ONE-TWENTY TWO: Trading Financial Markets
Exploring the poetry in financial markets for students of money and economy since the year 2000.
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
Housing Market Intro/Summary In the March Housing Market Review, I described how the iShares US Home Construction ETF (ITB) was breaking out despite an unimpressive collection of housing data (in the aggregate and trendwise). Last month, I updated my analysis of the seasonal trading strategy for home builders and pointed out the historical tendency for … Read more
AT40 = 54.1% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs)AT200 = 38.8% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAsVIX = 16.1Short-term Trading Call: bearish Stock Market Commentary The above tweet begins the dilemmas that lay ahead for short-term trading after I first flipped bearish ahead of Thursday’s selling. First, I … Read more
Housing Market Intro/Summary The housing data were late and incomplete at the time of original publishing due to the previous U.S. government shutdown. The last update came with the new home sales data published on March 5, 2019. I look forward to everything getting back in sync! The lagging data have not discouraged investors from … Read more
AT40 = 83.8% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) (6th overbought day)AT200 = 34.4% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs (near 2-month high)VIX = 16.1Short-term Trading Call: neutral Commentary Starting in November or so, I developed an expectation for a January sell-off based in anticipation of earnings warnings … Read more
AT40 = 61.9% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) (near 5-month high)AT200 = 23.2% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAs (1-month high)VIX = 19.0Short-term Trading Call: cautiously bullish Commentary The signs of exhaustion in the major indices have given way to more and more breakouts. Most importantly, AT40 … Read more
AT40 = 20.4% of stocks are trading above their respective 40-day moving averages (DMAs) (ended 13 days in oversold territory)AT200 = 14.9% of stocks are trading above their respective 200DMAsVIX = 21.4Short-term Trading Call: bullish (with caveats all over again) Commentary All oversold periods must end – it is just a matter of how and … 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