Friday, February 23, 2007

Hula ‘Failure’ Poses a Threat

– Posted in: Current Touts

We've been using a 1469.50 rally target in the mini-S&P -- a so-called 'hula number.' This is a term that I apply to forecasts about which I am so certain that, if they do not pan out, I have pledged to don a grass skirt and dance the hula in Times Square in the middle of winter. (Look for me in front of the Marriott Marquis if the forecast goes awry.) In this particular instance, the 1469.50 price objective looked like such a lock that, for good measure, I've promised to add a cocoanut brassiere to my outfit. Considering that the S&P futures did nothing last week but screw around, coyly lapping at a ceiling a few measly points below my chiseled-in-concrete price objective, shouldn't I be getting a little nervous? Well, yes and no. (You didn't think I'd make such a ridiculous offer without having some fine print to extricate myself, did you?) No, because the fact that a hula number is not quite reached tells us, not that the forecast was wrong, but rather that the trend itself is about to reverse. The purpose of the hula number is to allow subscribers to very confidently get long or short at projected swing points, using stop-losses that risk mere pocket change if we are wrong. If the hula number is not reached, then it becomes a case of nothing ventured, nothing gained. But if I am not nervous about having to don a grass skirt, I am a little concerned about a bull cycle that has become so constipated that, in an entire week, it couldn't even deliver a few measly points to get us to the target. My hunch is that this problem will resolve itself either today or early next week, and that the futures will provide