ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
The Japanese yen (FXY) is the one major currency that has been notably weaker than the U.S. dollar for most of the past month. USD/JPY peaked in December, 2016, but it looks like the sell-off bottomed out in April. Source: FreeStockCharts.com This yen weakness has been particularly evident against strong currencies, like the euro (FXE), … Read more
A year ago, speculators accumulated net long contracts on gold that exceeded anything seen since at least 2008. Starting in late 2015, silver speculators set several such records with the latest set just three months ago. Now, speculators in gold and silver are in full retreat. Net longs seem headed for zero for both precious … Read more
AT40 = 52.8% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 56.3% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 10.9 (volatility index) Short-term Trading Call: cautiously bullish Commentary The Fed hikes short-term rates, and long-term rates go down. This relationship is not the expected one but is … Read more
AT40 = 56.7% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 57.5% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 10.4 (volatility index) Short-term Trading Call: cautiously bullish Commentary The Federal Reserve gave the permission to the stock market that I awaited…well, sort of. On Wednesday, June 14, … Read more
The Mexican peso is trading at levels last seen 10 months ago against the U.S. dollar (USD/MXN). Source: FreeStockCharts.com The rate hike from the Federal Reserve yesterday, along with an official launch of the Fed’s effort to reduce the size of its balance sheet, helped USD/MXN rally. Normally, I would fade USD/MXN here at the … Read more
My bearishness on the U.S. dollar index (DXY0) continues as two currency positions in particular have delivered against the U.S. dollar. A month ago I wrote about the Turkish Lira (USD/TRY) and suggested that the high-yielding currency pair would eventually crack below support at its 200-day moving average (DMA). USD/TRY delivered at the end of … Read more
Bulls in the Mexican peso successfully reversed all the post-election gains in USD/MXN. Yet they failed to hold onto a big break through when USD/MXN hit a new 6-month low last week. Buyers quickly stepped in and sent USD/MXN right back to its declining 50-day moving average (DMA). Source: FreeStockCharts.com The latest CFTC data on … Read more
Trading for the iPath Bloomberg Cocoa SubTR ETN (NIB) could have started quite negatively this week. Yesterday, On May 29th, Bloomberg reported from unnamed sources that Ghana’s main crop for the cocoa growing season would produce its highest tonnage in three years: “Graded and sealed deliveries from the so-called main crop, the larger of two … Read more
AT40 = 47.5% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 55.3% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 9.8 (volatility index) Short-term Trading Call: cautiously bullish Commentary I should no longer be amazed, but I am still amazed: the inability of sellers to generate follow-through in … Read more
The downtrend for the iPath Bloomberg Cocoa SubTR ETN (NIB) won out yet again. Source: FreeStockCharts.com The buyers looked particularly convincing for NIB’s latest 50DMA breakout. Yet, a 1-2 punch of a return of good weather results in Ivory Coast and a particularly aggressive crop production forecast from Rabobank killed the latest rally for NIB. … Read more