By Lawrence G. McMillan
he technical picture continues to improve -- especially in the area of put-call ratios. However, $VIX is still elevated and $SPX is still trapped in a trading range. We need to see improvement in those areas before intermediate-term buy signals can emerge. $SPX is trapped in a trading range, with resistance at 1330-1340 and support at 1305.
Equity-only put-call ratios have now confirmed their buy signals.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
The stock market has virtually alternated strong up and down days of late, without much net change. This has created a trading range, within which we’ve seen a good deal of improvement from several of our technical indicators. Even so, the market must confirm these indicators’ buy signals with an upside breakout. Failure to do so would essentially negate those signals.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
After some relatively heavy, but orderly, selling in the past few weeks, oversold conditions finally reached levels that spawned a sharp oversold rally. But oversold rallies, while often unexpectedly strong, are generally short-lived affairs. There is certainly a good chance that this is the case again this time.
$SPX was able to rally to its declining 20-day moving average. There is further resistance at 1340.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
After some relatively heavy, but orderly, selling in the past few weeks, oversold conditions finally reached levels that spawned today’s sharp oversold rally. But oversold rallies, while often unexpectedly strong, are generally short-lived affairs.
Is that going to be the case again this time, or is the bottom in place? It’s too early to answer that question, but we’ll lay out the criteria as we see them.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
These days, there are more and more volatility indices and futures than ever. One can observe the same sorts of things about them that we do with $VIX futures – in particular, the futures premium and the term structure. We thought it would be an interesting exercise to see how these other markets’ futures constructs compare to that of $VIX. The $VIX construct, for a long time (see chart, page 12) has been that of large futures premiums and a steep upward slope to the term structure.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
The market just cannot get a rally together that is strong enough to erase the oversold conditions. There is now resitance at 1335, where the rally failed this week.
Equity-only put-call ratios continue to plow higher on their charts. They remain on sell signals.
Market breadth has been quite negative, and that is one of the major oversold conditions.
Volatility indices ($VIX and $VXO) have remained stubbornly high. As long as $VIX is above 21, that is bearish for stocks.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
Bond ETF’s (IEF and TLT) are both making all-time highs (in price). Stock volume patterns are very strong. This is the point that all the stock market bulls (especially on CNBC) seem to miss: yes, government bonds are yielding small interest rates, but if you own them, they are rising in price as the yield falls. In the last year, IEF (the Barclays 7 year - 10 year bond ETF) is up 15% in price, and TLT (the 20-year bond ETF) is up 35%!!! So what if they only yield 1.6% and 2.7%, respectively?
By Lawrence G. McMillan
Despite a rather severe oversold condition, there have been no actual confirmed buy signals issued yet. This oversold condition has persisted for the past couple of weeks, spurring modest rallies, but all that seems to have done is to ease the oversold condition a bit and make way for the next wave of selling, such as we saw today.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
As often happens on the first day of trading after a three-day weekend, the market is buffeted by cross-current, so there are several moves. Initially, the market was strong yesterday, topping out almost exactly at $SPX 1335. Then selling drove the index down about 16 points, before a late rally took it back to near the highs. Even though intraday volatility increased, actual (realized) volatility has not. Tonight, S&P futures were down about 14 points after more negative news out of Europe.
By Lawrence G. McMillan
The massive oversold condition that existed at the end of last week has spurred a rally this week. when the market is as oversold as it got last week, it usually rallies back slightly beyond its 20-day moving average. That moving average is currently at 1350.
The equity-only put-call ratios remain on sell signals.
Breadth has been slightly positive this week, but the breadth indicators continue to remain on sell signals and are still in oversold territory.
