Tiresome as yesterday’s price action may have seemed, it nonetheless generated robustly bullish signals for stocks and gold.  Both vehicles marginally exceeded bullish price triggers that had been flagged in Wednesday’s Touts section. With respect to the Dow Industrials, we now expect a 500-point rally, presumably extending into early 2008. This is commensurate with a target in the E-Mini S&Ps that lies well above Wednesday’s settlement price. We can’t believe it either, and that’s why we plan to monitor the hourly chart closely for signs of a bearish turn.

The Hidden Pivot rally target became a “go” when the E-Mini exceeded the target’s sibling midpoint at 1506.50 by two points. That’s not much, and we acknowledged at the time that predicting a major rally on such evidence was highly speculative, akin to projecting the winner of a Presidential election based on results from West Virginia and New Hampshire. Even so, the pattern that produced the target is so clear that even a slight penetration of its midpoint must be regarded as unmistakably bullish. This is not withstanding the fact the Dow seemed to struggle to close just a smidgen higher yesterday, and that evidence is mounting daily that the weakness in the housing-sector could easily turn into a freefall.

Housing Decline Accelerating

Indeed, the New York Time reported yesterday that home prices across the U.S. had fallen for the tenth consecutive month. Not only that, “The one disconcerting thing about the number is the rate that prices are falling is accelerating,” said Patrick Newport, an economist at Global Insight, a research firm outside Boston. We linked the story, along with some other, equally sobering items, in the Intraday Notes section. There is no question in our mind that real estate, as well as the U.S. economy, is headed toward deep, deep trouble. Wall Street is bound to notice sooner or later, but until that happens, we’ll trust our technical indicators, even when they tell us, as they are doing now, that something so absurd as a major rally is about to occur.  This outlook is not chiseled in stone

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“While perusing some of your posts chronologically from months back, I'm truly struck by the remarkable prescience of many of your fearless calls. The results are uncannily accurate. Thanks again for this opportunity to profit from your usually directionally correct analyses. The subscription is worth every penny - and then some.”

-- Colin L. MacVeagh, a subscriber

Aloha Rick.  I just want to thank you personally for all of your posts in Comex Gold and Silver.  I have traded gold/silver futures for a decade and there is NO ONE who has identified prices as accurately as you do. FACT:  Your New Year's Eve call of a high at 643.10 call was dead-on (even if floor traders ran it up a few days later to flush the momentum traders.) But your subsequent forecast of a pullback low at 603.00 was mind boggling! I Sold my longs at 643.10 and covered my shorts at  603.00 -- the exact bottom.

   -- Mark Johnson, Hawaiian subscriber

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Want to learn exactly how I do it? Then click here for details concerning next month’s online Hidden Pivot Seminar on January 5-6 (Saturday/Sunday morning). Sign up now while there are still some seats left. The goal of this course is nothing less than to teach traders and investors of all levels of experience how to forecast stocks and commodities at least as accurately and confidently as those who do it successfully for a living.

With just a cursory understanding of the material taught in the course and a little bit of follow-up, you will never again have to ask an “expert” what he thinks about a particular stock or “the market.” That’s because you will be better equipped yourself to answer the question simply by looking at a few charts.

The course is not about technical analysis in the conventional sense, with its tired and overly scrutinized trendlines, its familiar oscillators, channels, volume indicators, and all the rest, Rather, it is a way of looking at charts with a fresh eye – to see charts as “art,” with emphasis on visual elements of harmony, symmetry, and, indeed, beauty. My annotated charts do not look even remotely like those of other technicians, and that is why the “buy” and “sell” signals that come from them rarely coincide with those favored and used by the herd.

Never Again Rely on ‘Experts’

The online class will be a particularly good opportunity for those who were unable to attend my classes last year in New York, Sydney, Vancouver, San Francisco and Denver. If you’ve visited the Rick’s Picks chat room and marveled at the forecasting skill of seminar grads, this course is designed to quickly bring you up to their level. While I cannot guarantee that the course will turn you into a fabulously rich trader,  I can promise, as stated above, that with a little diligence and practice, your ability to precisely predict price reversals in stocks, indexes, options and commodities will be at least as good as anyone whose forecasts you have ever paid for.

Although the on-site course was offered for as much as $2,000, I am offering it online for $960, since many of the expenses incurred in holding “live” seminars – including hotel and travel costs, and the rental of conference facilities -- are not a factor. If you are seriously interested in attending, click here for more information, or go directly to the registration page by clicking here, then clicking the “UPCOMING” tab.