Every weekend we publish performance tables for a variety of different asset classes and categories along with commentary on each.
This week’s main theme is risk-on action from beaten-down areas which we'll highlight in our US Index and Factor ETF tables, below.
We're putting a lot of emphasis on risk-appetite measures right now in order to provide insight into how the recent rangebound activity in Equity and Bond markets is likely to resolve itself.
The most basic way to assess risk-tolerance is to compare the performance of risk-on vs risk-off assets. As such, this post will focus on how the offensive vs defensive areas of various markets are acting right now.
Earlier this month we outlined the "Five Bull Market Barometers" we're watching to identify the beginning of a new bull market in stocks.
In this post, we'll update those charts without going into as much detail as to why they're important. So if you haven't read our initial post linked above, we'd encourage you to check it out.
With that said, let's jump in and see how these charts have developed since.
Every weekend we publish performance tables for a variety of different asset classes and categories along with commentary on each.
This week's main theme is that the strong continue to get stronger and vice versa, which we'll highlight in our Industry and Sector ETF tables, below.
Notice how the top three performers this week also happen to be the only Industry ETFs that are positive over the trailing 3-month period?
Gold Miners (GDX), Biotech (IBB), and Internet (FDN) posting positive 3-month returns may not sound like much but is actually quite impressive as it means these areas have already taken out their highs from just before the broader market peaked and collapsed in February.
Earlier this month we outlined the "Five Bull Market Barometers" we're watching to identify the beginning of a new bull market in stocks.
In this post, we'll update those charts without going into as much detail as to why they're important. So if you haven't read our initial post linked above, we'd encourage you to check it out.
With that said, let's jump in and see how these charts have developed since.
This week's Mystery Chart was a simple yet pivotal one... it was a ratio chart of Stocks vs Treasury Bonds.
With stocks struggling at resistance this week and Treasuries meandering beneath all-time highs, both appear to be at key inflection points.
Making things even more interesting is that the S&P 500 (SPY) relative to 20+ Year Treasury Bonds (TLT) ratio is also at a key level of interest. It is make-or-break time for these two asset classes so let's dive in and see what's going on.
Every weekend we publish performance tables for a variety of different asset classes and categories along with commentary on each.
Many of the relative trends in stocks that have been in place for a long time have come into question recently as they're showing signs of maturing due in part to the change in leadership we wrote about this week.
In this post, we'll highlight two structural intermarket themes that have remained robust throughout this tumultuous time for equity markets.
The first relative trend that hasn't slowed down at all is the relentless outperformance of the US over the rest of the world. Our first table shows the Wilshire 5000 (DWC) dominating every Global Index over just about every timeframe, from this week to the trailing year.
Let's take a look at what's going on in the major asset classes.
Let's start with Bonds. Here's the US 10-Year Note Futures printing their highest monthly close in history, clearly in an uptrend. The Bond market remains in an uptrend both in the US and most markets around the globe.
Every weekend we publish performance tables for a variety of different asset classes and categories along with commentary on each.
This week we're highlighting the underperformance from the US using our Global Index and International ETF tables.
Click table to enlarge view.
Despite the Wilshire 5000 (DWC) closing slightly higher on the week, all major Large-Cap averages in the US closed lower. While equities sold off across the board to end the week, the Eurozone still managed to book a nice gain with the German Dax (DAXX) and Stoxx 50 (STOXX) up 4-5% each in what was a short week for much of the region.
The Nikkei 225 (NI) and Shanghai Composite (SSEC) each closed almost 2% higher in what was also a short week for much of Asia.
The best part about the end of the month is that there's always a fresh batch of Monthly Charts waiting for us. We only perform this exercise once the candlesticks are completed, which in this case was Thursday April 30th. It takes me about half an hour to get through them all, which represents roughly 6 hours of my entire year's work. I promise you from the bottom of my heart that there is no single part of my entire process that I find more helpful than this monthly chart review.
You see, this process forces us to take a step back, and gives us no choice but to identify the direction of the primary trends. We use these to put shorter-term trends into context. So no matter what your timeframe is, I think first identifying primary trends, and then working our way down from there, is a huge advantage over a blind bottoms/up approach.
Here are the things that stood out most during my review:
Chris Ciovacco is someone whose work I've followed for many years. His approach to markets is similar to mine, in that he incorporates a weight-of-the-evidence technical strategy. His open-mindedness and ability to set up multiple outcomes to prepare for, is one to be admired. In this episode, Chris walks through his thought process when analyzing the current environment. He makes a great comparison to early 2009 and asks whether we're in January '09, just before another severe decline in stocks, or in May, on the way up after already bottoming.
