The Inquisitive Mind

This week’s brutal sell-off has resulted in large declines in many stocks. Looking at broad market statistics, the percentage of stocks which have fallen below key moving averages has exceeded previous corrections since the March 2009 lows. Here are some charts which show how broad the decline has been.
Percentage of Stocks above their 50 Day [...]

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The small cap Russell 2000 (RUT) index is reaching some fairly significant technical milestones which might be indicating that a short to intermediate term top is perhaps near. RUT finished Friday at a 52 week high of 666.02.
Measured Move Targets
This chart published by the Disqus user Joe8888 shows the measured move on the RUT quite [...]

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Over the past few months there has been a lot of investor interest in natural gas. The spot price of natural gas has collapsed to under $3 from a high of $14 last year. At the same time crude oil has rallied to a high of $74, from a low of $34. As a result [...]

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The first trading day of August saw two equity indices reach major milestones, a very rare occurrence. The S&P 500 index closed above the 1000 mark for the first time since last November, while the Nasdaq composite closed above 2000 for the first time since last October.
The S&P 500 has rallied almost 50% from the [...]

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Over the last month the equity markets have drifted downwards after the SPX failed to move beyond the 950 level after multiple attempts. During this period the 200 Day Moving Average has provided the market with a well defined level to trade off, with equities bouncing off this level multiple times. The 870 level on [...]

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The financial markets continued to trade in a choppy manner today. As I had anticipated, the price action on Friday, with the SPX opening at a new high but closing below prior highs (Trader Vic’s 2B pattern), resulted in more selling today. Equity markets gapped down open and were under negative pressure most of [...]

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The financial markets had a roller coaster ride today after the surprisingly lower loss in payrolls reported by the non-farm payrolls report. Equity futures shot up almost 1.5%, well above their 2009 highs, while treasuries were sold hard. After an initial sell-off, possibly related to automatic trading linked to equity futures, the dollar rallied with [...]

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Equity markets spent the day consolidating the gains of the past two days. All major equity indices reached new highs above yesterday’s highs, but could not hold that level. Treasury bonds got a slight bid after yesterday’s decimation. The dollar continued its downward slide with oil ramping up in sympathy. Risk appetite continued to be [...]

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The financial markets built upon the macro themes of the past week, as better than expected economic news from China and the USA lifted the equity markets. The GM bankruptcy filing was completely ignored by the market. The reflation trade was back in full force, and Treasuries were sold hard, with yields getting close [...]

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Asset prices went up across all asset classes on Friday, as stocks, bonds and commodities rallied with the US Dollar Index closing at the lowest level of the year. The equity markets had a spectacular finish after chopping in a tight range till the last half an hour. The energy sector outperformed most of the [...]

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