Hi there, and welcome back to CRI's S&P 500 blog.
As the stock market in general (and in this case SPY specifically) has entered its twelfth week of consolidation one can't help but notice how bearish market sentiment has become of late. Only a few months ago we were pushing to new relative highs on both a healthy yield curve and robust corporate profits. While the yield curve has flattened appreciably over the intervening period, corporate earnings are still holding in which suggests to this market watcher that the bear market we entered through the late summer shall be only that and that we are in nothing more than a healthy (albeit painful) correction period for the market.
Technically speaking, one should have appreciated the noticeable bearish cross of the weekly 13 EMA and the 30 SMA some twelve weeks ago. That relationship is still very much bearish suggesting there ought to be further correction ahead. One should also respect the fact that the important low put in nine weeks ago (109.70) was violated just this past week. Lower highs and lower lows define a bear market - and judging by the market's action over the past week - we are still very much in a bear market. Having said that, the time to short was at or near 125 not now. Indeed, fortunes are won and lost trying to pick exact bottoms so I will leave that thought with the basic message that we have hit many of the well defined down side targets (50% rule, previous rally peak, 200 Week SMA, etc.) and one ought to be taking profits on shorts - not adding new ones.
So lets see how our two respective market participants ought to be positioned:
Traders: This camp would have gotten new sell signals on the break of 109.70. Stops on the trade should be just above recent resistance (just above 122.80). This would represent a 12% risk and maybe a little to large of a risk for most traders to take. For those wishing to trade to the short side - use this past week's rally to look for a failure into resistance (just above 120 area) on the daily charts. The lows of this past week ought to be tested at some point down the road and that would be my short term target on any shorts taken.
Investors: This camp was well advised to get out of the market in earnest back through the late summer and more specifically upon the break of the important low of 125.70 in late July. Our time tested trending indicator (that being the relationship between the 13 EMA and the 30 SMA) is still very much pointing lower and has been the mantra for some time now - CASH IS KING. Consider too that the US Dollar index has been moving higher for about the same period, it would appear that international money managers are respecting that mantra.
That's all for this week,
Brian Beamish FCSI
The Canadian Rational Investor
the_rational_investor@yahoo.com
the-rational-investor.com
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