What's next for the tax cut bull?

Mid-week market update: It was clear from yesterday's market action that the equity bull depends entirely on the success of the Republican tax cut bill. The market rallied on the news that the tax cut bill had made it out of Senate Budget Committee. It manage to shrug off the news of a possible government shutdown, and a North Korean ICBM test, which was later determined to have a range to reach the entire Continental United States.

The combination of the market enthusiasm yesterday and the strength in the Goldman Sachs high tax basket indicates that the market is discounting the passage of the bill.

The full post can be found at our new site here.

Things you don't see at market bottoms: Rational exuberance edition

It is said that while bottoms are events, but tops are processes. Translated, markets bottom out when panic sets in, and therefore they can be more easily identifiable. By contrast, market tops form when a series of conditions come together, but not necessarily all at the same time. My experience has shown that overly bullish sentiment should be viewed as a condition indicator, and not a market timing tool.

I have stated that while I don't believe that the stock market has made its final cyclical top, we are in the late stages of a bull market (see Risks are rising, but THE TOP is still ahead and Nearing the terminal phase of this equity bull). Nevertheless, psychology is getting a little frothy, which represent the pre-condition for a major top. This is just another post in a series of "things you don't see at market bottoms". Past editions of this series include:

• Things you don't see at market bottoms, 23-Jun-2017
• Things you don't see at market bottoms, 29-Jun-2017
• Things you don't see at market bottoms, bullish bandwagon edition
• Things you don't see at market bottoms, Retailphoria edition
• Things you don't see at market bottoms, Wild claims edition
• Things you don't see at market bottoms, No fear edition
• Things you don't see at market bottoms, Paris Hilton edition
• Things you don't see at market bottoms, Halloween edition
• Things you don't see at market bottoms, CFD edition

As a result, I am publishing another edition of "things you don't see at market bottoms".

The full post can be found at our new site here.

Embrace the Blow-off (but with a stop-loss discipline)

Preface: Explaining our market timing models
We maintain several market timing models, each with differing time horizons. The "Ultimate Market Timing Model" is a long-term market timing model based on the research outlined in our post, Building the ultimate market timing model. This model tends to generate only a handful of signals each decade.

The Trend Model is an asset allocation model which applies trend following principles based on the inputs of global stock and commodity price. This model has a shorter time horizon and tends to turn over about 4-6 times a year. In essence, it seeks to answer the question, "Is the trend in the global economy expansion (bullish) or contraction (bearish)?"

My inner trader uses the trading component of the Trend Model to look for changes in the direction of the main Trend Model signal. A bullish Trend Model signal that gets less bullish is a trading "sell" signal. Conversely, a bearish Trend Model signal that gets less bearish is a trading "buy" signal. The history of actual out-of-sample (not backtested) signals of the trading model are shown by the arrows in the chart below. Past trading of the trading model has shown turnover rates of about 200% per month.

The latest signals of each model are as follows:

• Ultimate market timing model: Buy equities*
• Trend Model signal: Bullish*
• Trading model: Bullish*

* The performance chart and model readings have been delayed by a week out of respect to our paying subscribers.

Update schedule: I generally update model readings on my site on weekends and tweet mid-week observations at @humblestudent. Subscribers will also receive email notices of any changes in my trading portfolio.


Yield Curve freakout
I received a considerable amounts of feedback to my post last week (see 2018 outlook: Last charge of the bulls) over my comments about the risks posed by a flattening yield curve. Interest in the term "flattening yield curve" has spiked, but consistent with levels last seen when the yield curve flattened to this level.

My readers highlighted some recently published articles indicating that a flattening yield curve doesn't matter.

• Scott Grannis wrote a thoughtful piece about the contrary indicators that point to a slowdown.
• Cullen Roche at Pragmatic Capitalism concluded that a flattening yield curve isn't a concern until it inverts, and that analysis from the Cleveland Fed indicated that the current yield curve implies a 12% chance of a recession.
• Tim Duy observed that a flattening yield curve is a typical market reaction in a tightening cycle, though it suggests that "the economy remain mired in a low rate environment for the foreseeable future" and the Fed probably didn't expect it to flatten this much.
• Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harder voiced concerns about inverting the yield curve in a Bloomberg interview.
• The San Francisco Fed released a paper entitled, "A new conundrum in the bond market?", that was reminiscent of Greenspan's hand wringing over the flattening yield curve even as the Fed raised rates in 2005.

I agree 100%. The more the authorities pay attention to a metric, the less the metric matters. In some instances, the metric can be gamed, just like China's regional GDP growth statistics.

Even though an inverted yield curve has been an uncanny leading indicator of recession, it may not work this time because of the effects of the Fed's quantitative easing (and now quantitative tightening) program on the bond market. Indeed, the Fed's own estimates showed that its QE programs had pushed the 10-year yield down by 100 bp, which had the effect of manipulating the shape of the yield curve.

There are sufficient contrary indicators that the economy is booming, and the near-term odds of a recession is low. Those conditions are consistent with my belief that the stock market is undergoing a terminal blow-off phase, but Scott Grannis' work also hint at how investors might look for signs of a market top.

Investors can embrace the blow-off, but I can also offer you some risk control techniques that can act as a kind of stop-loss discipline.

The full post can be found at our new site here.

Round number-itis at SPX 2600?

Mid-week market update: The mid-week market update is being published a day early because of the shortened trading week due to American Thanksgiving on Thursday.

You can tell a lot about market psychology by the way it reacts to news. Early Monday morning (Europe time) and before the market open, a grim Angela Merkel announced that coalition talks had collapsed, and she was unable to form a government. DAX futures instantly took a tumble, and so did US equity futures. Over the course of the European trading day, equity prices recovered and the DAX actually closed in the green. US stocks followed suit and closed with a slight gain. This was a signal that the market has a bullish short-term bias.

I issued a tactical "buy the dip" trading call for subscribers last Friday. Now that the SPX has risen to test resistance at 2600, which represents an all-time high, is it time to sell the rip?

The full post can be found at our new site here.

Relax! NAFTA isn't going to collapse

As American, Canadian and Mexican negotiators meet for a fifth round of NAFTA discussions in Mexico City, CNBC reported that a number of analysts are projecting significantly high odds that the trade pact would fall apart:

Jens Nordvig, Exante Data CEO, sent out a warning note Monday that his firm now sees a 30 to 40 percent chance of NAFTA "blowing up" by March.

While Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group said in a note Monday that he has long thought there was 50/50 chance NAFTA would fall apart, but he is also becoming increasingly concerned.

"The big risk is that trade tension in NAFTA spreads to a more global stage, for example if the EU sides with Mexico in WTO disputes. This is where the global risk grows very large," Nordvig said in an email.

Canada's McLean's magazine proclaimed in an article that, "If NAFTA dies, 'all hell will break loose'". As a consequence of these trade jitters, both Canadian and Mexican equities have underperformed American ones.

Relax, even if the Trump administration didn't get its way in its negotiations, the path to walking away from NAFTA will be long and difficult.

The full post can be found at our new site here.

2018 outlook: The last charge of the bulls

Preface: Explaining our market timing models
We maintain several market timing models, each with differing time horizons. The "Ultimate Market Timing Model" is a long-term market timing model based on the research outlined in our post, Building the ultimate market timing model. This model tends to generate only a handful of signals each decade.

The Trend Model is an asset allocation model which applies trend following principles based on the inputs of global stock and commodity price. This model has a shorter time horizon and tends to turn over about 4-6 times a year. In essence, it seeks to answer the question, "Is the trend in the global economy expansion (bullish) or contraction (bearish)?"

My inner trader uses the trading component of the Trend Model to look for changes in the direction of the main Trend Model signal. A bullish Trend Model signal that gets less bullish is a trading "sell" signal. Conversely, a bearish Trend Model signal that gets less bearish is a trading "buy" signal. The history of actual out-of-sample (not backtested) signals of the trading model are shown by the arrows in the chart below. Past trading of the trading model has shown turnover rates of about 200% per month.

The latest signals of each model are as follows:

• Ultimate market timing model: Buy equities*
• Trend Model signal: Bullish*
• Trading model: Bearish*

* The performance chart and model readings have been delayed by a week out of respect to our paying subscribers.

Update schedule: I generally update model readings on my site on weekends and tweet mid-week observations at @humblestudent. Subscribers will also receive email notices of any changes in my trading portfolio.


The outlook for 2018 
It`s that time of year, when investment strategists look ahead to the following year. I favor the analytical framework of New Deal democrat, who views the economy through the prism of coincident, short leading, and long leading indicators. I agree with NDD`s latest assessment that the short term outlook is very strong. While NDD scores the long term outlook as neutral, long leading indicators have been gradually deteriorating. A continuation of the Fed tightening cycle could see downward pressure to equities from either valuation or recessionary warnings by mid-year.

Enjoy the party for now. The global economy is undergoing a reflationary surge, and the outlook for Q1, and possibly Q2, is bright. Consequently, equity bulls are responding with one last charge.

Be warned, however, that the early part of 2018 could be as good as it gets for this cycle. Chris Puplava observed that consumer confidence is nearing the 90th percentile level going back to 1967.

Such readings have seen stock prices perform poorly over a 1-2 year time horizon. The latter half of 2018 could therefore be very bumpy.

The full post can be found at our new site here.

An orderly retreat, but getting oversold

Mid-week market update: After several weeks of waiting, evidence of near-term weakness and consolidation is finally appearing. The SPX violated an uptrend this week and it is undergoing a retreat or a period of sideways consolidation.

Until today, this orderly retreat in stock prices was enough to depress stock prices, but not enough to flash oversold readings. Today`s decline, however, is beginning to spark oversold readings, indicating that a tradeable bottom may occur in the next few days.

The full post can be found at our new site here.

Nervous about FANGs? Here is a washed-out high beta opportunity

Are you getting nervous about the FANG stocks? The debut of the FANG+ futures contract may mark a top for this group, as it presents an easy vehicle for hedgers to short these high beta stocks. But don't despair, consider this chart of the relative performance of a high beta group that is washed-out, and may present an opportunity for investors and traders who missed out on the FANG move.

Would you buy this?

The full post can be found at our new site here.

The tax reform jitters correction?

Preface: Explaining our market timing models
We maintain several market timing models, each with differing time horizons. The "Ultimate Market Timing Model" is a long-term market timing model based on the research outlined in our post, Building the ultimate market timing model. This model tends to generate only a handful of signals each decade.

The Trend Model is an asset allocation model which applies trend following principles based on the inputs of global stock and commodity price. This model has a shorter time horizon and tends to turn over about 4-6 times a year. In essence, it seeks to answer the question, "Is the trend in the global economy expansion (bullish) or contraction (bearish)?"

My inner trader uses the trading component of the Trend Model to look for changes in the direction of the main Trend Model signal. A bullish Trend Model signal that gets less bullish is a trading "sell" signal. Conversely, a bearish Trend Model signal that gets less bearish is a trading "buy" signal. The history of actual out-of-sample (not backtested) signals of the trading model are shown by the arrows in the chart below. Past trading of the trading model has shown turnover rates of about 200% per month.

The latest signals of each model are as follows:

• Ultimate market timing model: Buy equities*
• Trend Model signal: Bullish*
• Trading model: Bearish*

* The performance chart and model readings have been delayed by a week out of respect to our paying subscribers.

Update schedule: I generally update model readings on my site on weekends and tweet mid-week observations at @humblestudent. Subscribers will also receive email notices of any changes in my trading portfolio.


Tax reform jitters
This was the week that jitters over the Republican tax bill finally caught up with stock prices. Now that both the House Republicans and Senate Republicans have different versions of a tax bill, the market is waking up to the challenges ahead.

• Both Houses of Congress have to reconcile their bills, which may not be easy. Further bargaining lies ahead, which has the potential to dilute the bullish effects of any corporate tax cuts.
• Any bill will have to overcome the twin Byrd Rule hurdle of $1.5 trillion in incremental deficit in the next 10 years, and no further deficits after 10 years. Any violation of the Byrd Rule would require 60 votes in the Senate, which would be challenging as the GOP only has a 52-48 seat majority.
• The Roy Moore scandal is creating additional uncertainty, as a Moore loss in the December special election in could cut the Republican majority to a single vote in the Senate.

Even before stock prices got spooked, the market showed signs it was ready to go down. There were cautionary signals from risk appetite indicators, which signaled rising skepticism over the passage of any tax bill. The top panel depicts the relative performance of high beta vs. low volatility stocks as a metric of risk appetite. Risk appetite perked up in September as the odds of a tax cut became more likely, then flattened out into a range. This pair broke down through a relative support on Friday. The other pairs show the relative performance of "champagne" stocks Sotheby's (BID) and Tiffany's (TIF) against the market. The "champagne" stocks have been underperforming the market for the last few months, which is another sign of market skepticism that much was going to be accomplished on the tax bill.

As well, the latest update from John Butters of FactSet shows that the market reaction to earnings reports may be showing signs of bullish exhaustion. EPS beats were barely being rewarded, while misses were severely punished (annotations are mine).

The full post can be found at our new site here.

The market's report card on the GOP tax bill

Mid-week market update: The price action of stocks in the last few weeks makes it evident that US equities are awaiting the resolution of the Republican tax bill. This week will be critical for the progress of the bill through the House, as it is scheduled to be marked up in the Ways and Means committee. So far, the market verdict is not hopeful.

As the top panel of the chart below shows that high beta/low volatility pair, which is a proxy for risk appetite, rallied in September, followed by a range-bound market, indicating a lack of conviction. The bottom panel shows that this market has been mainly driven by momentum stocks.

Other market internals are also flashing warning messages for the bulls. From a political perspective, the tax bill is also running into trouble. These are all signs of likely corrective action ahead.

The full post can be found at our new site here.

Bull or bear?: It depends on your time horizon

Preface: Explaining our market timing models
We maintain several market timing models, each with differing time horizons. The "Ultimate Market Timing Model" is a long-term market timing model based on the research outlined in our post, Building the ultimate market timing model. This model tends to generate only a handful of signals each decade.

The Trend Model is an asset allocation model which applies trend following principles based on the inputs of global stock and commodity price. This model has a shorter time horizon and tends to turn over about 4-6 times a year. In essence, it seeks to answer the question, "Is the trend in the global economy expansion (bullish) or contraction (bearish)?"

My inner trader uses the trading component of the Trend Model to look for changes in the direction of the main Trend Model signal. A bullish Trend Model signal that gets less bullish is a trading "sell" signal. Conversely, a bearish Trend Model signal that gets less bearish is a trading "buy" signal. The history of actual out-of-sample (not backtested) signals of the trading model are shown by the arrows in the chart below. Past trading of the trading model has shown turnover rates of about 200% per month.

The latest signals of each model are as follows:

• Ultimate market timing model: Buy equities*
• Trend Model signal: Bullish*
• Trading model: Bearish*

* The performance chart and model readings have been delayed by a week out of respect to our paying subscribers.

Update schedule: I generally update model readings on my site on weekends and tweet mid-week observations at @humblestudent. Subscribers will also receive email notices of any changes in my trading portfolio.


Tops are processes
It is said that while market bottoms are events, which are sparked by emotional panic selling, tops are processes, which are the result of a series of connected episodes that depress prices. In the past few months, I have adopted the belief that the market is undergoing a topping process. Consequently, I become increasingly cautious about the stock market, though I do not believe that the ultimate top has been seen yet.

Here is what we know about the market on an intermediate term time frame:

• Positive momentum: The market has been supported by strong price, fundamental, and macro-economic momentum. Most macro models show that the risk of recession is low or nonexistent.
• Valuation: Valuation is stretched.
• Sentiment: Sentiment has been frothy, which is contrarian bearish.
• Technical: The pre-conditions for an intermediate or long-term top are not yet in place.
• Short-term outlook: Much depends on the fate of the GOP tax bill and the market's evaluation of other sources of risk, such as the Middle East.

Under these conditions, an investor could be either bullish or bearish and be correctly positioned. It just depends on the investment time horizon.

The full post can be found at our new site here.

A market volatility update

Mid-week market update: In my weekend post (see Good news, bad news from Earnings Season), I had identified several sources of potential market volatility this week:

• Mueller indictments
• GOP tax plan
• FOMC decision
• Fed chair nomination
• Key macro-economic reports

It's time for an update, and it spells caution for the bulls.

The full post can be found at our new site here.