The SPX is almost back to the point of the break down. A break above this level tomorrow would definitely confuse things. Sector Strength What is this spreadsheet telling us? I see quite a few red and blue boxes which means that there has been sector rotation, and it looks like investors are getting defensive. The Small Caps show relative strength, and that is quite a surprise. Small Cap strength is always good news. Bonds are still significant under performers which supports stocks overall. In my longer-term account, I like to buy strong areas of the market during the sell offs. So, based on this spreadsheet, and when the time is right, I wi...
Retail sales growth in February 2017 was going to be low by virtue of its comparison to February 2016 and the extra day in that month. The Census Bureau’s autoregressive models are supposed to normalize just these kinds of calendar irregularities so that we can make something close to apples to apples comparisons. The seasonally-adjusted estimate for February, however, was calculated to be less than the one for January 2017, therefore suggesting that weakness in the prior month wasn’t entirely related to the non-economic reasons of a leap year. The current estimates for March 2017, released last Friday, include (standard) revisions to Feb...
My watch list to follow this week So far the bulls are actually managing to put together a bounce this week and my watch list of long setups are looking pretty nice. Granted, it is only Monday, and the volume is likely to only be about half of what has been seen on average. So yes, it is a very low volume bounce. More important than the volume though will be tomorrow and whether the bulls can follow through on the bounce today (assuming they don’t meltdown into the close). If there is some follow through tomorrow, then you have a good chance at a 3-5 day bounce in the market. The number of quality long setups have diminished on my wat...
On April 4th I asked, “Is Wall Street the New Sesame Street?” At the time, we surmised that Elmo is a worried Nasdaq and Abby with the lower position on the seesaw, is a cautious Modern Family. With Earnings Season upon us, we may finally get the answers to the questions: Will QQQs and the FANG stocks hold up? And, if they gain weight, could that give the Modern Family more leverage to rise or more reasons to fall harder? This week began with an inside trading day in many instruments. That makes last Thursday’s trading range important. Ordinarily, inside days indicate a pause by traders as they ponder the market’s next direction. Tod...
Stocks rallied and volatility came smashing back down today after all the weekend excitement turned out to be a dud. Earnings season is upon us and there will be lots of big companies reporting this week starting with NFLX. The market will be pushed around one way or the other by earnings this week. In tonight’s video let’s look at some of the big companies that are announcing earnings and what to expect… Video Length – 00:07:07...
New Highs Achieved for Sterling-Dollar Pair On Thursday 13 April 2017, the GBPUSD pair traded at 1.2575 before reversing. The run-up to the Easter Weekend trading session proved to be an auspicious period for the GBP, with modest gains recorded. For the most part, Wall Street bourses racked up multi-day losses as bellicose activity elevated investor concerns and a risk-off approach was adopted to equities markets. The US dollar index is trading at 100.58, up slightly (Thursday 13 April), but trading lower over a 5-day spell. The US Dollar index reflects a bearish perception of the greenback in recent days as ‘Trumpflation’ hopes fade am...
Hey everyone the first quarter of 2017 is already history so it is time to make a recap of my financial activities in the first 3 months of the year and to have a look if I am still on track towards my goals for 2017. The year 2017 was not that investment friendly for income investors, as it is very hard to find any cheap stocks. But nevertheless I already reached one milestone by crossing the 100 EUR average monthly dividend income, which is a great feeling. But let’s go back to the goals and compare them to my current status. Financial Goals Dividend Income Goal for 2017 is to have a dividend income of 1 400 EUR and forward full year divi...
Emerging markets have been under the spotlight so far this year. One of the primary reasons for growing inflows in emerging markets is the uncertainty of President Trump’s protectionist agenda. Investors are worried regarding the implementation of President Trump’s promised tax cuts and de-regulation, after the healthcare bill failure. The increased political tensions in Washington have led many investors to look out for better returns outside the U.S. (read: Can Emerging Market ETFs Retain Their Mojo in 2017?) Emerging market (EM) bond ETFs provide great diversification potential as their returns are traditionally not highly correlated t...