This is the video recording of the November 2021 Mid-month Conference Call.

From the desk of Steven Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @IanCulley

The US Dollar Index $DXY is pressing to new highs, disregarding what many think it should be doing based on historic intermarket relationships.

Considering the bullish developments and new highs from risk assets, the strength from the US dollar continues to be a head-scratcher.

But will the breakout in the DXY hold, or will it roll over and confirm the signals coming from bonds, stocks, and commodities?

When we broke down the US Dollar Index last month, we pointed out that its strength was rather narrow in terms of how it was performing relative to most individual currencies. Long story short, the recent rally in DXY has been fueled primarily by its two largest components -- the euro and the yen. These two currencies make up more than 70% of the DXY weighting, and the fact that they are at new 52-week lows explains why the index is at new highs.

But we're still not seeing the same kind...

From the desk of Steven Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @IanCulley

Correlations often work... until they don’t. It’s just the nature of intermarket relationships.

We can see a prime example in the recent action between the US dollar and risk assets.

The dollar has been marching to the beat of its own drum, as it's shown an unusually strong positive correlation with commodities since this summer.

Although the inverse correlation is not as strong with equities, it still exists. But the USD’s resilience during the second half of this year hasn’t stopped stocks from screaming higher. 

While we definitely aren’t in an environment where USD weakness is a tailwind, the evidence continues to stack up in favor of the bulls and risk assets. 

The dollar is just one data point. But it’s a rather important one, as the direction of King Dollar has proven to have a profound impact on other asset classes.

Today, we’re going to highlight the decoupling of USD relationships and what it could mean for the rally in risk assets.

Let’s...

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @Ianculley

Risk assets are on the rise.

Energy futures are resolving higher from multi-year bases. Stocks are pressing to new highs all along the cap scale. And the more cyclical, value-oriented markets are catching a bid and becoming leadership groups again -- think financials and energy.

It appears everything is falling into place. But a few pieces are still missing… 

For instance, you might assume the US dollar is under pressure as commodities and stocks outperform.

But it’s not. 

In fact, the dollar made new 52-week highs not long ago and has since consolidated at the top of its range while riskier areas of the currency market have struggled to catch a bid.

We’ve highlighted the US Dollar Index and the mixed signals coming from developed currencies in recent posts.

Today, we’re going to turn our...

This is the video recording of our November 1, 2021 Monthly Charts Live Strategy Session

From the desk of Steven Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @IanCulley

Crude oil has stolen the show, as it’s up more than 28% from its August lows.

What started as a questionable breakout has turned into a full-fledged rally -- and the broader market seems to agree.

Copper retested its all-time highs last week, interest rates are on the rise across the curve, and cyclical stocks have become leaders.

All of these events fit neatly in an environment where crude oil prices continue higher.

But what does the currency market have to say about the recent strength from black gold?

Let’s look at our Petrocurrency Index for clues, along with one forex pair that's showing strength against the US dollar.

First, we have our Petrocurrency Index overlaid with crude oil futures:

...

As we progress into Q3 of Fiscal Year 2021-2022, this playbook outlines our thoughts on every asset class and our plan to profit.

This playbook will cover our macro view, touching on Equities, Commodities, Currencies, and Rates, as well as outline our views on the major nifty indices and the sector/thematic indices.

We also cover individual stocks we want to be buying to take advantage of the themes discussed in the playbook.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @Ianculley

Interest rates, inflation expectations, and commodities are all on the rise. 

But as these pieces of the intermarket puzzle fall into place, it’s hard to make sense of the strength in the US Dollar Index $DXY. That’s also been on the rise recently.

Even other areas of the currency market don’t quite fit with the action we see in the USD. We pointed out the absence of risk-off behavior in a post last week where we highlighted the broad weakness in the yen as well as AUD/JPY making new multi-month highs.

So what’s going on with the US Dollar Index?

Let’s look under the hood at some individual USD pairs and their trends across multiple timeframes to see what the weight of the evidence is currently suggesting.

First, let’s look at the short-, intermediate-, and long-term trends in some of the main US dollar crosses:

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From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @Ianculley

All eyes have been on the US dollar as it presses to new 52-week highs.

But its recent rally hasn’t been accompanied by the usual risk-off behavior we’d expect. Actually, it’s been quite the opposite.

Bonds have been rolling over, commodities and cyclical stocks continue to march higher, and the yen can’t catch a bid.

To us, the evidence suggests the USD is momentarily decoupling from its classic intermarket relationships as it grinds higher in the face of all this.

If the US dollar is out of sync with the action in other asset classes, where can we look within the currencies market for a clear perspective of investors’ attitudes toward risk?

That’s right... the yen!

Let’s look at a couple of charts highlighting the Japanese yen’s weakness and discuss what it means for the current market environment.

First up is the classic risk-appetite barometer, the AUD/JPY cross:

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This is our ASC Research Q4 2021 Playbook.

With the current market environment giving us many mixed messages, what better time to dive in and see what's happening underneath the surface?

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One thing unique about the market is that the game is never over. There aren't four 15-min quarters or two 20-min halves like in sports.

In those endeavors there is a beginning and an end.

You know who won (or who tied in some cases). But the match is over, and there will be another one in a few days or a few months, depending on the sport.

In the market, it never ends. This can cause issues psychologically, so it's something we should all be aware of and keep in mind.

But if you ask me, currently the bulls are scoring a lot more points. This is the first time we've seen that since Q1 this year, when the bears started running up the score.

Look at the S&P500 break out to new all-time highs relative to US Treasury Bonds.

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @Ianculley

We held our October Monthly Strategy Session last night. Premium Members can access and rewatch it here.

Non-members can get a quick recap of the call simply by reading this post each month. 

By focusing on long-term, monthly charts, the idea is to take a step back and put things into the context of their structural trends. This is easily one of our most valuable exercises as it forces us to put aside the day-to-day noise and simply examine markets from a “big-picture” point of view.

With that as our backdrop, let’s dive right in and discuss three of the most important charts and/or themes from this month’s call.