ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
The volatility index, the VIX, has closed below 11 for 5 straight days and 22 of the last 25. These stretches of extremely low volatility (I will now shorten it to ELV for convenience) include a 14-year low for the VIX. The interruption in this streak of ELV included an abrupt wake-up call where the … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on January 9, 2017. Click here to read the entire piece.) Two years ago, I wrote “The Problem with the January Barometer.” {snip}… the January barometer failed one more time with 2016 delivering a stellar 9.5% gain. Hopefully, 2016 helps put the … Read more
In a previous post on the stock market, I noted how commodity-related plays were apparently benefiting from a sagging U.S. dollar index (DXY0). I failed to note that oil was (and is) a glaring exception. Oil futures fell around 9% for the week. This plunge was enough to completely reverse last month’s rally for United … Read more
A recent article in Business Insider by Jesse Felder from TheFelderReport.com raised a loud alarm bell over rising margin debt levels in the U.S. stock market (see “A closely followed indicator says a 20% drop in stocks could be coming soon“). The article used the following chart as part of an analysis concluding that a … Read more
We hear the relationship claimed so casually and so frequently, we probably no longer give it a second thought. For example, on December 30th, the S&P 500 (SPY) lost 0.7%. Searching for an explanation, CNBC ran the all-too familiar headline “Dow closes down triple digits as oil slide weighs.” Oil lost 3.3% on the day … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on November 2, 2014. Click here to read the entire piece.) “A reason pretty much always exists to be bearish on the market. It just seems that from August to October, market participants are most willing and ready to listen to and … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on November 17, 2014. Click here to read the entire piece.) The euro (FXE) versus the Swiss franc (FXF) currency pair has dropped steadily all year on its way to a rendezvous against the 1.20 floor: Since the end of the financial … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on October 30, 2014. Click here to read the entire piece.) Two weeks ago, the market was in the final days of an relatively swift corrective phase. At that time I claimed that the Australian dollar (FXA) stood between “here and a … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on March 3, 2014. Click here to read the entire piece.) With February providing the lift the S&P 500 (SPY) needed to reverse January’s losses, it is time to take a look once again at the January barometer. The big fear last … Read more
It is earnings time for Apple (AAPL). Expectations are undoubtedly high after April’s huge post-earnings surge – the 8.2% one-day gain is, since 2007, second only to the 8.9% gain in April, 2012. The subsequent run-up certainly has me thinking AAPL has confirmed my expectations for eventual all-time highs. It is now time to temper … Read more