Wednesday, May 1, 2013

If junk-bond mania is over, you wouldn't know it from the so-far shallow correction of a bull market that recently entered its fourth year (see inset).  There has yet to be an impulsive correction on the daily chart, which means that bulls must be given the benefit of the doubt no matter what one thinks of high-yields. A move to new highs would not be incongruous with the sub-2% yields that may lie ahead for the long bond. More on this will be forthcoming in a guest essay by our friend Doug Behnfield, a top financial advisor at USB.

Curiously, the E-Mini S&Ps are playing toe-sies once again with a major rally target first flagged here several weeks ago. Is a breakout imminent?  I've addressed this question in a tout published yesterday. The rally target and actionable advice can stand as written.

If the turgid price action of the last four days is a consolidation it's a weak one, judging from the futures' failure to 'actualize' minor impulsive thrusts on the hourly chart. Nevertheless, traders looking for a buying opportunity shouldn't hesitate to leverage a 'b-c' pullback from a top that falls within peaks #1 and #2, since that would be as good as it gets for creating subtle camouflage in advance of a breakout. Upside potential thereupon would be to 1528.10, the D target of the pattern shown.  _______ UPDATE (10:48 a.m. EDT):  Gold has relapsed and is down $28 at the moment. No bullish impulse leg was formed prior to the selloff, even on the lesser charts, and no buying opportunities were signaled.

Apple is one of the few stocks that actually budged yesterday, for whatever reason.  Bulls shouldn't break out the bubbly just yet, though, since the stock will need to hit 484.95 to turn the weekly chart impulsively bullish (see inset).  Moreover, the part of the rally between the two labeled peaks would need to be uncorrected in order to imply that the bear market in this stock is over. The trajectory of the rally is too steep to afford an easy entry, even by camouflage, but I'd suggest focusing on the 30-minute chart, where some serviceable 'external' peaks are visible, in search of buying handholds.

As if Wall Street’s sleazy, quasi-criminal ways were not proof enough that Western civilization is crumbling, we now have the sordid story of Farrah Abraham to remind us of oh-so-many other ways in which America is rapidly going to hell in a hand basket.  Ms. Abraham, 21, a reality TV star as well as the mother of four-year-old Sophia, has sold the rights to a sex tape she made to pornmeister Steve Hirsch for just under $1 million. If, as H.L. Mencken famously said, no one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public, then Hirsch stands to make back 20 times his investment. How can he miss? For in this case, “taste” embraces the voyeur’s fondness for anal sodomy. Clearly, Hirsch believes the audience for such entertainment is both eager and large. “I think many fans will be shocked at how truly explicit it is, including stunning backdoor scenes,” he told a panting press after closing the deal. As an aside, readers might be comforted to know that Ms. Abraham’s rectum would likely have suffered little damage during the shoot, since her sexual partner in the film, porn star James Deen, evidently has a small penis. This detail, seemingly at odds with Mr. Deen’s choice of careers, was revealed by Ms. Abraham herself, reportedly to get back at him for “leaking” the existence of the video before she was able to cut a deal. Exhibitionism’s Trail-Blazers Following a path to fame and riches blazed by heiress-cum-sodomist Paris Hilton and the miscgenating Kim Kardashian, Ms. Abraham took the high road in interviews by not citing either of those women as an inspiration.  Rather, she seems to be positioning herself somewhere between Joan of Arc and Hester Prynne, vowing to use the proceeds to complete her “Masters degree and