• 553 days Will The ECB Continue To Hike Rates?
  • 553 days Forbes: Aramco Remains Largest Company In The Middle East
  • 555 days Caltech Scientists Succesfully Beam Back Solar Power From Space
  • 954 days Could Crypto Overtake Traditional Investment?
  • 959 days Americans Still Quitting Jobs At Record Pace
  • 961 days FinTech Startups Tapping VC Money for ‘Immigrant Banking’
  • 964 days Is The Dollar Too Strong?
  • 964 days Big Tech Disappoints Investors on Earnings Calls
  • 965 days Fear And Celebration On Twitter as Musk Takes The Reins
  • 967 days China Is Quietly Trying To Distance Itself From Russia
  • 967 days Tech and Internet Giants’ Earnings In Focus After Netflix’s Stinker
  • 971 days Crypto Investors Won Big In 2021
  • 972 days The ‘Metaverse’ Economy Could be Worth $13 Trillion By 2030
  • 972 days Food Prices Are Skyrocketing As Putin’s War Persists
  • 975 days Pentagon Resignations Illustrate Our ‘Commercial’ Defense Dilemma
  • 975 days US Banks Shrug off Nearly $15 Billion In Russian Write-Offs
  • 978 days Cannabis Stocks in Holding Pattern Despite Positive Momentum
  • 979 days Is Musk A Bastion Of Free Speech Or Will His Absolutist Stance Backfire?
  • 979 days Two ETFs That Could Hedge Against Extreme Market Volatility
  • 981 days Are NFTs About To Take Over Gaming?
  1. Home
  2. Markets
  3. Other

Investor Sentiment: Bullish Fodder

The "It Takes Bulls To Make A Bull Market" scenario is playing out, and the best thing to do is not fight the tape. However, someone forgot to tell the Rydex market timers who continue to look for a top and short the market. For the last two months, they have become short covering fodder for the bulls.

The "Dumb Money" indicator is shown in figure 1. The "Dumb Money" indicator looks for extremes in the data from 4 different groups of investors who historically have been wrong on the market: 1) Investor Intelligence; 2) Market Vane; 3) American Association of Individual Investors; and 4) the put call ratio. The "dumb money" remains extremely bullish.

Figure 1. "Dumb Money" Indicator/ weekly

The "Smart Money" indicator is shown in figure 2. The "smart money" indicator is a composite of the following data: 1) public to specialist short ratio; 2) specialist short to total short ratio; 3) SP100 option traders. The "smart money" is neutral.

Figure 2. "Smart Money" Indicator/ weekly

Company insiders selling their shares to a less extreme degree. See figure 3, a weekly chart of the S&P500 with the Insider Score "entire market" value in the lower panel.

Figure 3. InsiderScore Entire Market/ weekly

Figure 4 is a daily chart of the S&P500 with the amount of assets in the Rydex bullish and leveraged funds versus the amount of assets in the leveraged and bearish funds. Not only do we get to see what direction these market timers think the market will go, but we also get to see how much conviction (i.e., leverage) they have in their beliefs. Typically, we want to bet against the Rydex market timer even though they only represent a small sample of the overall market. As of Friday's close, the assets in the bearish and leveraged funds were greater than the bullish and leveraged; referring to figure 4, this would put the red line greater than green line.

Figure 4. Rydex Bullish and Leveraged v. Bearish and Leveraged/ daily

There is no question that since July 8, 2009 the equity markets have been on a moon shoot. Over those 46 trading days the S&P500 has gained 18.1%. Bulls have thrown caution to the wind, and it is paying off for now. The market in its all knowing, all seeing ways is forecasting better times ahead. It is obvious that the bears cannot see this or they just don't get it. But as a trader or an investor, you a have a choice of where, when and how you want to play. Even with the Fed punch bowl over flowing, the equity trade is getting pretty crowded. Treasury bond ETF's are looking rather appealing. I still think the best course of action is not to fight the tape, and of course, don't become fodder for the bulls.

Over the past 5 weeks, I have been stating that the equity markets will trade in a range with an upward bias; shorting the market for more than the quick flip has become a difficult proposition. This has turned out to be a good "call" as it is all bulls all the time. It is just going to take time for the extreme bullish sentiment to unwind.

 

Back to homepage

Leave a comment

Leave a comment