67.2% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) – ended 12 straight days overbought AT200 = 60.3% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 10.0 Short-term Trading Call: bullish Commentary On Monday, the S&P 500 (SPY) went into a bearish divergence with AT40 (T2108), the percentage … Read more

Above the 40 (October 13, 2017) – Stock Market Lift-Off Turns Into Drift

AT40 = 72.0% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) – overbought day #12 AT200 = 60.1% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 9.6 Short-term Trading Call: bullish Commentary A week ago I described “lift-off” for an extended overbought period for the stock market. However, the market … Read more

Above the 40 (October 6, 2017) – Stock Market Lift-Off

AT40 = 73.8% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) – overbought day #7 AT200 = 59.7% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 9.7 Short-term Trading Call: bullish Commentary This is what a lift-off for an extended overbought rally looks like. The S&P 500 (SPY) followed its … Read more

Above the 40 (September 26, 2017) – Stocks Knock On Overbought’s Door

AT40 = 68.2% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) (high of 69.4%) AT200 = 57.2% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 10.2 Short-term Trading Call: cautiously bullish Commentary In my last Above the 40 post, I noted how the stock market bent but stubbornly refused to … Read more

Rio Tinto Vs. BHP Billiton: A Pairs Trade for the RBA’s Top In Iron Ore

On September 19th, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) released the minutes from its last meeting on monetary policy (September 5, 2017). Iron ore was perhaps the biggest headline coming out of those minutes. Surprisingly, the RBA called a top in the price of iron ore (emphasis mine): “Iron ore prices had been supported at … Read more

The British Pound and Carney Are Deja Vu All Over Again

“There’s already great speculation about the exact timing of the first rate hike and this decision is becoming more balanced. It could happen sooner than markets currently expect… …The need for internal balance – to use up wasteful spare capacity while achieving the inflation target – will likely require gradual and limited interest rate increases … Read more

Above the 40 (September 15, 2017) – Another Missile, Another All-Time High for the S&P 500

AT40 = 60.4% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 53.2% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 10.2 Short-term Trading Call: cautiously bullish Commentary North Korea launched another ballistic missile over Japan, this one with enough range to hit Guam. The general market response was … Read more

A Small Reason To Stick With Range-Bound CORN

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on August 14, 2017. Click here to read the entire piece.) On June 12, 2016, I effectively threw in the towel on the Teucrium Corn ETF (CORN) and switched to a shorter-term trading strategy. Less than a month later, I concluded that … Read more