ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
The angst may already be fading away. Last week, I chronicled the carnage across the stocks of home builders that erupted in response to the Republican plan for tax reform that includes a reduction in the cap on the mortgage interest deduction. The sell-off that likely had roots in the extreme displeasure emanating from the … Read more
The last Housing Market Review covered data reported in September, 2017 for August, 2017. At the time, I described a growing rift between the data and the stocks of home builders. Instead of stumbling, housing stocks received a fresh breath of life and kicked up the momentum another notch higher in October. The iShares U.S. … Read more
I last wrote about earnings from KB Home (KBH) well over a year ago. While I kept tabs on the stock through my Housing Market Reviews, I never set up specific decision points for getting back into the stock. I finally created a decision point on October 12th when I made a hedged play of … Read more
The last Housing Market Review covered data reported in August, 2017 for July, 2017. At the time, I described a change in tone that made me wary and even got me anticipating a larger pullback. The iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (ITB) was struggling below its 50-day moving average (DMA) since a 2-month period starting … Read more
AT40 = 63.6% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 54.9% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 9.6 Short-term Trading Call: cautiously bullish Commentary The stock market stubbornly held onto its bullish positioning despite the tumble of one of its biggest stalwarts: Apple (AAPL). AAPL … Read more
The last Housing Market Review covered data reported in June, 2017 for May, 2017. The month from there was relatively sedate for home builders. For example, the iShares U.S. Home Construction ETF (ITB) went absolutely nowhere with August’s burst out the gate providing a bit of a gain. The good news is that the uptrend … Read more
The last Housing Market Review covered data reported in May, 2017 for April, 2017. At that time, the iShares US Home Construction (ITB) was testing support at its uptrending 50-day moving average (DMA) for the third time in May. ITB bounced nicely from there, but it just suffered its second largest one-day loss of the … Read more
The last Housing Market Review covered data reported in February, 2017 for January, 2017. At that time, the iShares US Home Construction (ITB) was pressing against a near 10-year high. Uptrends in the 20, 50, and 200-day moving average suggested that “the coiled spring” was uncurling up and to the right. In March, ITB launched … Read more
The last Housing Market Review covered data reported in June, 2016 for May. At the time, the iShares US Home Construction ETF (ITB) had just reversed all its post-Brexit losses along with a sharp rebound in global financial markets. I expressed concern that ITB finally reached a top for the current cycle. The ETF instead … Read more
(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on May 30, 2016. Click here to read the entire piece.) KB Home (KBH) last reported earnings on March 23, 2016 for its Q1 2016 results. Perhaps in anticipation of poor results, traders sold the stock ahead of the report and sent … Read more