• 287 days Will The ECB Continue To Hike Rates?
  • 287 days Forbes: Aramco Remains Largest Company In The Middle East
  • 289 days Caltech Scientists Succesfully Beam Back Solar Power From Space
  • 689 days Could Crypto Overtake Traditional Investment?
  • 694 days Americans Still Quitting Jobs At Record Pace
  • 696 days FinTech Startups Tapping VC Money for ‘Immigrant Banking’
  • 699 days Is The Dollar Too Strong?
  • 699 days Big Tech Disappoints Investors on Earnings Calls
  • 700 days Fear And Celebration On Twitter as Musk Takes The Reins
  • 702 days China Is Quietly Trying To Distance Itself From Russia
  • 702 days Tech and Internet Giants’ Earnings In Focus After Netflix’s Stinker
  • 706 days Crypto Investors Won Big In 2021
  • 706 days The ‘Metaverse’ Economy Could be Worth $13 Trillion By 2030
  • 707 days Food Prices Are Skyrocketing As Putin’s War Persists
  • 709 days Pentagon Resignations Illustrate Our ‘Commercial’ Defense Dilemma
  • 710 days US Banks Shrug off Nearly $15 Billion In Russian Write-Offs
  • 713 days Cannabis Stocks in Holding Pattern Despite Positive Momentum
  • 714 days Is Musk A Bastion Of Free Speech Or Will His Absolutist Stance Backfire?
  • 714 days Two ETFs That Could Hedge Against Extreme Market Volatility
  • 716 days Are NFTs About To Take Over Gaming?
Strong U.S. Dollar Weighs On Blue Chip Earnings

Strong U.S. Dollar Weighs On Blue Chip Earnings

Earnings season is well underway,…

The Problem With Modern Monetary Theory

The Problem With Modern Monetary Theory

Modern monetary theory has been…

Is The Bull Market On Its Last Legs?

Is The Bull Market On Its Last Legs?

This aging bull market may…

  1. Home
  2. Markets
  3. Other

Technical Market Report for August 4, 2012

The good news is:
• Most of the blue chip indices closed at multi month highs on Friday.


The negatives

Last week was similar to the entire month of July in that the blue chips were up and the secondaries were down with a lot of volatility.

The chart below covers the past 6 months showing the S&P 500 (SPX) in red and the Russell 2000 (R2K) in green. The Y axis has been scaled logarithmically to give a clear indication of relative performance. Dashed vertical lines have been drawn on the 1st trading day of each month.

Most of the breadth indicators peaked in early February and since then the SPX has risen at a 10.1% annualized rate and the R2K has fallen at a 6.1% rate. That dichotomy was pronounced in July.

The next chart shows the NASDAQ composite (OTC) in blue and a 10% trend (19 day EMA) of NASDAQ new highs (OTC NH) in green.

OTC NH continued to fall last week.

The next chart covers the past 6 months showing the OTC in blue and a 40% trend (4 day EMA) of NASDAQ new highs divided by new highs + new lows (OTC HL Ratio) in red. Dashed horizontal lines have been drawn at 10% levels of the indicator the line is solid at the neutral 50% level.

OTC HL Ratio appears to be in a down trend and has remained below the neutral level for about 2 weeks.

Advance - Decline lines (ADL) are a running total of the number of declining issues subtracted from advancing issues.

The chart below covers the past 6 months showing the OTC in blue and an ADL calculated from NASDAQ issues (OTC ADL) in green.

OTC ADL typically has a slightly negative bias. That bias has been accentuated since early July.


The positives

About half of the issues traded on the NYSE are fixed income related and, thanks to the Fed's low interest rate policy, those issues have been doing well. Fixed income issues accumulate value daily until they go ex-dividend giving breadth indicators calculated from them an extremely positive bias.

The chart below covers the past 6 months showing the SPX in red and a 40% trend (4 day EMA) of NYSE new highs divided by new highs + new lows (NY HL Ratio) in black.

NY HL Ratio has held well above the neutral level, but appeared to be trending downward until last Friday. Now the trend is unclear.

The next chart covers the past 6 months showing the SPX in red and a 10% trend of NYSE new highs (NY NH) in green.

NY NH held up quite well in July, but failed to confirm the multi month high for the SPX last Friday.


Seasonality

Next week includes the 5 trading days prior to the 2nd Friday of August during the 4th year of the Presidential Cycle.

The tables below show the daily return on a percentage basis for the 5 trading days prior to the 2nd Friday of August during the 4th year of the Presidential Cycle.

OTC data covers the period from 1963 - 2011 and SPX data covers the period from 1953 - 2011. There are summaries for both the 4th year of the Presidential Cycle and all years combined. Prior to 1953 the market traded 6 days a week so that data has been ignored.

Average performance has been positive by all measures, but much stronger during the 4th year of the Presidential Cycle than other years.

Report for the week before the 2nd Friday of August.
The number following the year is the position in the Presidential Cycle.
Daily returns from Monday to 2nd Friday.

OTC Presidential Year 4
Year Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Totals 
1964-4 0.10% 0.17% 0.72% 0.47% 0.12% 1.58%
1968-4 -0.97% 0.40% 0.00% 0.42% -0.08% -0.23%
 
1972-4 0.02% -0.27% 0.11% 0.07% 0.64% 0.57%
1976-4 -0.34% 0.61% -0.09% 0.09% -0.09% 0.19%
1980-4 -0.35% 0.37% 0.54% 1.03% 0.37% 1.95%
1984-4 1.23% -0.07% -0.43% 0.93% 0.84% 2.50%
1988-4 -0.01% -0.88% -1.49% 0.16% -0.04% -2.27%
Avg 0.11% -0.05% -0.27% 0.46% 0.34% 0.59%
 
1992-4 -0.10% -0.27% -0.13% 0.02% 0.38% -0.10%
1996-4 -0.39% 0.75% 1.08% -0.32% -0.02% 1.11%
2000-4 2.00% -0.37% 0.13% -2.43% 0.78% 0.11%
2004-4 -0.13% 1.92% -1.45% -1.68% 0.27% -1.07%
2008-4 -1.10% 2.81% 1.21% -0.95% 2.48% 4.45%
Avg 0.05% 0.97% 0.17% -1.07% 0.78% 0.90%
 
OTC summary for Presidential Year 4 1964 - 2008
Avg 0.00% 0.43% 0.02% -0.18% 0.47% 0.73%
Win% 33% 58% 55% 67% 67% 67%
 
OTC summary for all years 1963 - 2011
Avg -0.38% 0.19% 0.14% 0.07% 0.02% 0.04%
Win% 41% 55% 63% 63% 47% 57%
 
SPX Presidential Year 4
Year Mon Tue Wed Thur Fri Totals
1956-4 -1.57% 0.61% 0.41% -0.08% -0.47% -1.10%
1960-4 0.14% 0.58% 0.41% 0.37% 0.68% 2.18%
1964-4 -0.10% -0.02% 0.50% 0.29% -0.07% 0.60%
1968-4 0.23% 0.41% 0.00% -0.22% -0.03% 0.39%
 
1972-4 0.16% 0.07% 0.15% 0.17% 0.81% 1.37%
1976-4 -0.29% 0.89% -0.34% 0.15% 0.03% 0.45%
1980-4 -0.19% -0.20% 0.67% 1.44% 0.25% 1.97%
1984-4 0.15% 0.07% -0.59% 2.34% -0.07% 1.90%
1988-4 -0.43% -1.29% -1.72% 0.32% -0.08% -3.20%
Avg -0.12% -0.09% -0.36% 0.89% 0.19% 0.50%
 
1992-4 0.13% -0.12% -0.27% -0.01% 0.52% 0.25%
1996-4 -0.34% 0.33% 0.27% -0.24% -0.07% -0.06%
2000-4 1.12% 0.24% -0.67% -0.86% 0.79% 0.62%
2004-4 0.12% 1.30% -0.30% -1.17% 0.15% 0.09%
2008-4 -0.90% 2.87% 0.34% -1.79% 2.39% 2.91%
Avg 0.03% 0.92% -0.13% -0.81% 0.76% 0.76%
 
SPX summary for Presidential Year 4 1956 - 2008
Avg -0.13% 0.41% -0.09% 0.05% 0.34% 0.60%
Win% 50% 71% 54% 50% 57% 79%
 
SPX summary for all years 1953 - 2008
Avg -0.34% 0.22% 0.08% 0.08% 0.05% 0.09%
Win% 39% 61% 53% 49% 53% 56%


Money Supply (M2)

The money supply chart was supplied by Gordon Harms. M2 growth increased last week.

M2


Conclusion

As measured by the S&P 500 August has been, by far, the strongest month of the 4th year of the Presidential Cycle.

I expect the major averages to be higher on Friday August 10 than they were on Friday August 3.

Last week the blue chips were up and the secondaries were down so I am calling last weeks positive forecast a tie.

This report is free to anyone who wants it, so please tell your friends. They can sign up at: http://alphaim.net/signup.html. If it is not for you, reply with REMOVE in the subject line.

In his latest newsletter, Jerry Minton explains the "Alpha Seasonal Index". You can get his bi-weekly letter free by subscribing at the home page at www.alphaim.net.

Good Luck,

YTD W 8 /L12/T 11

 

Back to homepage

Leave a comment

Leave a comment