Category Archives: Short Term Market Commentary

Asymmetric force was with the buyers

March 10, 2018 By in Actively Manage Risk, Adapting to Change, Asymmetric Investment Returns, Asymmetric Observation, Critical Thinking, Global Directional Trends, Independent Thinking, Momentum Relative Strength, S&P 500, Sector ETF, Sector Rotation, Sector Trends, Short Term Market Commentary, Systematic Global Macro, Tactical ETF Managed Portfolio, Trend Following, U.S. Stock Market Leave a comment

In Asymmetric force direction and size determines a trend, I explained how the net force of all the forces acting on a trend is the force that determines the direction. The force must be asymmetric as to direction and size to change the price and drive a directional trend.

The asymmetric force was with buyers as they dominated the directional trend on Friday.

Friday’s gain helped to push the stock market to a strong week and every sector gained.

The S&P 500 stock index is about -3% from it’s January high and closed slightly above the prior high last week. I consider this a short-term uptrend that will resume it’s longer-term uptrend if it can break into a new high above the January peak.

After declining sharply -10% to -12%, global equity markets are recovering. The good news for U.S. stocks is the Russell 2000 small company index is closest to its prior high. Small company leadership is considered bullish because it suggests equity investors are taking a risk on the smaller more nimble stocks.

As you can see in the chart, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and International Developed Countries (MSCI EAFE Europe, Australasia and Far East) are lagging so far off their lows but still recovering.

So far, so good, but only time will tell if these markets can exceed their old highs and breakout into new highs, or if they discover some resistance force at those levels and reverse back down. As we discussed in Asymmetric force direction and size determines a trend it’s going to depend on the direction and size of the buyers vs. sellers.

Mike Shell is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Shell Capital Management, LLC, and the portfolio manager of ASYMMETRY® Global Tactical.

You can follow ASYMMETRY® Observations by click on on “Get Updates by Email” on the top right or follow us on Twitter.

The observations shared in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. Investing involves risk including the potential loss of principal an investor must be willing to bear. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Buying demand dominated selling pressure in the stock market

March 5, 2018 By in Asymmetric Observation, S&P 500, Sector ETF, Sector Rotation, Short Term Market Commentary, Systematic Global Macro, Tactical Asset Allocation, Tactical ETF Managed Portfolio, Tactical ETF Portfolio Management, Trend Following, U.S. Stock Market 1 Comment

Past performance is no guarantee of future results and that was the case today. After last weeks Selling pressure overwhelms buying demand for stocks for the third day in a row the enthusiasm to buy overwhelmed the desire to sell. Market prices are driven by simple Economics 101: when buying enthusiasm overwhelms sellers, prices rise. The S&P 500 gained 1.16% today and seems to have found some buying interest at the prior range I highlighted in green.

stock market florida investment advisor

Sector breadth was strong with Utilities, Real Estate, and Financials leading the way.

Sector rotation trend following

We don’t just invest and trade in U.S. stocks and sectors, I look for trends globally across the world. Though the Global ETF Trends monitor below shows many international countries were in the green, the good ole USA was one of the biggest gainers today.

global tactical asset allocation trend following global tactical rotation

Back to the U.S. stock market, in the chart below, I added Kelner Channels to illustrate a few things.

Keltner Channels are volatility-based envelopes set above and below an exponential moving average. This indicator is similar to Bollinger Bands, which use the standard deviation to set the bands. Instead of using the standard deviation, Keltner Channels use the Average True Range (ATR) to set channel distance.

Kelner Channels show the range of volatility has spread out and got wider since the stock market price trend trended above the upper channel in January, suggesting its uptrend was abnormal.  Since then, the trend reversed down and again traded outside the range of the Kelner Channel on the downside. It’s a good example of how the market can overreact on both the upside and downside.

stock market trading range ATR

In the chart above, I also include the Relative Strength Index, which is on its 50-yard line. You can see how it was reading “overbought” in January (and had been for months), then after that extreme it became oversold. This kind of price action presented us with an opportunity to turn on the swing trading systems. My countertrend systems signaled short-term entries in several stocks and ETFs very near the low prices.

I pointed out in Stock Market Analysis of the S&P 500 on February 9th near the lows the breadth of the stock market was oversold at a lower risk. Market analysis is best used as a weight of the evidence. You can probably see how these different indicators signaled a countertrend move was possible and this time that has happened so far. I say this time because it’s always probabilistic, never a sure thing. If the stock market were going to trend down -50% over a two year period it would start off this way being “oversold” and look “washed out”, only to get worse as it swings up and down on it’s way to a lower low. During times like this, a skilled swing trader or countertrend systems can help to generate profits as price trends swing up and down.

Below is an updated chart of the percent of stocks in the S&P 500 that are trading above their 50-day moving average. 12% more stocks are trading above their 50-day moving average after today, bringing it to 32%. I point this out because it gives us an idea of how many stocks are still left to trend back up. That is, based on this breadth indicator, there is room for stocks to keep trending up if buyers continue their enthusiasm. This is the opposite of the condition in the last months of 2017 and January when 80% or more stocks were already in positive trends. To revisit this concept I encourage you to read Stock Market Analysis of the S&P 500. 

SPX S&P 500 stocks above the 50 day moving average SPY

The bottom line is, the supply and demand for the stock market seems to be shifting back in control of buyers for now. Only time will tell if it continues in the days and weeks ahead. This is just a quick market analysis to look at what is going on, not investment advice. Our investment management and advice are only offered through an investment management agreement. If you want investment management or advice, contact us.

 

Mike Shell is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Shell Capital Management, LLC, and the portfolio manager of ASYMMETRY® Global Tactical.

You can follow ASYMMETRY® Observations by click on on “Get Updates by Email” on the top right or follow us on Twitter.

Investment results are probabilistic, never a sure thing. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Selling pressure overcomes buying demand for second day in U.S. stock market

February 28, 2018 By in S&P 500, Short Term Market Commentary Leave a comment

When popular market indexes gain or lose 1% or more in a day, we’ll try to take the time to comment on it here. Go figure I said that yesterday, now I’m writing about it two days in a row.

Much like yesterday in Stock market indexes lost some buying enthusiasm for the day the S&P 500 stock index closed down 1.01% today. The SPY traded most of the day above yesterdays close, then broke below that level after 3PM. Like yesterday, the last trades were downside volume, which is selling pressure.

But, the above chart is the intraday price trend of what happened in a single day, today. We aren’t making decisions for such a short time frame. I only show the day to discuss today’s action. So far, it isn’t anything too unusual, but that could change.

What’s more important is a bigger picture. The chart below is still only two months, so not the big picture, but since the stock indexes are in a correction the last several weeks, I’m zooming in to see the detail. Two down days of -1% or more is evidence of some selling pressure and distribution, but so far it isn’t a change or trend direction. If the trend declines below the prior low, which I marked with the black line, then I wouldn’t be surprised to see if fall further. In other words, it should get some buying demand (support) at that level. If it doesn’t, we may see further downside. The reversal back up from the February 9th low could be coming to an end and set the stage for a retest of the low. Only time will tell. We’ll see. I don’t have a position in this, but the S&P 500 is a widely followed index we use as a market proxy.

I predefine my risk by knowing in advance when I’ll exit my positions if they decline. I do it to control my risk in each position and for drawdown control at the portfolio level.

Mike Shell is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Shell Capital Management, LLC, and the portfolio manager of ASYMMETRY® Global Tactical.

You can follow ASYMMETRY® Observations by click on on “Get Updates by Email” on the top right or follow us on Twitter.

Investment results are probabilistic, never a sure thing. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.