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

A growing number of domestic and international markets are running into key levels of interest. 

This is a theme we’ve discussed at length over the past six weeks. We've also discussed how we see similar developments in the Commodities and Fixed Income markets.

With this as our backdrop, are you surprised that we're also seeing similar action in the Forex markets right now? 

We aren’t! 

In this post, we'll highlight two traditional risk-on currency pairs, both of which are trading at critical inflection points. 

Let's dive right in.

First up is the AUD/JPY cross. This FX cross is the classic risk-on/risk-off gauge within the currency markets -- and since last November, it has been sending a clear message of “risk-on!”

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

Check out our latest Mystery Chart!

What we do here is take a chart that’s captured our attention, and remove the x and y-axes as well as any other labels that could help identify it.

This chart can be of any security, in any asset class, on any timeframe. Sometimes it’s an absolute price chart, other times it’s on a relative basis.

It might be a ratio, a custom index, or maybe the price is inverted. It could be all three!

The point is, when we aren’t able to recognize what’s in front of us, we put aside any biases we may have and scrutinize the price behavior objectively.

While you can try to guess the chart, the point is to make a decision…

So let us know what it is… Buy, Sell, or Do Nothing?

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

Check out this week's Momentum Report, our weekly summation of all the major indexes at a Macro, International, Sector, and Industry Group level.

By analyzing the short-term data in these reports, we get a more tactical view of the current state of markets. This information then helps us put near-term developments into the context of the big picture and provides insights regarding the structural trends at play.

Let's jump right into it with some of the major takeaways from this week's report:

* ASC Plus Members can access the Momentum Report by clicking the link at the bottom of this post.

Macro:

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

Pockets of strength are once again emerging within the Commodity space.

We pointed out that both the CRB Index and the ASC EW33 Commodity Index were breaking above key resistance levels, pointing to a burgeoning upside move last week.

That upside move has now materialized!

We saw Industrial Metals -- including Copper, Steel, and Aluminum -- continue to follow-through as they grind higher. 

But this week’s biggest moves came from the Agricultural Commodities.

Let’s take a look at the recent strength in Ags using our custom ASC Equally-weighted Agriculture Index.

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

We recently held April’s Monthly Conference Call, which our Premium Members can access and rewatch here.

In this post, we’ll summarize the call by highlighting 5 of the most important charts/topics we covered, along with commentary on each.

Let’s dive into it.

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

Last week, we highlighted the USD testing a critical level against the Rand. This is a theme we've been seeing a lot in a variety of USD crosses recently and will discuss more in a post later this week.

We’re finally beginning to see some resolutions from these key levels, and they're revealing some very valuable information regarding the Dollar’s strength and the likely future direction for the $DXY Index itself.

In this post, we'll take a look at some examples of this theme by showcasing two forex pairs from Northern Europe that are currently breaking down at major inflection points against the USD.

But before diving in, let's set the stage a bit...

What are some of the major developments in G-10 pairs that are driving the US Dollar Index right now?

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

Check out our latest Mystery Chart!

What we do here is take a chart that’s captured our attention, and remove the x and y-axes as well as any other labels that could help identify it.

This chart can be of any security, in any asset class, on any timeframe. Sometimes it’s an absolute price chart, other times it’s on a relative basis.

It might be a ratio, a custom index, or maybe the price is inverted. It could be all three!

The point is, when we aren’t able to recognize what’s in front of us, we put aside any biases we may have and scrutinize it objectively.

While you can try to guess the chart, the point is to make a decision…

So let us know what it is… Buy, Sell, or Do Nothing?

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

Are Commodities poised for their next leg higher?

After weeks of sideways chop, we're beginning to see signs of strength that suggest an upside move is brewing.

Here’s some notable action: 

• Copper is resolving higher from a tight continuation pattern within the context of a primary uptrend
• Steel is again breaking higher from a quick coil pattern after making a parabolic move to record highs off last year’s lows
• Aluminum is next in line as it works its way higher within a massive consolidation
• Lumber continues to post new all-time highs day in and day out
• Other markets like Sugar and Wheat have found support at logical levels and look ready to resume higher

I think you get the idea...

Several areas of the market have reached key levels of support or resistance. 

Crude Oil continues to digest recent gains just below overhead supply near its former 2019 highs. 

The Euro/Dollar is finding support at the recently violated 12-year downtrend line. 

And the Emerging Markets ETF $EEM continues to consolidate near its 2007 highs.

Meanwhile, the US Dollar is also testing key levels. 

USD strength has become a major market theme over the last couple of months -- along with the potential effects it could have on global risk assets. A strong US Dollar could apply pressure to Emerging Markets, Commodities, and cyclical assets in general. This would challenge the global growth thesis and the rotation into cyclical areas we have seen play out over recent months.

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

Commodities continue to churn as they digest recent gains. This has been a recurring theme over the past several weeks.

However, there are signs that this might be changing.

For instance, Lumber pushes to new all-time highs, Steel futures hit new highs, and Platinum is back above a key level of resistance.

Pockets of renewed strength have started to pop up across various groupings within the Commodities space. That's valuable information.

Consider Rebar Futures forcefully breaking out of a 3-year consolidation while most of the market chops sideways.

There's always information in the Currency markets, even if trading currencies isn't something you do.

There is wisdom in some of the world's largest markets like forex and fixed income. To ignore it would be irresponsible.

One thing that's been hard to ignore is the strength in the US Dollar Index throughout the first quarter of 2021. This could be a potential wrecking ball to the global growth, rotation into cyclical and commodity supercycle themes.

But is it?

When we look at several G-10 Currencies relative to the Dollar, the Commodity-centric currencies have held up the best, which is interesting, isn't it?

From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @IanCulley.

We held our April Monthly Strategy Session Thursday night which Premium Members can access and rewatch here.

For these calls, we really take a step back and put things in the context of their structural trends by focusing only on Monthly charts. This is easily one of our most valuable exercises.

In this post, we’ll provide a summary of the call by highlighting three of the most important charts and topics we covered along with commentary on each.

Let’s dive into it.