Our good friends at Auerbach & Grayson are out with a storm warning for stocks and other risky assets in the first quarter. The dollar, on the other hand, is in a strong primary bull trend that should see significantly higher valuations in the months ahead, according to Richard Ross, A&G’s global technical strategist. Click here for the full 27-page report.
From the monthly archives:
December 2011
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We are long a single contract with a cost basis of 1156.00. The 17-point drop from Friday’s high missed our 1207.75 stop-loss by two ticks, but be prepared to exit on that number Sunday night. That would give us a gain worth a little more than $2500 on paper. ______ UPDATE (7:29 p.m. EST): The futures touched the stop moments ago, so we’ll move to the sidelines. It’s always hard to tell about these Sunday night shakedowns, but we’ll avoid this one since both ‘p’ (1206.00 ) and ‘D’ 1197.75 coincide with previous lows that are likely to entice the riff-raff into bottom-fishing. However, if the futures get away from the dirtballs who are maneuvering them lower at this moment, they could plummet to 1179.00. That’s a Hidden Pivot you can bottom-fish either with camouflage or an 1179.25 bid, stop 1178.25. Its ‘p’ sibling lies at 1202.00, but bidding there is suggested only for those able to employ camouflage. If an order fills there via a picture perfect ‘camo’ reversal, I’ll establish a tracking position of four contracts for your further guidance. _______ FURTHER GUIDANCE (11:12 a.m. EST): We initiated a long position at 1206.00 following a perfect ‘camo’ pattern off an overnight bottom at 1201.75. On the 10-minute chart, the abc coordinates — all single-bar! — lay, respectively, at 1201.75, 1207.75 and 1204.50. Two contracts were to have been exited at the 1207.50 ‘p’ midpoint, and a third at d=1210.50. This gave us a profit-adjusted cost basis of 1198.50 for the contract that remained. It was exited minutes ago at 1210.75, based on the bearish impulse leg created via a dip beneath the 1211.00 ‘external’ low recorded on the way up at 4:10 a.m. Our theoretical paper profit for each four-lot entered was $600. It would seem that in a trendless market that has been serving up crap for…months, that nailing tradable intraday swings in this vehicle is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.
Does the chart below of the Dow Industrial Average make you feel bullish? Bearish? Neutral? We’re not sure ourselves. Although we’ve been using technical analysis for nearly 40 years, the chart doesn’t speak to us. At best, it leaves us with only a moderately bullish bias for the near term – and a vague feeling that the meaningless price swings that have ruled the markets in 2011 could continue for longer than we would care to imagine, let alone explain This is hard to believe, especially with so many dreadnoughts bearing down on the global economy and banking system. The U.S. is re-entering a recession that never ended for most households. China has hit the brakes in preparation for a slowdown in global trade, and the country’s real estate bubble appears to be deflating with a vengeance. Jihadists are planning naval “maneuvers” in the Strait of Hormuz. Bird flu and the bubbling Yellowstone caldera threaten us with extinction.
Stocks and bullion were soft Sunday night in turgid action, so I’ve emphasized mildly bearish possibilities in my touts for index futures and bullion.
With the eyes of the world on Europe’s slow-motion train wreck, is it possible that MF Global, whose troubles were initially spun as an eentsy-weentsy $4B fender-bender, will turn out to be the Black Swan? The bankrupt broker’s saga has taken a fascinating new turn with news this weekend that the trustee plans to seize — and liquidate — gold and silver held for customers by MF Global. Click here for the full story at Jesse’s Cafe Americain.
We hold two open positions, one a partial butterfly spread that will give us some riskless leverage on a rally into year’s end if we can complete it with stocks sharply on-the-rise. Late Thursday night, index futures were up, but not by enough to suggest that DaScumballs were fixing to pull out the rug. It looks more like they are trying to restrain buyers, actually, with the goal of short-squeezing the opening on whatever news they’ve been told is coming. _______ UPDATE (4:01 a.m. EST): Overnight action has gifted us with a long trade in Feb Gold that is still “live,” and a profit-taking opportunity a single tick from our target and two ticks off the so-far high in the E-Mini S&P. Check out my updates for further, detailed trading guidance.
Overnight Rallies Are All DaBoyz Can Muster
by Rick Ackerman on December 20, 2011 3:26 am GMT · 7 comments
It’s getting a bit late for a Santa rally, but you can’t blame DaBoyz for trying – trying every night, actually, after most U.S. traders have gone to bed and there are almost no sellers to resist the stock market’s natural buoyancy in a time of unprecedented monetary easing. We’ve lost track of how many times in the last month index futures hit their highs in the wee hours, only to fall into the red during the regular trading session. It happened yet again Sunday night when the E-Mini S&Ps wafted the equivalent of 90 Dow points higher on volume-less trading before dropping sharply to close off a hundred points. » Read the full article