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

How Millennials Are Reshaping Real Estate

The real estate market is…

Strong U.S. Dollar Weighs On Blue Chip Earnings

Strong U.S. Dollar Weighs On Blue Chip Earnings

Earnings season is well underway,…

Trade In Counterfeit Goods Hits Half A Trillion Dollars

Trade In Counterfeit Goods Hits Half A Trillion Dollars

The counterfeit market has breached…

  1. Home
  2. Markets
  3. Other

Market Turning Points

Precision timing for all time frames through a multi-dimensional approach to technical
analysis: Cycles - Breadth - P&F and Fibonacci price projections
and occasional Elliott Wave analysis

"By the Law of Periodical Repetition, everything which has happened once must happen again, and again, and again -- and not capriciously, but at regular periods, and each thing in its own period, not another's, and each obeying its own law... The same Nature which delights in periodical repetition in the sky is the Nature which orders the affairs of the earth. Let us not underrate the value of that hint." ~ Mark Twain


Current Position of the Market

SPX: Very Long-term trend - The very-long-term cycles are in their down phases, and if they make their lows when expected (after this bull market is over), there will be another steep decline into late 2014. However, the Fed policy of keeping interest rates low has severely curtailed the full downward pressure potential of the 40-yr and 120-yr cycles.

Intermediate trend - Probably tracing out an ending diagonal pattern.

Analysis of the short-term trend is done on a daily basis with the help of hourly charts. It is an important adjunct to the analysis of daily and weekly charts which discusses the course of longer market trends.

Daily market analysis of the short term trend is reserved for subscribers. If you would like to sign up for a FREE 4-week trial period of daily comments, please let me know at ajg@cybertrails.com.


SHORT-TERM VS. LONG-TERM

Market Overview

It takes a while to discern the long-term patterns of the stock market. Only when they near completion do they become identifiable. Take the DJIA and SPX for instance. Since the beginning of the year, they have been engaged in a series of short-term gyrations which have not followed through, but have caused the bulls and the bears to re-state their firm convictions about the market. This is about to come to an end! A pattern is becoming clear and it favors the bears.

The long-term pattern, which is more easily identified in the DJIA, appears to be an ending diagonal pattern, normally associated with a market top. That the market is making a top in this time frame is perfectly consistent with the long-term Kress cycles that may (finally!) be rolling over for a low in the Fall. In the past, the 40-year cycle has been very regular, making its low in 1934, in 1974, and now scheduled to do so again in 2014. Since, by definition, a long-term cycle decline should start after a long-term top has been created by the market and since the 40-year cycle is just now -- after thirty-nine and a half years -- beginning to roll over for its final plunge, it is about time that this phenomenon should appear. Let's go directly to the Chart Analysis section and discuss this topping pattern in detail.


Chart Analysis

An ending diagonal consists of 5 waves: three up and two down. Each wave becomes shorter and shorter, but with the last one normally being longer that the next to the last. Since it is easier to recognize in the DJIA, let's start by analyzing this index.

Below is a chart of the daily DJIA (courtesy of QChart.com). I have outlined in red the pattern in question, although the first wave actually starts with the previous uptrend. Besides the above description, each wave of the diagonal is made up of three smaller waves. I have labeled the main waves a-b-c-d, with e on the way, and the smaller waves have been identified as well. We appear to be in the small b wave of the final e wave. We'll discuss the short-term later, but for now, be aware that the last wave is often an overthrow, as shown on the chart.

According to Bulkowski and many others, after the pattern is complete the minimum retracement is to the beginning of the pattern -- in this case, 14719.

Dow Jones Industrial Average Daily Chart
Larger Image

In earlier letters, I have mentioned that the cyclical configuration called for a potential top in early May. Since we now have guidelines for the completion in term of price and time, all we have to do is to sit back and wait to see if the analysis is correct.

Let's now turn to the daily SPX chart (also courtesy of QCharts.com) and analyze it on a pure technical basis. First, just a brief mention that the diagonal pattern is also apparent here, but not as well defined as in the DJIA. The SPX is rising in a wedge pattern which is characterized by deceleration apparent especially in the MACD which is remaining barely positive (but in a generally declining trend since the beginning of March) and is in the process of rolling over again. The Friday decline has done technical damage to the other two oscillators as well: especially the A/D which started its decline on Thursday and has now gone negative, while the SRSI is neutral but has crossed below its slower MA. All in all, this is not a very bullish picture, but not decisively bearish, either. As long as the price remains above its MAs and especially above the heavy red trend line, the index has not started a confirmed downtrend.

S&P500 Daily Chart
Larger Image

For a closer look at the current short-term correction which I warned about in the last newsletter, let's take a look at the hourly SPX chart (courtesy of QCharts.com).

When the former decline bottomed at 1814 and started to move up, it became possible to establish several channels the steepest and narrowest of which signaled that a new short-term uptrend had started when it was penetrated to the upside. The widest one (heavy red lines) caused the rally to find resistance and come to an end after making a small double top. The latest short-term correction started from the second top and immediately broke out of a new uptrend channel to confirm the end of the rally. However, shortly after doing so, prices decelerated visibly and appeared to be forming a small base from which to turn upward again. So, is the decline really over?

It could be but probably not, for several reasons. First, note that the current pull-back has only retraced less than .38 of the entire rally. That does not seem quite enough for a market which is apparently making a topping pattern. There was a near-term phase projection to that level and the index also found support on its 200-hr MA which is fairly common and which would account for this pause in the downtrend. But, in spite of a deeply oversold SRSI and A/D oscillator, the entire complex of oscillators does not seem quite ready for a reversal which could take SPX to a new high. It would be more credible if some basing action (including positive divergence) was apparent in all three oscillators.

Most likely, the index is getting ready to extend its decline to the next P&F projection (taken across the entire rally top) and that would take it down to about 1840 which happens to be a former support level around which prices gyrated for some time. But first, a little bounce is not out of the question.

Obviously, if SPX takes off on the upside Monday morning with strong volume and A/Ds support, the above scenario will have to be discarded. As of now, however, it is favored.

S&P500 60-Minute Chart
Larger Image


Cycles

"A short-term cycle high was expected over the week-end, so it could have topped on Thursday. If not, on Monday." - Actually, the top came on Tuesday and was followed by a brief period of distribution before the decline started.

There is a potential short-term cycle low due on Monday which could wait until Tuesday to bottom. This would give SPX plenty of time to bounce for a few hours, and resume its decline to the lower projection.

More important cycles are expected to top in the first couple of weeks of May. This would allow DJIA to complete its diagonal pattern before starting a protracted decline.


Breadth

Below, we have the McClellan Oscillators and the Summation Index (courtesy of StockCharts.com).

The rally took the McClellan Oscillator to about the level of its former high before it turned down again. If we continue the correction, it should drop one more time toward the green line which represents an oversold level.

NYSI did not rally enough to get above its former top and re-establish its uptrend. Further correction in the NYMO would turn it down again, as well as its oscillator. Note that the MACD has remained negative throughout the entire rally.

NYSE McClellan Oscillator Daily Chart

NYSE Summation Index Daily Chart


Sentiment Indicators

The SentimenTrader (courtesy of same) long-term and short-term indicators reversed positions this past Friday, with the long-term climbing a notch as a result of the rally. It is not yet significant, but the trend is in the right direction if we are looking for a top.

Sentiment Weekly Readings

VIX (CBOE volatility Index)

If we accept that the DJIA, SPX and even the NYA are making topping patterns in the form of ending diagonals while other indices such as Russell 2000 and NDX appear to have already topped, it is easy to understand why VIX, which is more geared to the former, has not been anxious to break out on the upside. In fact, the pattern that it is making is inversely similar to that of the DJIA. It will start to move up in a substantial uptrend when the DJIA et al. have completed their formations.

VIX Daily Chart
Larger Image

XLF (Financial ETF)

XLF continues to lag SPX, but it has made a somewhat similar pattern over the last few weeks. If SPX makes a new high, XLF may not do so, but the time frame of their tops should coincide.

XLF Daily Chart
Larger Image

TLT (20+yr Treasury Bond Fund)

TLT is slowly grinding upward and could soon reach its top channel line where it should find resistance; but perhaps not for long if the market is making an important top.

TLT Daily Chart
Larger Image


GLD (ETF for gold)

GLD has found support back-testing its downtrend line. It now needs to get back above the 200-DMA and again challenge the mid-channel line. The fact that it is past the mid-point of its cycle does not necessarily mean that it must now decline. There could be a larger cycle taking hold which will cause right translation in the 25-wk cycle and simply create a consolidation in a new uptrend when the smaller cycle makes its low. For now, as long as the dollar does not start a new uptrend of its own, GLD does not have to continue its short-term decline. The two oscillators look favorable to an attempt at resuming the uptrend, but we'll need to give it a little more time to prove itself capable of doing so.

Gold ETF Daily Chart
Larger Image


UUP (dollar ETF)

UUP continues to linger in what could become a basing formation. While it has not yet broken its downtrend line, neither has it been severely repelled by it. My guess is that it will eventually work its way through it but remain lethargic while it continues to trade in a narrow range.

Dollar ETF Daily Chart
Larger Image


USO (US Oil Fund)

For the second time USO has found resistance at an internal trend line which has been providing both support and resistance over the past nine months. It is now about to challenge its uptrend line and, slightly below it, its 200-DMA. This is an index which has made little progress since the start of the bull market and which may eventually break below its long-term support line when a severe market correction begins.

United States Oil Fund Daily Chart
Larger Image


Summary

I have presented a case for the formation of an important market top in the DJIA. At this time, it is a possibility which borders on probability, but which is by no means certain until it has been proven correct by the market itself. The good news is that we should know quickly whether or not this is a valid interpretation of the market's position. Early May is a time to be especially alert for the verification of the scenario presented above.

 


FREE TRIAL SUBSCRIPTON

Market Turning Points is an uncommonly dependable, reasonably priced service providing intra-day market updates, explanations, and commentary, plus detailed weekend reports. It is ideally suited to traders, but it can also be valuable to longer-term holders since price projections are provided using Point & Figure analysis along with best-time estimates obtained from cycle analysis.

For a FREE 4-week trial, Send an email to: ajg@cybertrails.com

For further subscription options, payment plans, weekly newsletters, and for general information, I encourage you to visit my NEW website at www.marketurningpoints.com. By clicking on "Free Newsletter" you can bring up the latest newsletter which is normally posted on Sunday afternoons (unless it happens to be a 3-day weekend; in which case it could be posted on Monday).

 

Back to homepage

Leave a comment

Leave a comment