ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
Going into last week’s report on Canadian employment, currency speculators retreated further from what was a record net short position against the Canadian dollar (FXC) less than two months prior. Source: Oanda’s CFTC’s Commitments of Traders This retreat is occurring in conjunction with a consistent strengthening in the Canadian dollar. For example, USD/CAD peaked in … Read more
AT40 = 54.6% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 56.5% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 11.2 (10.8% drop) (volatility index) Short-term Trading Call: neutral Commentary Source: Giphy There are all sorts of nicknames possible for a churning market. In this edition of “Above … Read more
I have been bearish on the Australian dollar (FXA) for quite some time now. My main driver was a reversal in fortunes for soaring iron ore prices that in turn weighed down the currency. Iron ore prices rebounded so much since hitting one-year lows last month that the raw ingredient for steel is now technically … Read more
Just as I had hoped and anticipated, the Banco de Mexico hiked its interest rate to 7.0% on June 22nd and kept pace with the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate hike. Apparently, this rate hike was not a news flash. According to Reuters, the consensus opinion also anticipated a rate hike: “Analysts expected Mexico would match … Read more
The latest CFTC data on the Commitments of Traders (CoT) shows some important moves in the positioning of speculators. Australian dollar (FXA) While the price of iron ore plunged, bullishness on the Australian dollar (FXA) remained surprisingly strong. I am almost equally surprised to see this bullishness now in full scale retreat as iron ore … Read more
I may have flipped outright bearish on the U.S. dollar index (DXY0) just in time. My change in sentiment started with my increasing bullishness on the euro (FXE). With the euro constituting about 51% of the U.S. dollar index, I realized that it would be hard to remain bullish on the dollar overall while adopting … Read more
Ahead of the second and final round of the French Presidential election, I noted a burst of euro-optimism. That optimism continued in the form of speculators turning net bullish on the euro for the first time in three years. Source: Oanda’s CFTC’s Commitments of Traders While this flip from bearish to bullish for the first … Read more
The Trump-wind blowing against the Mexican peso is officially over. In late April, I noted how net non-commercial positions (speculators) in the Mexican peso flipped bullish for the first time in two years just as the peso completely reversed its losses from the election of Donald Trump as U.S. President. I showed how prior changes … Read more
The trade in silver just got even more interesting. For a few weeks, I wondered aloud why speculators were so stubbornly bullish on the precious metal, especially relative to speculators in gold. In my last post on silver, I noted how speculators were finally beating a hasty retreat. In the latest Commitment of Traders (CoT) … Read more
Canada and the U.S. reported jobs numbers for April at the same time last Friday (8:30am Eastern). From the surface, it looks like traders thought MUCH more highly of the Canadian report. The U.S. dollar plunged against the Canadian dollar (FXC) and erased the entire week’s gain for USD/CAD. Source: FreeStockCharts.com Interestingly, traders took a … Read more