One of the more impressive moves that we've seen in 2016 is in the Industrial space. While we came into the year near multi-year lows on a relative basis (XLI/SPY), we entered December hitting new all-time highs relative to the S&P500. You want to talk about a dramatic change in relative strength? This is something we take very seriously, and definitely not something to ignore. We also want to keep in mind is that this relative strength started well before any election, US or otherwise. This got going in January.
Today we're taking a look at the largest component in the Industrial sector: General Electric $GE, a stock that broke out earlier this year above a downtrend line from the all-time highs in 2000 and is still 30% below the 2007 highs. I think this is where we want to be looking:
Most of us are here to try and make money in the market. Some others are just here to make noise and create content they think will help them drive traffic to sell ads. The importance of the Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting 20,000 is one of the biggest lies of the year. I'm lucky to be good friends with some of the smartest traders and analysts in the world. We email each other all the time privately to share ideas and discuss some of the things we're seeing out there. If there is something worth watching, I'm likely to get an email about it, or at least be included in an email discussion on the topic. So far, zero mention of this arbitrary 20,000 level, but double digit emails from media asking me what I think. See the difference?
Every month I host a conference call for All Star Charts Members where we discuss ongoing themes throughout the global marketplace as well as changes in trends where new positions would be most appropriate. This includes U.S. Stocks & Sectors, International Stock Indexes, Commodities, Currencies and Interest Rate Markets. Transportation stocks have been a huge winner for us and we'll be discussing the sectors and assets that I think can behave in a similar manner in the coming weeks and months.
This month's Conference Call will be held on Wednesday December 14, 2016 at 7PM ET. Here are the Registration Details:
For someone who uses Dow Theory every single day, it's not something that I write about much. I may indirectly reference certain tenets all the time, but rarely do I write specifically about the 130 year old Dow Theory. I think I pretty much laid it all out earlier this year in my post: 5 Things Every Investor Should Know About Dow Theory. The simple minded choose to stick to the Dow Jones Transportation Average and Dow Jones Industrial Average either confirming each other or diverging from one another. And while this may in fact be a one of Charles Dow's tenets (although they were Railroads back then, not the Transports we have today), it does not even make it into my top 5 most important tenets.
I could not be happier to see this rally in stocks all over the world. The Transportation stocks in particular have been especially impressive (See here: Transports 8/24/16). But I want to point to some of the rotation we've started to see in other asset classes since last week.
One of the more interesting scenarios across the global market place is what is happening in the US Dollar, and the Euro component more specifically. Remember, the Euro represents a majority in the entire US Dollar Index. On Monday, the Euro engulfed the prior 13 trading sessions. This means that it made a new low, below the past few weeks trading, and then reversed to close at a new high, above any of the highs over the past few weeks.
I like to keep an open mind. The one thing I'm certain of is that I'm not certain of anything. So I weigh all of the evidence and then try to find the best risk vs reward opportunities based on the cards that we've been dealt. We can't let our emotions impact our decision making, it has to be 100% dependent on the data at hand. Today, I think one of the more interesting situations is in the US Dollar Index.
One of the characteristics of bull markets and strong uptrends is sector rotation. While Technology was the first to start leading the market higher in July, Financials and Transportation stocks have recently held the leadership duties. You can start to throw in Industrials the past few weeks into the leadership category as well. Meanwhile, some of the mega-cap names have held back Technology, at least temporarily, from continuing to make new highs. But when you look underneath the surface, I believe there is a much different story to tell.
