Bulls Come Back to Life
Stocks came into the week on their heels from the recent pullback and the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris. In my previous post, I offered that the odds favored some more weakness with a reversal this week. The market saw a quick bout of weakness to open the week, but quickly reversed into a very strong day for the bulls on Monday. While Tuesday saw some internal soft spots, the bears will have a tough time taking control unless stocks […]
Read More
Date: November 18, 2015
Pullback Deeper Than Expected
Stocks continue under pressure as they pullback from the huge run last month. Last week, I offered that this week would be the buying opportunity, but the pullback has been deeper than I expected. “Relentless” would be an exaggeration, but there has certainly been some strong selling. While Friday’s action did show the major indices mostly down 1%+, the selling was less severe than Thursday. Going in to next week, volatility should continue to be on the high side and […]
Read More
Date: November 13, 2015
Pullback Orderly and Constructive So Far
The pullback that began last Wednesday in the major stock market indices continues. It’s been orderly and constructive so far and if the super bullish case remains, it should wrap up sooner than later. The stock market is digesting the better than expected employment report and is coming to terms with a December rate hike by the Fed. The banks and discretionary continue to lead which is a positive sign over the intermediate-term. Transports are transitioning to leadership and that’s […]
Read More
Date: November 10, 2015
Pullback to Buy
Stocks are finally seeing some pause in the relentless rally that began a little over a month ago. It should be mild, relatively painless and in the 1-3% range. As I continue to mention, any and all weakness is a buying opportunity until proven otherwise. And there’s a chance that the “proven otherwise” won’t be seen until well into 2016. Internally, the stock market has been and is on solid footing. As you can see from the chart below, the […]
Read More
Date: November 5, 2015
Stepping on the Bears’ Throats
As bullish as I have been, and I don’t think many have been as positive as I have been, the stock market is now starting to surprise even me on the upside. Coming in to the week, stocks were looking a little tired and in need of some rest, either by going sideways for a few weeks or by seeing a mild pullback of 1-3%. Instead, stocks are continuing to move higher although the rate of acceleration has slowed. I […]
Read More
Date: November 3, 2015
Yet ANOTHER Bullish Q4 Study
After my research on post-crash behavior was complete, I turned to stock market performance. With both August and September closing lower, I wondered if there was any trend for Q4. Over the past 35 years, there were only 6 occurrences and all led to a positive Q4 by an average of +10.86%! You can view the study here. http://investfortomorrowblog.com/archives/1936 With the help of my friend and colleague Dana Lyons, http://jlfmi.tumblr.com, I analyzed stock market returns since 1950 when the S&P […]
Read More
Date: October 30, 2015
Fed Day Again?!?!
Boy did six weeks fly by! Here we are again. At 2pm we will hear from the Fed that interest rates remain unchanged, but their economic outlook is probably on the positive side. I also expect a comment or two about China and then the laying of groundwork for a possible rate hike six weeks from now. I still do not agree with any rate increase, but it seems like it’s coming. The stock market model for the day is […]
Read More
Date: October 28, 2015
Catching Their Breath
After a huge win for the bulls last week, stocks have become very short-term overbought. I don’t think the rally is over nor do I think any meaningful weakness will unfold. Rather, I think the bulls need a pause to refresh which can be accomplished by going sideways for a period of time or seeing a quick pullback. Either way, new highs should be up next and buying any weakness is the strategy until proven otherwise. Am I certain that […]
Read More
Date: October 26, 2015
My Broken Record Continues
Same ole story here folks. Stocks bottomed. Bears trapped. Investors disavow the rally. All-time highs in sight. Dow 20,000. Talk has certainly turned from questioning me on how the market could possibly rally to when the rally might end to now finally embracing the rally. I love how the naysayers dismiss and disavow the move because there was some “external force” like the dovish talk from the ECB or China cutting rates. That’s what happens! Another huge week from the […]
Read More
Date: October 23, 2015
Pain for the Bears
After two straight down days and four days of pause overall, the bulls roared back to life on Thursday as you would normally expect during a powerful move off a bottom. It’s that first mild pullback from a significant low where the bears get a little excited that it could be another leg down, but all of the Johnny Come Lately bulls realize it may be their last chance to get on board. More pain for the bears. Recent sentiment […]
Read More
Date: October 16, 2015
The Train has Left the Station
It’s been quite a week for the bulls and an almost straight up move from the nasty open last Friday on the weaker than expected employment data. Earlier this week, I posted a study that concluded a huge Q4 rally was underway. And that was on the heels of a series I have published on post crash behavior that was also strongly bullish. The train has left the station. Where are all the mouthpieces who were calling for a bear […]
Read More
Date: October 9, 2015
Down August AND September Equals HUGE Q4 Rally
Although I have been struggling to find enough stocks behaving constructively in the 9 major sectors to lead the next rally, I still do not see a meaningfully bearish scenario at this point for Q4. Besides the post crash trend, which can be viewed HERE, HERE and HERE, almost every sentiment indicator is showing excessive pessimism, which translates into positive returns going forward this quarter. After the month of August closed down, I shared two separate studies that indicated that […]
Read More
Date: October 7, 2015
More on the Post Crash Pattern… Both Paths are Bullish
The only thing missing from a “perfect” pattern is for the S&P 500 to breach the August lows for up to a few days. I hesitate to use the word “perfect” because it rarely plays out exactly as I expect, but it certainly did so in 2011. Additionally, in both 1987 and 1989 which I partially dismissed, the final lows did not breach the crash lows before the big rally began. As you can see from the chart above, I […]
Read More
Date: October 6, 2015
Post-Crash Behavior Still Following My Scenario
Immediately after the August 24 mini crash, I opined that the bottoming process could begin as early as that very week, which it did. I also wrote extensively and did a fair amount of media discussions on the topic. So far, the major indices are nicely following that scenario which had stocks rallying off the crash low into a September peak and then revisiting that low by the middle of October. Remember the comparisons I offered from 1987, 1989, 1994, […]
Read More
Date: October 5, 2015
Are We There Yet?
This feels like a family car trip with one of the kids constantly asking, “are we there yet?” Much of what I have to say remains the same. Stocks have almost perfectly followed my post mini-crash scenario since August 24 and they are now in the zone for a possible successful retest of those lows between now and say, October 15. With the major indices opening sharply higher today, talk will once again focus on IF we have seen the […]
Read More
Date: September 30, 2015
Was That It?
At their worst levels on Thursday, the major stock indices were bludgeoned and downright ugly. The Dow was down to 16,000 and could have been cracked open like a coconut today had the bulls not mounted a very strong late day charge. The rally was somewhat impressive and leaves open the question of whether we just saw the revisiting of the August lows I have spoken about on CNBC’s Fast Money and written about here. With stocks looking up more […]
Read More
Date: September 25, 2015
Market Behaving as Expected. Bottom Shortly.
In my last update, I opined that the Fed should not raise rates and that whatever they did, the market would end whatever move it was having and reverse in the other direction. First, I am glad that Yellen & Co. did not raise rates. That time will come, but it wasn’t last week. Second, stocks rallied nicely into the Fed meeting and in the moments after the announcement. However, it was the perfect “buy the rumor, sell the news” […]
Read More
Date: September 22, 2015
Market Reaction to Fed Announcement
The big lingering question regarding the Fed meeting after the decision is how to properly position portfolios. If you thought it was tough to get an edge on the rate decision, the markets’ reaction is even more so, which is why I would absolutely not advocate making wholesale changes ahead of the announcement. It’s one thing to flip a coin on the decision, but it’s a whole other thing to get the markets’ reaction correct as well. The four possible […]
Read More
Date: September 17, 2015
Will They or Won’t They
I truly cannot wait until September 17th at 2:01 PM. At that time, the Federal Open Market Committee, aka, the Fed, will make a decision about interest rates. I don’t know anyone who isn’t completely exhausted from all of the Fed talk over the past few months. It’s enough already. How many times do we need to see “Countdown to the Fed Decision”, “Special Report: The Fed”, “Breaking News…”, etc. Are there no other business stories worthy of being discussed […]
Read More
Date: September 17, 2015
Follow Up to Post Crash Behavior
Last week, I wrote a piece here and in Street$marts entitled, Post Crash Behavior Leading to Dow 20,000. If you haven’t read it, I think it’s a worthwhile read (of course I do since I wrote it!) whether you agree with the content or not. Subsequently, I was really excited to join CNBC’s Fast Money to discuss my research. A few things I want to add. I used the word “crash” very liberally in my study. After “bubble”, crash is […]
Read More
Date: September 10, 2015
