As expected by almost everyone, the Fed stood pat on Wednesday. I was shocked to hear some pundits predicted a rate hike. That’s one of the dumbest forecasts I have heard in an awfully long time as the Fed has become almost too transparent and too accommodating to the markets. A rate hike out of nowhere?!?! That made me laugh out loud. Stocks sold off after the announcement for the second straight Fed meeting, in direct contradiction to one of the Fed trends I write about. We’ll have to see going forward if that edge is being arbitraged away or just temporarily not working.
As I mentioned, stocks sold off yet again yesterday even though tech behemoth Apple saw very strong earnings. So much for the pundits’ smug comments about Apple leading stocks and record earnings insulating stocks from decline. The stock market continues to be under pressure, but there doesn’t seem like there is much urgency nor panic. That would be better for the intermediate-term. While I am starting to see some positive signs beneath the surface (green shoots???), I think it would be healthier for the bulls if the Dow could see a mini plunge towards 23,000.
Looking at risk/reward, it looks like Dow 23,000 on the downside with the reward being 27,000 over the next quarter or so. That favors the bulls, but it will certainly not feel so good if stocks fall to new 2018 lows first. None of the four key sectors are getting much love, especially semis. Neither are junk bonds. Leadership looks very narrow right now and really concentrated in commodities and energy. That doesn’t exactly warm the heart of the long-term bulls as this is classic late stage behavior and does warn that the next rally could be the last one in the 9 year old bull market. However, let’s not forget that the NYSE Advance/Decline Line recently made a new high, even if only by a whisker. That usually insulates stocks from a bear market for the next 3 to 21 months. In our case, I don’t think it will be the latter.
