The U.S. Dollar Fails To Benefit From Expectations for An Earlier Fed Rate Hike

Perhaps the shift was not large enough. Perhaps it was the magnetism of the 50-day moving average (DMA). After the Federal Reserve released the minutes from its last meeting on monetary policy, the U.S. dollar index (DXY0) promptly weakened. The dollar closed the day marginally lower after trading for a small gain in the morning. … Read more

Forex Critical: Rate Expectations Allow A Rise In Commodity Currencies

Currency traders spent much of 2016 cycling through bullish and bearish periods on the Australian dollar (FXA) and the Canadian dollar (FXC), the Western world’s two biggest commodity currencies. In particular, bullishness on both currencies waned rapidly going into the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate hike in December. Speculators adjusted positions to net flat and then … Read more

Housing Market Review – Fed Fallout Overshadows Strong Data (December, 2016)

The last Housing Market Review covered data reported in November for October, 2016. At that time, the iShares US Home Construction (ITB) was experiencing its first post-election pullback. I stayed focused on the strong housing data and treated the episode as a buying opportunity. Over a month later, the market is still ignoring the strong … Read more

T2108 Update (December 14, 2016) – A Fed Hangover Bursts the Overbought Rally

(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

T2108 Update (November 16, 2016) – A 5-Day Backup Under All-Time Highs for the S&P 500

(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 Pressure Builds for a December Rate Hike

The creep toward a December rate hike continues. The 30-Day Fed Fund Futures now show a 69.5% chance of a rate hike in December by the U.S. Federal Reserve. This is a full 11.1 percentage points above the odds in the wake of the Fed’s September 21st pronouncement on monetary policy. Source: CME FedWatch The … Read more

T2108 Update (September 16, 2016) – For the Week, NASDAQ and U.S. Dollar Leave S&P 500 Behind

(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

T2108 Update (September 12, 2016) – Fedspeak Completes Another Stock Market Circus Show

(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

Fresh Sympathy for Gold and Silver

The reaction caught me completely off-guard. On September 6th, the USD ISM Non-Manufacturing/Services Composite for August came in at 51.3, well below “expectations” of 54.9 and the lowest reading since February, 2010. The reaction was swift in financial markets. The 30-day Fed Fund futures pushed out the next rate hike from December, 2016 (54.2%) to … Read more

Housing Market Review – A Holding Pattern Despite Soaring New Home Sales (August, 2016)

The last Housing Market Review covered data reported in July for June, 2016. At the time, a disappointing GDP report sharply rejected the iShares US Home Construction ETF (ITB) off a 9-year high. Fortunately, there was very little follow-through to the selling. When ITB rallied strongly on new home sales, the ETF recovered most of … Read more