The Fed did what?

March 4, 2020 By Mike Shell in Absolute Return, Asymmetric Observation, Asymmetric Risk Reward, Fed Decision, Federal Funds Rate, interest rates, The Fed (FOMC) Leave a comment

At 10 AM yesterday morning, the Fed cut rates.

The actual statement is worth reading.

March 03, 2020

Federal Reserve issues FOMC statement

For release at 10:00 a.m. EST

The fundamentals of the U.S. economy remain strong. However, the coronavirus poses evolving risks to economic activity. In light of these risks and in support of achieving its maximum employment and price stability goals, the Federal Open Market Committee decided today to lower the target range for the federal funds rate by 1/2 percentage point, to 1 to 1‑1/4 percent. The Committee is closely monitoring developments and their implications for the economic outlook and will use its tools and act as appropriate to support the economy.

Voting for the monetary policy action were Jerome H. Powell, Chair; John C. Williams, Vice Chair; Michelle W. Bowman; Lael Brainard; Richard H. Clarida; Patrick Harker; Robert S. Kaplan; Neel Kashkari; Loretta J. Mester; and Randal K. Quarles.

I highlighted in green the 10 AM spike up in the S&P 500 stock index. Then, after the initial reaction, the stock market trended down to close -2.8%.

stock market declined fed rate cut

Normally, an interest rate cut is positive for stocks. But, this time it was considered an “emergency” rate cut (the media term for it today) “In light of these risks and in support of achieving its maximum employment and price stability goals.”

The headlines were negative.

fed rate cut march 2020

Every new bear markets need a catalyst to get the blame. If this decline were to unfold into a material bear market, down -20% or more, it would be because of its valuation level of this aged bull market in stocks. As stated before, this economic expansion and the bear market is the longest ever in history in terms of time. At elevated valuation levels, we can expect higher volaltity expansion and deeper price swings. Although, these swings can also produce potential tactical trading proprieties.

According to the CME Fed Funds Futures Probability Tree, the futures market seems to expect rates are going much lower, like zero.

Fed Funds Futures Probability Tree Calculator

FOMC meetings probabilities are determined from the corresponding CME Group Fed Fund futures contracts. Probabilities of possible Fed Funds target rates are based on Fed Fund futures contract prices assuming that the rate hike is 0.25% (25 basis points) and assumes the Fed Funds Effective Rate (FFER) will react by a like amount. The probability of a rate hike is calculated by adding the probabilities of all target rate levels above the current target rate.

The Effective Fed Funds Rate long term historical trends are in the next chart.

Effective Fed Funds Rate March 2020

The US 10 Year Treasury Rate has fallen to its lowest level, ever, so it’s not in uncharted territory. With the 10 Year Treasury Rate at about 1%, it was 2.72% a year ago, and the long term average is 4.5%.

uncharted territory 10 year treasury rate

The 10-year treasury is the benchmark used to determine mortgage rates and the most liquid and most traded bond in the world. Financial analyst use the 10-year yield as their “risk-free” rate when valuing a stock, bond, or markets.

Low-interest rates are great for borrowers, but not savers. The continuation of the downtrend in interest rates will continue to punish those who save their money in the bank rather than invest it in stocks, bonds, etc.

Mike Shell is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Shell Capital Management, LLC, and the portfolio manager of ASYMMETRY® Global Tactical. Mike Shell and Shell Capital Management, LLC is a registered investment advisor in Florida, Tennessee, and Texas. Shell Capital is focused on asymmetric risk-reward and absolute return strategies and provides investment advice and portfolio management only to clients with a signed and executed investment management agreement. The observations shared on this website are for general information only and should not be construed as advice to buy or sell any security. Securities reflected are not intended to represent any client holdings or any recommendations made by the firm. I observe the charts and graphs to visually see what is going on with price trends and volatility, it is not intended to be used in making any determination as to when to buy or sell any security, or which security to buy or sell. Instead, these are observations of the data as a visual representation of what is going on with the trend and its volatility for situational awareness. I do not necessarily make any buy or sell decisions based on it. Any opinions expressed may change as subsequent conditions change. Do not make any investment decisions based on such information as it is subject to change. Investing involves risk, including the potential loss of principal an investor must be willing to bear. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. All information and data are deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. The presence of this website on the Internet shall in no direct or indirect way raise an implication that Shell Capital Management, LLC is offering to sell or soliciting to sell advisory services to residents of any state in which the firm is not registered as an investment advisor. The views and opinions expressed in ASYMMETRY® Observations are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect a position of Shell Capital Management, LLC. The use of this website is subject to its terms and conditions.

The Fed is at QE again

February 10, 2020 By Mike Shell in Asymmetric Observation, Fed Decision, Federal Funds Rate, interest rates, The Fed (FOMC) Leave a comment

The US Federal Reserve has been boosting liquidity supposedly since mid-September since a spike in the overnight lending rate shocked the financial system when the short-term rate spiked to 10% from 2% overnight in mid-September.

The Fed to start injecting capital through overnight market repurchase agreement operations “repos” on September 17. It’s a couple hundred billion dollars…

2019 2020 Quantiative Eeasing QE

The Fed also began monthly purchases of $60 billion in Treasury bills on October 15 to supposedly calm money markets.

fed purchase of treasuries 2020

So, the Fed is providing liquidity to markets again in the form of QE, they just aren’t labeling it as such. And… its trend is up.

Mike Shell is the Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Shell Capital Management, LLC, and the portfolio manager of ASYMMETRY® Global Tactical. Mike Shell and Shell Capital Management, LLC is a registered investment advisor in Florida, Tennessee, and Texas focused on asymmetric risk-reward and absolute return strategies and provides investment advice and portfolio management only to clients with a signed and executed investment management agreement. The observations shared on this website are for general information only and should not be construed as advice to buy or sell any security. Securities reflected are not intended to represent any client holdings or any recommendations made by the firm. Any opinions expressed may change as subsequent conditions change. Do not make any investment decisions based on such information as it is subject to change. Investing involves risk, including the potential loss of principal an investor must be willing to bear. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. All information and data are deemed reliable but is not guaranteed and should be independently verified. The presence of this website on the Internet shall in no direct or indirect way raise an implication that Shell Capital Management, LLC is offering to sell or soliciting to sell advisory services to residents of any state in which the firm is not registered as an investment advisor. The views and opinions expressed in ASYMMETRY® Observations are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect a position of Shell Capital Management, LLC. The use of this website is subject to its terms and conditions.

The Trend in Interest Rates and the Impact on the Economy and Stock Market

September 27, 2018 By Mike Shell in Active Risk Management, Asymmetric Observation, Asymmetric Risk Reward, Fed Decision, Federal Funds Rate, Global Directional Trends, interest rates, The Fed (FOMC), Trend Following Leave a comment

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates and raised expectations for a fourth rate hike in December. The Fed unanimously agreed to raise the federal funds rate a quarter percentage point, to a range of 2% to 2.25%.

But, what does that mean?

The Federal Funds Rate is the interest rate at which depository institutions like banks and credit unions lend their reserve balances to other banks and credit unions overnight, on an uncollateralized basis. The U.S. Target Federal Funds Rate is at 2.00%, compared to the previous market day and 1.00% last year. This is lower than the long-term average of 2.61%.

The interest rate the borrowing bank pays to the lending bank to borrow the funds is negotiated between the two banks. The weighted average of this rate across all such transactions is the Effective Federal Funds Rate. The Effective Federal Funds Rate is at 1.91%, compared to 1.91% last month and 1.16% last year. This is lower than the long-term average of 4.83%.

Below we chart the trend of the Federal Funds Rate and the Effective Federal Funds Rate over the past 5 years. The trend in interest rates is clear.

Federal Funds Rate Interest Rates Effective Target

Why do we care about rising interest rates?

The Federal Funds Rate drives interest rates for mortgages, consumer loans, and credit cards. For example, loans based on the prime rate will be adjusted to reflect the trend in the Federal Funds Rate.

The rising trend in interest rates impacts many things beyond consumer credit cards. Ultimately, when the cost of borrowing increases it can impact real estate, homebuilders, and home construction as I pointed out in Rising Interest Rate Impact on Real Estate and Home Construction.

We haven’t seen the Federal Funds Rate this high in over 10 years.

Federal Funds Interest rate last 10 years

The Federal Funds Rate was much higher at around 4.5% at the peak of the stock market in October 2007. The Fed quickly and sharply lowered interest rates in response to the economic recession in 2008. The U.S. Fed kept a zero interest rate policy like Japan from December 2008 through December 2015.

federal funds rate since october 2007 bull market peak

Many investors wonder how the change in the directional trend of interest rates impacts the stock market. It is no surprise that mutual fund companies who want investors to keep their money invested in their funds that stay fully invested all the time will present data showing rising interest rates don’t impact stocks.

The Fed has been steadily raising rates to keep the U.S. from growing so fast that inflation gets out of hand. Increasing the cost of borrowing will likely slow down spending at some point for both consumers and capital spending of businesses.

The Federal Funds Rate seems to trend follow the stock market. Looking at a chart from the stock market peak in January 2000, we see the Fed Funds Rate was 6%. The Fed lowered the rate to around 2% during the -50% stock market decline and economic recession. I marked the recession in gray.

FED FUNDS RATE TREND FOLLOWING STOCKS ECONOMIC RECESSION

The Fed naturally increases and decreases the Fed Funds Rate in response to changing conditions.

After an economic expansion and the stock market appears highly valued, the Fed begins to raise interest rates to prevent inflation.

After the stock market declines and an economic recession, the Fed begins to lower interest rates to help stimulate recovery. In the chart above, we can see the zero interest rate policy after the crash of 2008 -2009 is abnormal.

Below is the trend Federal Funds Rate going back to the 1950’s. The interest rate has been much higher in the past, but not kept so low.

federal fed funds rate long term history trend following

Now that interest rates are trending up again it’s going to be interesting to observe how it impacts the economy and the stock market.

Many investment advisors and fund companies will probably try to use the data to show a silver lining. If your money is invested buy and hold into funds that are fully exposed to market risks all the time, those funds incentive is to keep you invested in them regardless of the level of risk.

I don’t believe market returns give us what we want over a full market cycle. After the stock indexes have gained for 10 years without a -20% or more bear market, many investors have probably become complacent with their exposures to market risks. That is especially true with one the longest bull market in history and the second highest valuation.

Along with long uptrends, we can experience devastating downtrends that result in large losses. That’s what we’ve experienced the past 25 years. The giant uptrend 1995 – 1999 was reversed from 2000 -2003. The uptrend 2003 to 2007 was reversed 2008 – 2009 and didn’t recover its 2007 high until 2013.

Rather than full exposure to market risk and reward all the time, I believe we must manage risk to increase and decrease exposure to the possibility of gain and loss.

It doesn’t matter how much the return is if the downside risk is so high you tap out before it’s achieved.

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.

Rising Interest Rate Impact on Real Estate and Home Construction

September 26, 2018 By Mike Shell in Active Risk Management, Asymmetric Observation, Asymmetric Sector Exposure, Fed Decision, Global Directional Trends, interest rates, Sector ETF, Sector Rotation, Sector Trends, The Fed (FOMC), Trend Following Leave a comment

The Federal Reserve raised interest rates today and raised expectations for a fourth rate hike in December. They unanimously agreed to raise the federal funds rate a quarter percentage point, to a range of 2% to 2.25%. The rate helps drive interest rates for mortgages, consumer loans, and credit cards. In 2019, the Fed expects at least three more rate hikes.

The rising trend in interest rates impacts many things beyond consumer credit. Ultimately, when the cost of borrowing increases it can impact real estate, homebuilders, and home construction.

The price trend of homebuilders and home construction stocks is down. The ETF of home builders and home construction stocks is down about -20% from their highs in January.

SPDR® S&P Homebuilders ETF XHB iShares Home Construction ETF $ITB

The price trends in Homebuilders stock ETF (XHB) and Home Construction ETF (ITB) show they really haven’t recovered from the fall that started in 2007.

home builders construction ETF sector ETFs

Below we add the 10-year treasury rate. Rising interest rates may be having some impact on real estate home builders and construction.

rising interest rates impact on housing real estate home builders construction

Rising interest rates are supposed to boost the profit margins of financials like banks and insurance. However, so far we observe the bank stocks and insurance stocks ETFs are trending mostly sideways since interest rates moved higher.

Bank ETF insurance ETFs rising interest rates

Another real estate sector is represented by the Real Estate sector ETF (XLRE), which seeks to provide precise exposure to companies from real estate management and development and REITs, excluding mortgage REITs. I shared some observations about the overall real esate sector earlier this year in Interest Rate Trend and Rate Sensitive Sector Stocks. The impact of rising rates has continued.

rising interest rate impact on real estate REIT

A clearer observation is seen in the chart of homebuilders stocks along with the trend in the 15-year and 30-year mortgage rate.

rising mortgage rate homebuilders home construction

Clearly, there seems to be some correlation between rising rates and falling real estate sector and industry groups like homebuilders and home construction stocks.

This is why I shift between markets and sectors based on their price trends instead of just allocating capital to them regardless of their directional trend. It’s also why we manage our risk in absolute terms with our intention of avoiding large losses created by significant down-trending price trends. I rotate between world markets rather than allocate to them.

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 enthusiasm to sell overwhelmed the desire to buy March 19, 2018

March 19, 2018 By Mike Shell in Absolute Return, Actively Manage Risk, Adapting to Change, Asymmetric Observation, Counter trend, Global Directional Trends, Global Macro, Global Tactical Rotation, Hiring a Portfolio Manager, Independent Thinking, Investment Thought Leadership, Managed Volatility, Systematic Global Macro, Tactical ETF Managed Portfolio, The Fed (FOMC), Trend Following, U.S. Stock Market, VIX CBOE Volatility Index, Volatility Trading 3 Comments

The enthusiasm to sell overwhelmed the desire to buy. The S&P 500 stock index closed down -1.42% today. Stocks trended down most of the day and at 2:35pm it was down -2%. As you can see on the chart, it reversed up in the last 90 minutes and closed with positive directional movement. It almost closed above its Volume Weighted Average Price (VWAP).

There are many notable economic reports out this week, so maybe investors are concerned about to the jobs report and the Fed FOMC Meeting. The options market has priced in a 94% chance of a rate hike, so it shouldn’t be a surprise. But, this week is the first FOMC meeting for the new Chairman Powell.

Implied volatility in recent weeks is one of many signals that suggest a volatility regime change. The CBOE Volatility Index^® (VIX^® Index^®) is a key measure of market expectations of near-term volatility conveyed by S&P 500 stock index option prices. The VIX^® doesn’t seem to want to go back to those prior low levels, so the expectation is higher volatlity.

At this point, the decline today was nothing too abnormal. The stock index is -3.% off it’s high a few weeks ago and -5.4% off its all-time high. However, as you can see below it is within a normal trading range. Speaking of trading range, notice the bands of realized volatility I added to the chart are drifting sideways rather than trending up or down. I see higher lows, but equal highs in the most recent trend and lower highs looking back to January. The VIX is expected volatility, the blue bands are realized volatility.

My systems define this as a non-trending market. When I factor in how the range of price movement has spread out more than double what it was, I call it a non-trending volatile condition. It is useful for me to identify the market regime because different trend systems have different results based on the situation. For example, non-trending volatile market conditions can be hostile situations for both passive and trend following strategies. However, countertrend systems like the swings of a non-trending volatile market.

Trend following systems thrive in markets that are trending and smooth. When a market is trending and smooth, the trend following system can earn gains without having to deal with significant adverse price action. When a market trend shifts to non-trending and volatile, the trend following signals can result in whipsaws. A whipsaw is when the price was moving in one direction (and the trend follower buys) but then quickly reverses in the opposite direction (and maybe the trend follower exits with a loss). Even if the trend following system doesn’t enter and exit with a loss, in a non-trending volatile market the trend follower has to deal with the same hostile conditions as a passive investor as the market swings up and down.

My U. S. equity exposure since early February has come from my shorter term countertrend systems. My focus and the focus of my systems isn’t to predict the direction of markets but instead to identify when a market is undergoing a regime change or shifts to a distinct environment. I don’t analyze the markets to try to predict what it will do next. I look at what the market is actually doing and react to it.

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 @MikeWShell

The is no guarantee that any strategy will meet its objective. Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

Uncharted Territory from the Fed Buying Stocks

August 1, 2015 By Mike Shell in Absolute Return, Absolute Returns, Actively Manage Risk, Adapting to Change, Asymmetric Hedging, Asymmetric Observation, Average Length of Bull Bear Market, Business Cycle, Critical Thinking, Crowd Psychology, Dynamic Hedging, Fed Decision, Investor Behavior Modification, Positive Asymmetry, Risk Asymmetry, The Fed (FOMC) Leave a comment

I remember sometime after 2013 I told someone “The Fed is buying stocks and that’s partly why stocks have risen so surprisingly for so long”. He looked puzzled and didn’t seem to agree, or understand.

The U.S. Federal Reserve (the “Fed”) has been applying “quantitative easing” since the 2007 to 2009 “global financial crisis”. Quantitative easing (QE) is a type of monetary policy used by central banks to stimulate the economy when standard monetary policy has become ineffective. The Fed implements quantitative easing by buying financial assets from banks and other financial institutions. That raises the prices of those financial assets and lowers their interest rate or yield. It also increases the amount of money available in the economy. The magnitude they’ve done this over the past seven years has never been experience before. They are in uncharted territory.

I was reminded of what I said, “the Fed is buying stocks” when I read comments from Bill Gross in “Gross: Fed Slowly Recognizing ZIRP Has Downside Consequences”. He says companies are using easy money to buy their own stock:

Low interest rates have enabled Corporate America to borrow hundreds of billions of dollars “but instead of deploying the funds into the real economy,they have used the proceeds for stock buybacks. Corporate authorizations to buy back their own stock are running at an annual rate of $1.02 trillion so far in 2015, 18 percent above 2007’s record total of $863 billion, Gross said.

You see, if we want to know the truth about market dynamics; we necessarily have to think more deeply about how markets interact. Market dynamics aren’t always simple and obvious. I said, “The Fed is buying stocks” because their actions is driving the behavior of others. By taking actions to increase money supply in the economy and keep extremely low borrowing rates, the Fed has been driving demand for stocks.

But, it isn’t just companies buying their own stock back. It’s also investors buying stocks on margin. Margin is borrowed money that is used to purchase securities. At a brokerage firm it is referred to as “buying on margin”. For example, if we have $1 million in a brokerage account, we could borrow another $1 million “on margin” and invest twice as much. We would pay interest on the “margin loan”, but those rates have been very low for years. Margin interest rates have been 1 – 2%. You can probably see the attraction. If we invested in lower risk bonds earning 5% with $1 million, we would normally earn 5%, or $50,000 annually. If we borrowed another $1 million at 2% interest and invested the full $2 million at 5%, we would earn another 3%, or $30,000. The leverage of margin increased the return to 8%, or $80,000. Of course, when the price falls, the loss is also magnified. When the interest rate goes up, it reduces the profit. But rates have stayed low for so long this has driven margin demand.

While those who have their money sitting in in bank accounts and CDs have been brutally punished by near zero interest rates for many years, aggressive investors have borrowed at those low rates to magnify their return and risk in their investments. The Fed has kept borrowing costs extremely low and that is an incentive for margin.

In the chart below, the blue line is the S&P 500 stock index. The red line is NYSE Margin Debt. You may see the correlation. You may also notice that recessions (the grey area) occur after stock market peaks and high margin debt balances. That’s the downside: margin rates are at new highs, so when stocks do fall those investors will either have to exit their stocks to reduce risk or they’ll be forced to exit due to losses. If they don’t have a predefined exit, their broker has one for them: “a margin call”.

Source: http://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/charts/markets/nyse-margin-debt.html?NYSE-margin-debt-SPX-since-1995.gif

If you noticed, I said, “They are in uncharted territory”. I am not. I am always in uncharted territory, so I never am. I believe every new moment is unique, so I believe everyone is always in uncharted territory. Because I believe that, I embrace it. I embrace uncertainty and prepare for anything that can happen. It’s like watching a great movie. It would be no fun if we knew the outcome in advance.

What You Need to Know About Long Term Bond Trends

June 6, 2015 By Mike Shell in Absolute Return, Absolute Returns, Actively Manage Risk, Adapting to Change, Alternative Investment, Asymmetric Risk Reward, Average Length of Bull Bear Market, Business Cycle, Counter trend, Empirical Observation, ETF Strategist, Global Asset Allocation, Global Directional Trends, Global Macro, Global Tactical Rotation, Hiring a Portfolio Manager, Mean Reversion, Momentum Relative Strength, Quantitative Evidence-Based Rearch, Risk Asymmetry, Sector Trends, Tactical ETF Managed Portfolio, The Fed (FOMC) Leave a comment

There is a lot of talk about interest rates and bonds these days – for good reason. You see, interest rates have been in a downtrend for decades (as you’ll see later). When interest rates are falling, the price of bonds go up. I wrote in “Why So Stock Market Focused?” that you would have actually been better off investing in bonds the past 15 years over the S&P 500 stock index.

However, the risk for bond investors who have a fixed bond allocation is that interest rates eventually trend up for a long time and their bonds fall.

This year we see the impact of rising rates and the impact of falling bond prices in the chart below of the 20+ year Treasury bond. It’s down -15% off its high and since the yield is only around 2.5% the interest only adds about 1% over this period for a total return of -14.1%. Up until now, this long term Treasury index has been a good crutch for a global allocation portfolio. Now it’s more like a broken leg.

But, that’s not my main point today. Let’s look at the bigger picture. Below is the yield (interest rate) on the 10-Year U.S. government bond. Notice that the interest rate was as high as 9.5% in 1990 and has declined to as low as 1.5%. Just recently, it’s risen to 2.62%. If you were going to buy a bond for future interest income payments, would you rather invest in one at 9.5% or 1.5%? If you were going to lend money to someone, which rate would you prefer to receive? What is a “good deal” for you, the lender?

I like trends and being positioned in their direction since trends are more likely to continue than reverse, but they usually do eventually reverse when inertia comes along (like the Fed). If you care about managing downside risk you have to wonder: How much could this trend reverse and what could its impact be on fixed bond holdings? Well, we see below that the yield has declined about -70%. If we want to manage risk, we have to at least expect it could swing the other way.

One more observation. Germany is one of the largest countries in the world. Since April, the 10-year German bond interest rate has reversed up very sharp. What if U.S bonds did the same?

As I detailed in “Allocation to Stocks and Bonds is Unlikely to Give us What We Want” bonds are often considered a crutch for a global asset allocation portfolio. If you care about managing risk, you may consider that negative correlations don’t last forever. All trends change, eventually. You may also consider your risk of any fixed positions you have. I prefer to actively manage risk and shift between global markets based on their directional trends rather than a fixed allocation to them.

The good news is: by my measures, many bond markets have declined in the short term to a point they should at least reserve back up at least temporarily. What happens after that will determine if the longer trend continues or begins to reverse. The point is to avoid complacency and know in advance at what point you’ll exit to cut losses short…

As they say: “Past performance is no guarantee of the future“.

US Government Bonds Rise on Fed Rate Outlook?

March 23, 2015 By Mike Shell in Absolute Returns, Asymmetric Observation, Counter trend, Critical Thinking, Crowd Psychology, Data Driven Rearch, Fed Decision, Global Asset Allocation, Global Directional Trends, Global Macro, Global Tactical Rotation, Independent Thinking, Investor Behavior Modification, Investor Sentiment, Liquid Alternative, Quantitative Evidence-Based Rearch, Sector ETF, Sector Trends, Systematic Global Macro, Tactical Asset Allocation, Tactical ETF Portfolio Management, The Fed (FOMC), Trend Following Leave a comment

I saw the following headline this morning:

US Government Bonds Rise on Fed Rate Outlook

Wall Street Journal –

“U.S. government bonds strengthened on Monday after posing the biggest price rally in more than three months last week, as investors expect the Federal Reserve to take its time in raising interest rates.”

My focus is on directional price trends, not the news. I focus on what is actually happening, not what people think will happen. Below I drew a 3 month price chart of the 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF (TLT), I highlighted in green the time period since the Fed decision last week. You may agree that most of price action and directional trend changes happened before that date. In fact, the long-term bond index declined nearly 2 months before the decision, increased a few weeks prior, and has since drifted what I call “sideways”.

Charts created with http://www.stockcharts.com

To be sure, in the next chart I included an analog chart including the shorter durations of maturity. iShares 3-7 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEI) and iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF). Maybe there is some overreaction and under-reaction going on before the big “news”, if anything.

Do you still think the Fed news was “new information“?

Trends, Countertrends, in the U.S. Dollar, Gold, Currencies

March 19, 2015 By Mike Shell in Actively Manage Risk, Adapting to Change, Alternative Investment Strategy, Asymmetric Observation, Asymmetric Risk, Asymmetric Risk Reward, Counter trend, Data Driven Rearch, Empirical Observation, ETF Strategist, Fed Decision, Global Directional Trends, Global Macro, Market efficiency, Momentum Relative Strength, Quantitative Evidence-Based Rearch, Sector Trends, Tactical ETF Portfolio Management, The Fed (FOMC), Theory Driven Rearch, Trend Following Tags: Euro, Fed, Gold, Swiss Franc, U.S. Dollar Leave a comment

Trend is a direction that something is moving, developing, evolving, or changing. A trend is a directional drift, one way or another. When I speak of price trends, the directional drift of a price trend can be up, down, or sideways.

Trends trend to continue and are even more likely to continue than to reverse, because of inertia. Inertia is the resistance to change, including a resistance to change in direction. It’s an important physics concept to understand to understand price trends because inertia relates to momentum and velocity. A directional price trend that continues, or doesn’t change or reverse, has inertia. To understand directional price trends, we necessarily need to understand how a trend in motion is affected by external forces. For example, if a price trend is up and continues even with negative external news, in inertia or momentum is even more significant. Inertia is the amount of resistance to change in velocity. We can say that a directional price trend will continue moving at its current velocity until some force causes its speed or direction to change. A directional trend follower, then, wants keep exposure to that trend until its speed or direction does change. When a change happens, we call it a countertrend. A countertrend is a move against the prior or prevailing trend. A countertrend strategy tries to profit from a trend reversal in a directional trend that has moved to such a magnitude it comes more likely to reverse, at least briefly, than to continent. Even the best long-term trends have smaller reversals along the way, so countertrend systems try to profit from the shorter time frame oscillations.

“The one fact pertaining to all conditions is that they will change.”

—Charles Dow, 1900

One significant global macro trend I noticed that did show some “change” yesterday is the U.S. Dollar. The U.S. Dollar has been in a smooth drift up for nearly a year. I use the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish (UUP). Below, I start with a weekly chart showing a few years so you can see it was non-trending up until last summer. Clearly, the U.S. Dollar has been trending strongly since.

Next, we zoom in for a closer look. The the PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish (UUP) was down about -2% yesterday after the Fed Decision. Notice that I included a 50 day moving average, just to smooth out the price data to help illustrate its path. One day isn’t nearly enough to change a trend, but that one day red bar is greater in magnitude and had heavy volume. On the one hand, it could be the emotional reaction to non trend following traders. On the other, we’ll see over time if that markets a real change that becomes a reversal of this fine trend. The U.S. Dollar may move right back up and resume it’s trend…

chart source for the following charts: http://www.stockcharts.com

I am using actual ETFs only to illustrate their trends. One unique note about PowerShares DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund (Symbol: UUP) is the tax implications for currency limited partnership ETFs are subject to a 60 percent/40 percent blend, regardless of how long the shares are held. They also report on a K-1 instead of a 1099.

Why does the direction of the U.S. Dollar matter? It drives other markets. Understanding how global markets interact is an edge in global tactical trading. Below is a chart of Gold. I used the SPDR Gold Trust ETF as a proxy. Gold tends to trade the opposite of the U.S. Dollar.

When the U.S. Dollar is trending up, it also has an inverse correlation to foreign currencies priced in dollars. Below is the CurrencyShares Euro ETF.

Foreign currencies can have some risk. In January, the Swiss Franc gaped up sharply, but has since drifted back to where it was. Maybe that was an over-reaction? Markets aren’t so efficient. Below is a chart of the CurrencyShares Swiss Franc to illustrate its trend and countertrend moves.

None of this is a suggestion to buy or sell any of these, just an observation about directional trends, how they interact with each other, and countertrend moves (whether short term or long term). Clearly, there are trends…

To see how tactical decisions and understand how markets interacts results in my real performance, visit : ASYMMETRY^® Managed Accounts

Fed Decision and Market Reaction: Stocks and Bonds

March 18, 2015 By Mike Shell in Actively Manage Risk, Adapting to Change, Asymmetric Observation, Counter trend, Crowd Psychology, Empirical Observation, Fed Decision, Global Directional Trends, Global Macro, Independent Thinking, Investor Behavior Modification, Investor Sentiment, Quantitative Evidence-Based Rearch, Sector Rotation, Systematic Global Macro, Tactical ETF Portfolio Management, The Fed (FOMC) Leave a comment

So, I’m guessing most people would expect if the Fed signaled they are closer to a rate hike the stock and bond markets would fall. Rising interest rates typically drive down stocks along with bonds. Not the case as of 3pm today. Stocks were down about -1% prior to the announcement, reversed, and are now positive 1%. Even bonds are positive. Even the iShares Barclays 20+ Yr Treas.Bond (ETF) is up 1.4% today.

So much for expectations…

Below is snapshot of the headlines and stock price charts from Google Finance:

Source: https://www.google.com/finance?authuser=2

A One-Chart Preview of Today’s Fed Decision: This is what economists are expecting

March 18, 2015 By Mike Shell in Actively Manage Risk, Adapting to Change, Critical Thinking, Crowd Psychology, Fed Decision, Global Directional Trends, Independent Thinking, Tactical ETF Managed Portfolio, The Fed (FOMC) Tags: Fed Decision Leave a comment

I can’t image what it must be like sitting around watching and reading the news trying to figure out what the Fed is going to do next. Even if they could know, they still don’t know how the markets will react. New information may under-react to the news or overreact. Who believed there would be no inflation? bonds would have gained so much? the U.S. dollar would be so strong? Gold and oil would be so low? Expectations like that are a tough way to manage a portfolio. I instead predefine my risk and identify the actual direction and go with it. Others believe it comes down to a single word…

Bloomberg says: Here’s a One-Chart Preview of Today’s Fed Decision: This is what economists are expecting

By far the biggest question is whether the Fed will drop the word “patient” from its statement. If it does drop the word, it creates the possibility of a June rate hike, and it will mark the first time since the financial crisis that the Fed is offering no specific forward guidance as to when rate hikes will come.

About 90 percent of economists surveyed by Bloomberg expect the Federal Reserve to drop the word “patience” in today’s announcement.

source:http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-18/here-s-a-one-chart-preview-of-today-s-fed-decision

Markets don’t always react the way investors expect, so I focus on what is actually happening

October 20, 2014 By Mike Shell in Asymmetric Observation, Book Review, Critical Thinking, Crowd Psychology, Global Macro, Great Quotes, Hedge Funds, Investor Behavior Modification, Investor Sentiment, The Fed (FOMC), Trend Following Leave a comment

I noted the below question and answer between Jack Schwager and Ray Dalio in Jack’s book “Hedge Fund Market Wizards: How Winning Traders Win” (2012). Ray Dalio is the founder of Bridgewater, the largest hedge fund in the world and one of the most successful. I saved it when I read the book as a fine example that markets don’t always react the way people expect, and that is why I focus instead on what is actually happening rather than what could or should happen – but may not. Everything is very transient, coming and going, and it’s funny how some of the same kinds of things happen over and over again. As you read comments below you’ll hear it’s always a similar story, different day. 1982 was the end of a 20 year secular bear market made up of huge swings similar to the past decade and the beginning of the largest bull market on record up to 2000.

Below is Jack Schwager asking a question to Ray Dalio:

Any other early experiences stand out where the market behaved very differently from what you expected?

In 1982, we had worse economic conditions than we do right now. The unemployment rate was over 11 percent. It also seemed clear to me that Latin America was going to default on its debt. Since I knew that the money center banks had large amounts of their capital in Latin American debt, I assumed that a default would be terrible for the stock market. Then boom—in August, Mexico defaulted. The market responded with a big rally. In fact, that was the exact bottom of the stock market and the beginning of an 18-year bull market. That is certainly not what I would have expected to happen. That rally occurred because the Fed eased massively. I learned not to fight the Fed unless I had very good reasons to believe that their moves wouldn’t work. The Fed and other central banks have tremendous power. In both the abandonment of the gold standard in 1971 and in the Mexico default in 1982, I learned that a crisis development that leads to central banks easing and coming to the rescue can swamp the impact of the crisis itself.

Source: Schwager, Jack D. (2012-04-25). Hedge Fund Market Wizards (pp. 54-55). John Wiley and Sons. Kindle Edition.

All of this, everything that is happening and expected to happen, will be reflected in the directional trend and volatility of price. The directional price and range of prices (volatility) will overreact at times and under-react at others, but it will reflect what is actually going on. Because the direction and volatility of price “is” what matters.

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