ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University co-create a “buy versus rent” scoring system called the Beracha, Hardin & Johnson Buy vs. Rent (BH&J) Index. Last month, this index crossed a critical threshold for the first time since 2010: U.S. households are once again better off renting than buying. This cross-over provides further confirmation of … Read more
I saw a flicker of hope for home builders in the May Housing Market Review. Traders decided to snuff that flicker out very quickly afterward. When I wrote June’s housing market review and described a “struggling flicker,” the iShares US Home Construction ETF (ITB) was once again bouncing off the bottom of 2018’s trading range. … Read more
Toll Brothers (TOL) is more than halfway through reversing a surprising post-earnings gap up a week and a half ago. The 13.8% post-earnings gain surprised me because the message from TOL was little different than its messages in the past two earnings reports that have coincided with an extended sell-off in the stock. Source: FreeStockCharts.com … Read more
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) consistently complains about rising construction costs, so I have taken for granted that lumber prices remain an issue. Lumber futures actually peaked in mid-May after a tremendous 2018 breakout and run-up. The return back down was a lot faster than the ride up. Earlier this week, lumber futures … Read more
AT40 = 57.6% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = N/A% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 12.9 Short-term Trading Call: neutral Commentary I remain fascinated by the S&P 500’s increasing resilience to worsening macro-economic headlines. The apparent boredom with the headlines about trade wars, … Read more
I saw a flicker of hope for home builders in the last Housing Market Review. Traders decided to snuff that flicker out very quickly afterward. Breakouts transformed into new tops and now the struggling flicker comes from home builder stocks holding support. The short-term path ahead looks like chop at best, especially with the latest … Read more
AT40 = 66.1% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) (ended 1-day overbought) AT200 = 55.5% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs (a 4-month high) VIX = 12.9 Short-term Trading Call: bearish Commentary Flipping short-term bullish was fun while it lasted…all of two days. The Federal Reserve hiked interest … Read more
The fundamentals have changed little. Sentiment is making a dramatic shift. The last Housing Market Review covered data reported in April, 2018 for March, 2018. At the time, I lamented a dissonance of decelerating housing data and diverging home builder stocks. Over a month later, the deceleration is a little less pronounced while the divergence … Read more
AT40 = 68.3% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 56.3% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs (a 4-month high) VIX = 11.6 Short-term Trading Call: neutral Commentary It is tough avoiding a flip on my short-term trading call to bullish, but I am sticking by my … Read more
AT40 = 62.5% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 52.7% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs (a near 4-month high) VIX = 13.5 (down 12.8%) Short-term Trading Call: neutral Commentary A day like this past Friday makes me want to be bullish about the entire stock … Read more