ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
The Pairs Trade Exactly one month ago, I pointed to a pairs trade using put options in Toll Brothers (TOL) and call options on the iShares Dow Jones Home Construction ETF (ITB). Home builders selling affordable and otherwise lower-priced homes were rapidly gaining favor. Toll Brothers, a builder of luxury, high-end homes, was greatly under-performing … Read more
M.D.C. Holdings (MDC) delivered another bullish report on its order flow. After the market closed on September 12th, M.D.C. Holdings announced… For the first two months of the 2019 third quarter, net new home orders increased 63% year-over-year to 1,418…The increase was driven by a 40% improvement in the monthly sales absorption rate to 3.75 … Read more
While the month of August was full of sharp trading action which left the S&P 500 (SPY) trapped in a trading range, home builders emerged stronger. The 4.8% August gain for iShares Dow Jones Home Construction ETF (ITB) far out-performed the S&P 500 (SPY) which languished with a 1.8% loss. Ironically, the stock market’s small … Read more
Housing Market Intro/Summary In the last Housing Market Review, I pointed out how the stocks of home builders were still making a surprising push against the expected seasonal top in their shares. Yet, I still expected iShares US Home Construction ETF (ITB) to remain constrained to a pivot around its 50-day moving average (DMA). Soon … Read more
The breakout for home builders started with M.D.C. Holdings (MDC). MDC raised guidance and put strong emphasis on the positive expectations for its next earnings report. With analysts overwhelmingly bearish on the stock, the stock had plenty of upside surprise potential. The pent-up demand created a tremendous upward surge. Additional home builders are joining what … Read more
I have written plenty this year about the seasonal top in home builders. I even drew up a game plan to trade this pattern in a way to pay for the bullish trade that opens up during the period of seasonal strength. That seasonal top took its first good hit with a positive pre-earnings announcement … Read more
AT40 = 84.7% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) (9th overbought day)AT200 = 37.1% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs (3-month high)VIX = 15.4Short-term Trading Call: neutral Commentary In my last Above the 40 post, I described the contours of this overbought market in the context of the … Read more
AT40 = 46.3% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) (1-month high)AT200 = 20.7% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs (3-week high)VIX = 20.0Short-term Trading Call: cautiously bullish Commentary Just as the last oversold period exceeded expectations to an extreme downside, the rebound out of the oversold period is … Read more
AT40 = 40.5% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) AT200 = 37.4% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs VIX = 16.4 Short-term Trading Call: bullish Commentary Financial markets made their votes very clear after the U.S. 2018 midterm election. via GIPHY Apparently, today’s rally in the S&P 500 … Read more
The S&P 500 (SPY) printed its best quarter since the fourth quarter of 2013. While the index gained 7.2% for the third quarter of 2018, home builders went in the exact opposite direction. The iShares US Home Construction ETF (ITB) tumbled 7.4% for Q3 and is now down a whopping 20.9% year-to-date. The selling accelerated … Read more