Analysis Archives (>6 months old)
Market and ETF Report – Correlations Rise, Gasoline Weighs on DBE, Base Metals Breakdown, Gold Falls As 10yr Rises (Premium)
SPY is testament to the volatile world we live in right now. The ETF surged some 14% in 22 days (.64% per day) from July 22nd until August 16th and then fell 8% the last 11 days (.73% per day). The fall, so far, is sharper than the rise. The reversal occurred with
Market/ETF Video – Declines from Falling 200-day SMAs Extend, Correlations Rise as Participation Broadens, Ag and Uranium Buck the Selling (Premium)
Stocks moved sharply lower the last two weeks with ten of the eleven sector SPDRs declining and almost all industry group ETFs falling. Energy-related ETFs and the Uranium ETF were exceptions. The long-term trend for
Market and ETF Report – SPY and QQQ Become Oversold After Failures, Energy Continues to Lead, Agriculture Perks Up (Premium)
Stocks were hit hard again over the last two days and are now short-term oversold. While short-term oversold conditions could give way to an oversold bounce, we saw some important failures near falling 200-day SMAs over the last two weeks. These failures are long-term negative so I would not read too much into an oversold bounce
Market and ETF Report – Defensive ETFs Leading with Choppy Uptrends, Gold hits Short-term Support-Reversal Zone (Premium)
The weight of the evidence remains bearish for stocks, but SPY became short-term oversold after a sharp decline the last five days. Even though this could give way to a bounce, the bears reasserted themselves and risk looks above average for stocks. Today’s report will
Market/ETF Video – Numerous Failures at the Falling 200-day SMA, Oil and Energy ETFs Buck the Stock Market, Ag ETFs Pop (Premium)
The Composite Breadth Model hit its moment of truth and failed to turn bullish as stocks moved sharply lower the last five days. Correlations rose as the vast majority of stock-based ETFs declined. Only energy-based
Market and ETF Report – SPY and QQQ Reverse, Key Sectors and ETF Follow, Energy and Ag Buck the Trend (Premium)
Stocks fell sharply the last two days and these declines were enough to reverse the short-term uptrends in many stock-based ETFs. In particular, the short-term uptrends reversed for SPY and QQQ. This is a big deal because the Composite Breadth Model was
Market and ETF Report – SPY Hits Another Make or Break Area, Short-term Uptrends Rule until Reversed, September Seasonality (Premium)
The short-term uptrends are dominating the landscape, or at least this seems to be the case. SPY is below its falling 200-day SMA, but is up some 16% from its mid June low. It is a strong move that has yet to be reversed. In fact, there are dozens of ETFs with similar characteristics:
Market/ETF Video – Composite Breadth Model hits Make or Break Point, Bonds Break Down, More Sectors in Downtrends than Uptrends (Premium)
The thrust that began in mid July extended into mid August and triggered bullish signals in the Thrust Breadth Models. The Trend Models, however, remain bearish, as does the 5/200 day SMA cross for the S&P 500. At best, the market is split and more work is needed to turn bullish. At worst, the market is overbought
Market and ETF Report – SPY Nears 200-day, IWM Triggers, Energy ETFs Hold Breakouts, Agriculture ETF Breaks Out (Premium)
Market and ETF Report – SPY Nears 200-day, IWM Triggers, Energy ETFs Hold Breakouts, Agriculture ETF Breaks Out (Premium)
Market and ETF Report – Stocks Surge, but Bonds Fall, Overbought and Staying Overbought, Trend Composite Settings (Premium)
Stocks surged on reports that inflation was less than expected. Bonds did not. This is interesting because bonds are supposed to be more vulnerable to inflationary pressures. The news, however, is just the reported news we can never be sure of the true reasons for the price moves.
Market/ETF Video – Keys to Short-term Advance, Biotech and Clean Energy Breakouts, Wheat and Agriculture Firm (Premium)
The Composite Breadth Model remains bearish and SPY is in a long-term downtrend, but the short-term trend is up and has yet to reverse. Today’s video will mark some short-term support levels to watch for a few key ETFs and the line-in-the-sand for a short-term breadth indicator. We are seeing sharp counter-trend bounces in a
Market and ETF Report – Resistance-Reversal Zones in Play, More Trend Composite Signals, Stops with Loose Pants (Premium)
We are seeing more bullish Trend Composite signals, but the weight of the evidence remains bearish for stocks. Of the 274 ETFs in the master list, there are 22 ETFs (13%) with positive Trend Composites (uptrends) and 152 (87%) with downtrends. The uptrend signals are
Market and ETF Report – Short-term Breadth Indicators for Thrust and Overbought Conditions, Tech ETFs Break May Highs, JO Intrigues Again (Premium)
Today’s report starts with some short-term breadth indicators. One of the three triggered a bullish breadth thrust, but the other two have yet to show the upside participation needed for a thrust signal. They have yet to cross that line and are actually looking short-term
Market/ETF Video – Resistance Reversal Zones are Nigh, Oils Tests Support, TLT Forms Bearish Pattern, Working with ATR Trailing Stops (Premium)
Stocks surged in July and this surge was enough to trigger a bullish breadth thrust in the S&P 500. However, we have seen this movie before with bullish breadth thrusts that failed in late March and late May. The Composite Breadth Model needs more than just a bullish breadth thrust to turn the corner. Elsewhere, yield spreads
Market and ETF Report – Bear Market with Slim Pickings, Running into Resistance-Reversal Zone, Palladium Shines (Premium)
Despite a big advance in June, the Market Regime remains bearish and risk is above average for stock-based ETFs. In addition, the Trend Composite is negative for the vast majority of stock-based ETFs. A few ETFs related to clean energy, fossil fuels, consumer staples,
Market and ETF Report – Dow Theory Update, Don’t Fight the Tape, Four of Six Alternative Assets in Downtrends (Premium)
Today’s report will update Dow Theory analysis from last month, recall an old adage from Marty Zweig and show that only two assets are holding up. The Dollar remains very strong, which means the opposing
Market/ETF Video – Widespread Weakness in Stocks, Downtrends in Metals and Agriculture Extend, Oil Tests Spring Lows (Premium)
The Composite Breadth Model remains in bear mode, yield spreads show stress in the bond market and the major index ETFs are in downtrends. Other groups are not picking up the slack because most precious metals, industrial
Market and ETF Report – SPY Consolidates within Downtrend, Oil in Downswing, Defensive ETFs Holding Up the Best, PALL Breaks (Premium)
Stocks became oversold after a sharp decline in June and the bounced to varying degrees. Some of these bounces were quite sharp (ITB, IBB) and some ETFs simply consolidated (SPY, KRE). Almost all ETFs are in downtrends and this means the bounces are considered counter-trend
Market and ETF Report – Oversold Bounces, Oil Swings Lower, Healthcare Shows Relative Strength, Biotechs Get Extended (Premium)
After becoming very oversold in mid June, the major index ETFs are in the midst of oversold bounces or consolidations over the last three weeks. Predicting the extend of a bounce is tricky, but the current bounce since mid
Market/ETF Video – Oil Succumbs to Widespread Weakness, Dollar Leads, Bonds Bounce, ETFs Showing Relative Strength by Holding Up Better (Premium)
Cracks in the stock market began to appear in the second half of 2021 and spread to large-caps in early 2022. Defensive groups within the stock market were holding up, but got hit hard in June. Industrial metals and agricultural commodities were holding
Market and ETF Report – A Sea of Red, Energy ETFs Tests Support, Healthcare/Biotech Show Relative Strength (Premium)
My screen for today’s price action is a sea of red right now. Stock futures are modestly lower, energy futures are lower, gold is slightly lower, industrial metals are sharply lower and agricultural commodities are sharply lower. The US Dollar Index is the only thing higher and it is trading at a new high
Market and ETF Report – Two Trends and Two Conditions, Best versus Worst, XLE is the Most Volatile Sector, GOLD has Low Volatility, but….(Premium)
Today’s report to put trend and volatility together so we can identify the best conditions, the worst conditions and the questionable conditions. Most of us know that current conditions are the worst for stocks because we are in a bear market with high volatility. We will chart volatility to show when it is deemed high and
Market/ETF Video – Widespread Weakness, Oil Holds Up as NatGas Hits Support-Reversal Zone, Dollar Remains Strong, Industrial Metals Sink (Premium)
Weakness is widespread throughout the stock market, and other markets. The Composite Breadth Model is and remains bearish. fewer than 20% of S&P 1500 stocks are above their 200-day SMAs and yield spreads show stress in the credit markets. Almost all stock-based ETFs are in downtrends and most of the alternative ETFs are also in downtrends (bonds, gold, silver, the
Market and ETF Report – Counter-Trend Bounce in SPY, Oil Hits Reversal Zone, XES Overshoots, Wheat Weights on Agriculture ETF (Premium)
Stocks bounced the last five days, but these bounces are considered counter-trend moves within bigger downtrends. One of these counter-trend moves will result in a trend reversal, but this is not the case yet because the weight of the evidence remains bearish for stocks. The first indicator window below shows
Market and ETF Report – A Brutal Year and Month, Three ETFs Stand Out, Short-term Island Reversal Takes Hold (Premium)
As noted in Tuesday’s report and in Wednesday’s video, the majority of ETFs in the Master List (274) are in downtrends. There are a few groups holding up, but even energy and agriculture were hit with selling pressure here in June. Mr Market is dazed, confused
Market/ETF Video – Stocks are Oversold within Strong Downtrends, Downside Participation is High, Ag, Energy and Dollar are Standouts (Premium)
The major index ETFs and big sector SPDRs extended their downtrends and recorded fresh 52-week lows over the last few days. New lows were also seen in most tech and consumer discretionary ETFs. The Composite Breadth Model reflects the broadness of downside participation and widening yield
Market and ETF Report – Bear Market and Oversold, Energy ETF Get Hit, Ag ETFs Hold UP, 3 with Relative Chart Strength (Premium)
There are a lot of downtrends out there and not just stock-based ETFs. The vast majority of stock-based ETFs are in downtrends with Trend Composite values in negative territory. ETFs related to industrial metals, precious metals, bonds and non-Dollar currencies are also in downtrends
Market and ETF Report – Dow Theory and Elliott Wave for Bear Markets, Two Breadth Indicators Have yet to Reach Extremes (Premium)
Today’s commentary will dive into Dow Theory and show some overlap with Elliott Wave. We will show the phase/wave counts for the last bear market and then make an attempt to label the current
Market/ETF Video – Bear Market Broadens as %Above 200-day Sinks and New Lows Surge, Energy and Agriculture are Last Groups Standing (Premium)
The major index ETFs extended their downtrends with a vengeance over the last five trading days. It was a most exceptional period because almost everything declined the last five days – and I do mean everything. 52-week lows expanded
Market and ETF Report – Nowhere to Hide, Short-term Oversold in Bear Market, Oil and Ag Still in Uptrends (Premium)
It was a “sell everything” moment the last four days as stocks, bonds, commodities and non-Dollar currencies declined. The Dollar Bullish ETF (UUP) rose 2.82% the last four days and the Corn ETF (CORN) was up .46%. Those are the only two ETFs
Market and ETF Report – SPY Near Reversal Zone, XLU Holds Up, XLP Gets Counter-Trend Bounce, Home Construction Shows Relative Strength (Premium)
Small-caps are outperforming large-caps over the last one to two weeks because large-caps stalled and small-caps continued higher. Even so, I am not following the siren song of small-cap relative strength and am more concerned with short-term relative weakness in
Market/ETF Video – %Above 200-day, New Highs vs Lows, Gold and Copper Hold Breakouts, Materials and Defense ETFs Surge, Ag and Wheat Are Setting Up (Premium)
The major index ETFs are in the midst of a bounce, but this bounce is still considered a bear market bounce. The bigger trends are still down for SPY and QQQ, the Composite Breadth Model is negative and yield spreads are elevated. Despite bullish breadth thrusts in late May, the percentage of stocks above their 200-day SMAs
Market and ETF Report – Energy and Ag with Consistent Uptrends, Some Stock-Based ETFs Holding Up Better, Watching Breakouts in Metals ETFs (Premium)
Today’s report will start with the Composite Breadth Model and some words on the Market Regime because this is the dominant force at work for stocks and stock-based ETFs. Some stock-based ETFs are featured in this report because they are either in uptrends on the price chart, have positive Trend Composites or held their January-March lows (did not break down).
Market and ETF Report – TLT Turns Down Again, Dollar Breaks Out, Gold Firms after Breakout, Platinum Show Relative Strength (Premium)
Today’s report starts with bonds, the Dollar and gold. I am not, however, going to tie moves in one asset to movements in another. There are some relationships at work, but relations and correlations change and sometimes do not work out as expected. Instead, I will simply analyze
Market/ETF Video – Bounces within Bigger Downtrends for SPY and Five Big Sectors, Choosing what to Focus on and What to Ignore (Premium)
The major index ETFs got big bounces last week, but these are still oversold bounces within bigger downtrends and within the context of a bear market. Despite some breadth thrusts, the Composite Breadth Model remains bearish and yield spreads remain very elevated. Gold is struggling to hold its breakout as the Dollar and
Market and ETF Report – Oversold Bounces within Bigger Uptrends, The Real Leaders, Chart Strength by Holding Jan-Feb Lows (Premium)
There was a big oversold bounce with some of the most beaten down ETFs leading the way. The ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), Clean Energy ETF (PBW), Consumer Discretionary SPDR (XLY), Cloud Computing ETF (SKYY) and Home Construction ETF (ITB) were up over 10% in three days.
Palladium: A Trend Changing Event or Correction Overshoot? – Plus another Commodity ETF with a Wedge Correction (Premium)
There are two commodity ETFs with falling wedge patterns working. One falling wedge resulted in a deep pullback and the other in a shallow pullback. Either way, I view these falling wedges as corrections within uptrends and am watching for breakouts. This article will look at the deep pullback in the
Market and ETF Report – Working with Benchmark Lows, Setting Levels that Prove Breakouts Wrong, Using the ATR Trailing Stop (Premium)
The market regime is bearish, but SPY and QQQ are still in oversold territory that could give way to a bounce. In addition, we are seeing short-term strength in some of the high-beta ETFs as Treasury yields fell over the last two weeks. Personally, I am not
Market/ETF Video – Oversold in a Bear Market and Long-term Downtrend, Slim Pickings in Stock-Based ETFs, Metals Come Alive (Premium)
Stocks remain short-term oversold and the major index ETFs are still near their May lows. This could give way to a bounce, but the bear market and long-term downtrends continue to provide stiff headwinds. There
Market and ETF Report – Energy and Ag Still Leading, Utilities Hit Moment of truth, Metals-Related ETFs Make a Move (Premium)
The market regime remains bearish because the Composite Breadth Model is negative and yields spreads are showing stress in the credit markets. Note that the BBB spread exceeded its March high over the last few days. Short-term, stocks are still quite oversold after a big decline from mid April to early May. Oversold
Market and ETF Report – Bearish Outcomes, Trend Composite All Weather Update, Consumer Staples Breakdown (Premium)
Bearish outcomes are more likely in a bear market and this is playing out as even the defensive groups were hit with selling pressure on Wednesday. We are also seeing this play out in certain commodities, such as industrial metals. Industrial metals
Market/ETF Video – Bear Market Bounce, Yield Spreads Surge, Energy and Ag Lead, Safe-Haven Stock Groups Hold Up Best (Premium)
Stocks became extremely oversold last week after strong selling pressure and sharp declines. We are seeing an oversold bounce right now, but this is considered a bear market bounce because the Composite Breadth Model is net bearish and yield spreads show serious stress in the credit markets.
Market and ETF Report – Bear Market Continues to Broaden, Energy and Agriculture Hold Up, Industrial Metals Hit (Premium)
Stocks became extremely oversold last week after a sharp five day decline that looked like a selling climax. This five day decline was already on top of a sharp decline from April 21st to 27th (-8.5%). All told, there was
Market and ETF Report – Falling Knives, Sinking and not Yet Stinking, Defensive ETFs Holding Up Better (Premium)
Stocks remain under pressure and failed to bounce after becoming quite oversold after a three-day decline on Tuesday. This decline continued with many stocks and ETFs becoming even more
Market/ETF Video – Selling Pressure Continues to Broaden, Short-term Bearish Extremes, Ag and Energy Lead (Premium)
The bear market widened its grip on stocks as more participated in the decline over the last few weeks. New lows expanded dramatically the last two weeks and more stocks are below their 200-day SMAs. Safe-haven groups were also hit as utilities and consumer staples fell. The safe-haven groups are
Market and ETF Report – Bear Market Continues to Broaden, Energy and Agriculture Hold Up, Industrial Metals Hit (Premium)
The ugly just got uglier. The Composite Breadth Model turned bearish on April 11th and the 5-day SMA for the S&P 500 crossed below the 200-day SMA that same day. At worst
Market and ETF Report – Volatility Remains High, Techs Continue to Lead Low, Some Commodity ETFs Setting Up (Premium)
Market volatility was also high and seemed to get even higher the last two weeks. Moreover, volatility and selling pressure are not just in the stock market. We saw selling pressure in almost all groups over the last five
Market and ETF Report – Stocks Short-term Oversold, Oil and Ag Commodities Hold Up, Industrials Metals Hit (Premium)
The Composite Breadth Model remains bearish and we are in a bear market environment for stocks. Oil and agricultural commodities remain relatively strong, but industrial metals were hit pretty hard the last two weeks. Downside participation
Market/ETF Video – Downside Participation Broadens, Industrial Commodities Hit, Oil and Ag Remain Strong (Premium)
The weight of the evidence remains bearish for stocks and participation to the downside expanded significantly over the last six trading days. Even the low volatility leaders were hit hard and there were few places to hide as correlations rose among stocks. Bonds managed to firm, but do not offer an alternative to stocks
Market and ETF Report – Staying with a Narrow Focus, Leaders Firming and Bounces after Sharp Pullbacks (Premium)
The Market Regime is bearish and this means there is a headwind for stock-related ETFs. At the very least, we should be extremely selective and reduce exposure to stocks. Even though we will still have sharp oversold bounces,