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 The stock market melt-up took a one day break. The signs of trouble were ever more clear ahead of the break. Something was wrong with the picture in the stock market. Yet, sellers could barely follow through. The S&P 500 stumbled with a gap down, but buyers stepped right back in at … 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 A stock market melt-up is in full effect. Investopedia defines a melt-up as “…a sustained and often unexpected improvement in the investment performance of an asset or asset class, driven partly by a stampede of investors who don’t want to miss out on its rise, rather than by fundamental improvements in the economy.” … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary The housing data for April and now May confirm that the housing market had a kind of false start to the Spring selling season. Normalization continues to pressure short-term trends. Housing starts, new home sales, existing home sales, and home builder sentiment are in key downtrends. These measures are now … Read more
The Downgrade Zelman & Associates gut-punched home builder stocks with a major downgrade of the sector on June 10th. Zelman used a survey of builders to conclude that soaring housing prices are reducing demand. The survey also revealed “a fourth straight month of weaker-than-seasonal order activity in May”. (I have covered this dynamic as “normalization” … Read more
The Follow-Through: Churning While the S&P 500 (SPY) cruised higher all week, much of the rest of the market resigned to churning. The dichotomy of a market rebound versus the wounds left to heal continued to play out. Many of the follow-through trades for this week churned with the rest of the stock market. See … 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