Goodbye 2011 and Hello 2012
I’m expecting some big things this year. Good luck to everyone.
Expert technical analysis of financial markets by JC Parets
by JC
by JC
Wow all that and stocks are right back where they started a year ago. The S&P500 closed at 1257 today – same level it closed on the last trading day of 2010.
Stocks aren’t the only game in town though. The US Treasury Bond market led the way higher and Gold saw its 11th straight year of gains. Dr. Copper and Emerging markets struggled throughout the year, making risk-on trade a difficult one. Here are the rest of the stats through Wednesday’s close:
(I’ll post the year-end numbers this week)
Source:
Asset Class Returns 2011 (Business Insider Money Game via Reuters)
by JC
Season finale for the Stock Market and what a year it’s been. Choppy I think is the word that best describes it.
[chop-ee] adjective, -pi·er, -pi·est.
3. uneven in style or quality or characterized by poorly related parts
Yup that sounds about right. The stock market was certainly all of those things. But there were trends in place that worked all year long. The chart below shows the performance of each of the S&P Sector SPDRs relative to the S&P500. Notice the out-performance of the defensive sectors led by Utilities, followed by Consumer Staples and Healthcare.
On the flip side, you could have been short financials or Materials relative to the S&P500 and done very well. There is always a trend somewhere and in choppy environments like this, there were plenty of relative trends to be found.
Strength in defensive names isn’t what you want to see if you think the US equities market is going much higher. I would be looking for a shift in leadership for a sign that things actually have changed for the better. Sector rotation in important in a bull market. We’ve been waiting all year for new leaders and they have yet to arrive. Watch the Consumer Discretionary names going into the new year as the Retail sector makes new highs.
Tags: $XLU $XLV $XLP $XLF $XLB $XLY
by JC
That phrase is being thrown around again: “Inverse Head and Shoulders”. It appears as though one has been forming in a few of the major averages. This is typically a continuation pattern so let’s take a quick look at the S&P500:
I think it’s pretty clear – we have an important low put in just before Halloween (left shoulder), an even lower low made right after Thanksgiving (head), and finally a higher low put in before the rally that took us into Christmas (right shoulder):
The neckline is not very clear. It’s more of a range really. A pretty wide one. This makes it more difficult to confirm a breakout. The downtrend line that goes back to early July was broken last week, so that is probably the level that we want to watch here.
Another problem is the lack of volume. It is so hard to have conviction in such an important event like this if it occurs during a week where the market just drifts higher on next to no volume. In a situation like this I would almost expect whipsaws. I wouldn’t be shocked to see some more consolidation over the next few weeks before a clear breakout to the upside.
One positive that I’d like to note is the amount of tests of this downtrend line that we’ve seen since July. We are going on 5-6 tests of resistance now, with the most recent tests coming a) more frequently and b) off more shallow sell-offs. We say it all the time, the more times that a level is tested, the higher the likelihood that it breaks.
This is a really important level and the action that we’re seeing should not be taken lightly. We’ve been watching this area for a long time. Remember this? From Edwards & Magee: “here is the interesting and the important fact which, curiously enough, many casual chart observers appear never to grasp: these critical price levels constantly switch their roles from Support to Resistance and from Resistance to Support. A former Top, once it has been surpassed, becomes a bottom zone in a subsequent downtrend; and an old Bottom, once it has been penetrated, becomes a Top zone in a later advancing phase.”
That former support in the S&P500 is still giving us trouble. The breakdown that occurred in August was devastating. We’re now going on 2 months of battle with that former support (now resistance) and still no penetration.
I don’t think that this inverse head & shoulders pattern is cut and dry. The timing of a potential breakout here makes it more difficult to navigate. I would expect some more consolidation before a big move higher can evolve. We live in a market environment where false moves and whipsaws are the norm. I don’t think that’s changed. And it’s a good thing – this shouldn’t be easy. But with this sort of price action, tremendous risk/reward opportunities develop and with good risk management there are nice profits to be made.
Tags: $SPX $SPY $ES_F
by JC
The Head of Technical and Market Analysis at Bank of America Merrill Lynch was at Bloomberg this morning discussing her 2012 outlook for Stocks, Currencies and Gold. Mary Ann Bartels has been bearish on this market recently saying Santa wasn’t coming and a retest of the October lows was inevitable. She is sticking with her guns here still bearish on the first half of 2012:
Source:
Stocks May See ‘Rough Go’ in 1st Half, Bartels Says (Bloomberg)
Tags: $GLD $GC_F $SPX $SPY $UUP $DX_F $FXE $EURUSD $CRB
by JC
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everybody. Now time to get back to work. Right off the bat I woke up this morning to an email from Investopedia.com with their TERM OF THE DAY. Fittingly, the term is “Santa Claus Rally”:
Last Monday we noted that the week going into Christmas tends to be at least twice as good as the average week throughout the year. The market certainly did not disappoint locking in a 3.7% rally in the S&P500. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed over 400 points to close at the highest levels since July. But the Santa Claus rally is just getting started.
According to Bespoke Investment Group,
“The S&P 500 has averaged a significant gain of 0.93% in the last week of the year with positive returns 77% of the time (64 out of 83). This compares to an average of +0.15% for all weeks since 1928. Over the last 20 years, the average gain during the last week of the year has been smaller at +0.47%, but this is still three times as strong as the average for all weeks throughout the year.”
The major averages are setting up to continue their rallies off the October lows. We are expecting a low volume week that historically elevates prices higher. We have discussed the consequences of Santa not showing up this time of the year, so this week will be a very important one for the market. Stay tuned….
Sources:
Santa Claus Rally (Investopedia)
Market Performance During the Last Week of the Year (Bespoke)
Tags: $DJIA $DIA $SPX $SPY
by JC
by JC
Here is my story for SFO Magazine this Friday:
SFO Daily: Beware of False Moves
Friday, December 23, 2011
By J.C. Parets
Volume is light and volatility is down on the last trading day before the holiday weekend, but stocks are now up for the fourth day in a row. While some traders I know packed it in for the year, there are still plenty of market participants taking advantage of this year-end rally.
The Dow Jones Transportation Average closed yesterday at the highest levels since August 1. Its fellow Dow Theory component—the Industrial Average, is trading slightly below those August levels. Both of these averages are putting in what appears to be an inverse “head and shoulders” pattern.
The Pattern
Although this is typically seen as a positive omen, false moves are a way of life in this market environment. This particular formation made its left shoulder around Halloween, the head around Thanksgiving, and its right shoulder last week.
Key Levels
The “neckline,” as this overhead resistance is commonly referred to, is sitting right around 12250 for the Industrials and 5030 for the Transports. A breakout above this level for more than a day or two should bode well for the market as a whole.
Beware of false moves. A convincing breakout next week going into the New Year can potentially catch the bulls off guard. With volume this low, we want to view a breakout of this significance with some suspicion. Remember the extremely low volume sell-off that took place in the days surrounding Thanksgiving? The following week we came back to a rip-your-face-off rally and never looked back. I’m not saying that a fake-out like that will happen come January 3, but we should be prepared for it.
Negative Correlations
It’s important to cheat a little bit by watching what other asset classes and indexes are doing that are negatively correlated with U.S. Stocks. The U.S. Treasury bond market is the best example of that.
Speaking of false moves, iShares Barclay 20+Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT) broke out of its range this Monday only to reverse course and sell-off every day since. It is not a coincidence that the TLT sold off the last four days as stocks rallied. With the fund currently trading just above 118, a break below 116 could accelerate the selloff in bonds and help U.S. stocks breakout to new highs.
The Volatility Index is another one to keep an eye on. Also negatively correlated with stocks, the VIX, or “fear index” as it is commonly referred to, has been decimated going into the end of 2011. A decline in volatility is typical for this time of year and normally helps stocks rally in December. That is precisely what we’ve seen. Unfortunately, the selloff in the VIX has taken it down to where it originally broke out from in late July and early August. This former resistance could turn into support here in the low $20s.
BOTTOM LINE
If the Dow Jones Industrials and Transports are going to break out above this inverse head and shoulders pattern, then Treasuries (TLT) and Volatility (VIX) should continue lower. Even with the constructive action in the stock market, false moves are to be expected. There is still plenty of indecision out there so whenever in doubt, trade smaller.
Source:
SFO daily: Beware of False Moves (SFO Mag)
Tags: $VIX $TLT $DJIA $TRAN $IYT $DIA