A Path Higher for the U.S. Dollar: A Shrinking Trade Deficit

It is increasingly clear that President Trump and his administration will relentlessly pursue a goal of balanced trade with the rest of the world. Trump sees negative trade balances as an absolute bad, and his fiery political rhetoric highlights that positioning. If my interpretation is correct, then I want to stay net long the U.S. … Read more

Above the 40 (March 23, 2018) – A Stock Market From Another Planet: Yet Another Oversold Test Looms

AT40 = 25.6% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 37.5% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs (2-year closing low) VIX = 24.9 Short-term Trading Call: neutral Commentary On Friday, President Trump characterized the pre-Trump stock market as something “from another planet.” Surely he meant the last … Read more

Above the 40 (March 13, 2018) – Here We Go Again – Stock Market Trips Over Trade War Talk

AT40 = 48.7% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 51.9% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 16.4 Short-term Trading Call: bullish Commentary It’s like deja vu again. The smoke just barely cleared from defusing Trump’s tripwire over trade wars, and now the market is … Read more

Above the 40 (March 7, 2018) – A Lagging S&P 500 Stops Short Even As Trade War Tripwire Defuses

AT40 = 39.3% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 49.7% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 17.8% Short-term Trading Call: neutral Commentary “Dear President Trump: We are writing to express deep concern about the prospect of broad, global tariffs on aluminum and steel imports. … Read more

Beyond Trump Versus Jay-Z: A Better Lens on African-American Unemployment Data

As a data nerd, I have a large pet peeve about the many ways in which the press and media fail to help its audiences understand the nuances in data and analysis even as I understand the need for journalistic expediency and story-telling. However, that annoyance increases by several orders of magnitude when I see … Read more

Speculators Add to Expectations for Higher Gold and Silver

The SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) accomplished a major milestone in the past week: it fully reversed its entire post-election loss in what looks like a major breakout. Source: StockCharts.com Speculators have been rushing back to gold likely in anticipation of these much higher prices. Source: Oanda’s CFTC’s Commitments of Traders Since 2008, here are the … Read more

Above the 40 (June 21, 2017) – The NASDAQ Snatches the Baton From the S&P 500

AT40 = 47.1% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 54.7% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 10.8 (volatility index) Short-term Trading Call: cautiously bullish Commentary Like two ships passing in the night, the NASDAQ, including the PowerShares QQQ ETF (QQQ), took back its advantage … Read more

Above the 40 (May 19, 2017) – The Nut Job Stock Market: Nutty By Nature

AT40 = 42.8% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 54.3% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 12.0 (volatility index) – a 17.9% decrease Short-term Trading Call: neutral (bullish only after the latest Trump Turmoil reverses OR oversold conditions, potentially bearish upon a retest of … Read more

A U.S. Dollar Check-In: A Grinding Descent

I finally have to release my long-standing bullishness on the U.S. dollar index (DXY0) even as the dollar recently managed to bounce off its critical, uptrending 200-day moving average (DMA). Source: FreeStockCharts.com Looking at this chart, I get the feeling of something that is biding its time for a definitive catalyst that pushes it down … Read more

Speculators In the Mexican Peso Last Did This At Oil’s 2014 Peak

On April 17, 2017, speculators turned bullish on the Mexican peso for the first time in 2 years. That point 2 years ago was a brief 1-week relief from on-going bearishness against the peso. The latest data on net non-commercial positions (speculators) show that the nascent bullishness in the peso carried over into a second … Read more