ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
Alexandria Real Estate (ARE), a real estate investment trust (REIT) specializing in life science buildings, gets much love from analysts. According to Factset, ARE is currently one of the most loved companies in the S&P 500 (SPY). ARE is just one of two stocks whose analyst coverage consists 100% of buy ratings. This high “occupancy … Read more
Stock Market Commentary The edginess of the stock market continued this week. After “turnaround Tuesday” delivered broad based gains for the market, Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony in front of Congress produced a familiar fade in the shadow of a bear market. Surprisingly, the buying was enough to end oversold conditions. Yet, the major indices … Read more
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) was just about as bearish on the housing market as it allows itself to get. In its latest press release on the NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI), the NAHB declared “…the housing market is now slowing.” The HMI plunged from 77 to 69 in a sign that … Read more
Stock Market Commentary: The stock market finally dropped into deep oversold territory. Yet, on this third day of now extended oversold trading conditions, the S&P 500 (SPY) remains 98 points away from joining the NASDAQ and IWM in hitting a bear market (a 20% loss from its all-time high). The stock market is well on … Read more
Stock Market Commentary Last week was full of dramatic price swings. Traders reacted in extreme ways to key earnings results. The wild behavior cascaded out to related stocks. Some of the collateral damage in the blast radius likely came from portfolio managers scrambling to rebalance holdings. I expect this kind of action to continue through … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary Despite more evidence of slowing conditions in the housing market, home builder stocks remained relatively resilient in August. The underlying dynamics of demand remain in place even as housing prices remain lofty and continue to conjure up images of a housing bubble for market commentators and pundits. A supportive Federal … Read more
A False Breakout I started the week with Micron Technology, Inc (MU) as my favorite trade prospect. The breakout from last week was near poetry. MU enjoyed buying support most of the week as it first pushed through resistance at its 200-day moving average (DMA) (the blue line in the chart below) and next sliced … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary In recent months a divergence in the housing market emerged between rangebound home builder stocks and strong housing data. In October, new home sales recorded a third straight month at the 1 million mark. Since new home sales hit an August peak, the stocks of home builders have also largely … Read more
AT40 = 51.3% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs)AT200 = 48.9% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAsVIX = 18.6Short-term Trading Call: cautiously bearish Stock Market Commentary The Big Question: Another Q4 Sell-Off? “Last year can’t happen because of last year” Tim Seymour, CNBC’s Fast Money, October 1, 2019 … Read more
Bitcoin (BTC/USD) is putting the Google Trends indicator to the test. The price of Bitcoin is surging at the same time this key indicator of sentiment is also surging (on a relative basis). Per the Google Trends hypothesis I have demonstrated over time, this surge in excitement is signaling an imminent reversal in the parabolic … Read more