ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
Stock Market Commentary The stock market struggled for months against the downtrend line on market breadth. The struggle ended last week. My favorite technical indicator of breadth AT40 (T2108) broke out and closed the week at 61.9%. Now I start a countdown toward a test of the overbought threshold. However, several sectors dampened the week’s … Read more
Housing Market Intro and Summary Softening housing data pointed to more normalization in the housing market. Normalization is returning housing data to prior trends and in some cases suggesting important plateaus. Home builder stocks powered through the softening data to show strength in sharp rebounds and fresh all-time highs. The arrival of the Spring selling … Read more
Look no further than LGI Homes (LGIH) as a confirmation that at least some parts of the country are back to business after a temporary pause from COVID-19 (coronavirus) economic woes. Last week, LGI Homes reported more astounding sales results. From the press release: June home closings: +16.7% year-over-year Q2 home closings: +3.1% year-over-year, the … Read more
“Despite the challenging environment we encountered at the end of the first quarter, our business was stronger in April than we had originally expected and we are seeing positive momentum in recent sales trends that leads us to believe the impact from the COVID-19 pandemic may be less severe than we had originally expected. We … Read more
It seems like an eternity has passed since LGI Homes (LGIH) reported yet one more bullish home closings report. For February, LGIH reported a year-over-year increase in home closings of 54.2% and a year-over-year increase of 57.1% in January and February combined. With another home closings report due soon, it looks like the stock market … Read more
This week’s market crash and subsequent sharp rebound revealed some key divergences among housing-related stocks. While one more home builder made it to my “do not touch” list, I see even more opportunities. Opportunities iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction Index Fund ETF (ITB) To start the week, the iShares Dow Jones US Home Construction … Read more
AT40 = 21.1% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 39.6% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 27.9Short-term Trading Call: neutral Stock Market Commentary Synchronized breakdowns below the 50-day moving average (DMA) looked like an extreme day of selling. The follow-up was even more spectacular. … Read more
AT40 = 47.7% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 54.9% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 15.5Short-term Trading Call: bearish (from cautiously bearish) Stock Market Commentary The major indices managed to swing to all-time highs last week, but I still see signs of a … Read more
AT40 = 65.7% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs)AT200 = 59.8% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs (just under high for 2019 of 60.2%)VIX = 12.5Short-term Trading Call: neutral Stock Market Commentary The bearish divergence finally ended between a range-bound AT40 (T2108) and an S&P 500 (SPY) steadily … Read more
During its earnings call, LGI Homes (LGIH) projected strong performance ahead. The company’s December home closings report delivered. LGI Homes closed 748 homes last month. The 49.6% year-over-year growth contributed to an 18.0% year-over-year overall growth rate in home closings for the first eleven months of 2019. The stock market responded positively by sending LGIH … Read more