The Bull Heard Around the World

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. In addition to the term helicopter economics, we have also coined the term, helicopternomics, to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government and to update the old-fashioned term wheelbarrow economics.

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Almost every market throughout the world rallied on April 1st. In the morning (New York time) things didn't look promising. While most Asian markets had closed up nicely, all European bourses were down well into their trading day. Stocks in New York then gapped down sharply. Within a relatively short time, both New York and Europe reversed and then closed with good numbers. Today has been even more bullish. In Asia, the Hang Seng rose over 1000 points, closing up over 7%. The Nikkei went up over 4%. The Dax in Germany closed up more than 6%.

The European rally was helped by the ECB cutting interest rates by 25 basis points to 1.25%. They are also considering buying up toxic assets which the Fed in the U.S. has been doing for sometime now. At the G20 meeting in London, France and Germany pursued stronger financial regulation aimed at tax havens, hedge funds and rating agencies. European leaders said they had no need for stimulus plans because their more generous welfare systems kick in automatically with benefits for more people as the economy deteriorates. Obama kept emphasizing that 'we are all in this together'.

Meanwhile in the U.S., the financial accounting standards board FASB gave companies more leeway when valuing assets and reporting losses, providing a potential boost to battered banks' balance sheets. The mark to market system, will now be replaced with a mark to fantasy system. FASB made its move because of pressure from Capitol Hill. Our elected representatives are demanding rules that help companies mislead investors. In case you had any doubt whose side they are on, it should be pretty obvious with this action. If this was actually something that worked, Enron would managed to have avoided imploding and still be in business because it lied about its financial numbers. The banks may be able to carry on however since they have an apparently unlimited supply of freshly minted federal money available for continually bailing them out. Of course, like every other free lunch program the Feds have come up with, the costs for this one will be heavy indeed.

Money has flowed into stocks globally in the last two days and this indicates the big money is supporting the current rally - at least for awhile. The media has been filled with reports in the last week about how the rally was going to end any moment and investors had better get out. When it comes to deciding whether or not to listen to some know nothing windbag media pundit or the market, always chose the market. There is still a lot of danger in the financial system however with a lot more blow ups awaiting us. Enjoy the party while it lasts, but don't stay too long. The U.S. Employment Report tomorrow may trim the sails of this rally temporarily.

NEXT: U.S. Unemployment Rises to 15.6%

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer,New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

Dow Testing Low, Gold Testing High

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. In addition to the term helicopter economics, we have also coined the term, helicopternomics, to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government and to update the old-fashioned term wheelbarrow economics.

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So far today the Dow has fallen as low as 7553 and is closing in on its November low just under 7400. It is inevitable that it will test it and possibly the slightly lower 7200 area, which was the bottom in 2002/2003. Financial stocks are the culprits that are tanking the market today, with the sell off starting in Europe because of weakness in Eastern European banks. The tech heavy Nasdaq is still well above its November bottom. Gold has hit a 7-month high and oil looks like it has made a double bottom.

The U.S. stock market was actually in very good shape technically and breakouts were taking place until Treasury Secretary Geithner gave his talk on how he plans to deal with the ailing American banking system. The talk came across as Geithner fiddling around while the U.S financial system burned. Wall Street reacted with a sharp sell off and the incipient rally turned into a route for stocks. With friends like Geithner, the American investor doesn't need enemies.

While stocks are falling apart, gold and silver are breaking out through one point of resistance after another. Gold so far today has reached as high as 970 in futures trading and is closing in on its all time high in the 1000 area. Silver has broken above its 200-day moving average, but still needs to do some more work before it establishes a solid bullish pattern. Meanwhile, oil looks like it made a double bottom last Thursday when in fell into the 33's, just as it did on December 19th. Press stories about excessive supplies of oil are greatly exaggerated and are being generated by the big money interests that are short the market - don't believe them.

Problems with the global banking system are serious and are not likely to be solved for years to come. The market shouldn't be surprised by this anymore, but it is and will continue to be. The solution for all the major players will be money printing, more money printing and more money printing. Commodities will be the beneficiaries, while stocks decline or languish.

NEXT: SEC Discovers Fraud Exists/Smart Money Buys Gold

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer,New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

Synchronized Contractions Give Birth to Global Recession

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. In addition to the term helicopter economics, we have also coined the term, helicopternomics, to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government and to update the old-fashioned term wheelbarrow economics.

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Recently released manufacturing numbers in the U.S., Europe, and Asia are off the charts. Unfortunately the part of the charts they are off is the downside. While the media was trumpeting the biggest global expansion ever last year, the New York Investing meetup pointed out that every economic expansion in history has been followed by a contraction and therefore the biggest expansion ever was likely to be followed by the biggest contraction. The most recent figures for manufacturing activity show that this is exactly what is taking place.

In the U.S., the ISM fell to 36.2 (anything under 50 indicates contraction), the lowest since the recession of 1982. The Prices Paid component fell to 25.5, the lowest since 1949. Falling commodity prices were blamed for the sharp drop. The Order Backlog component was the lowest ever. Manufacturing in Europe isn't in any better shape. In Britain, the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply index fell to 34.4. The VTB Bank Europe Index for the Eurozone including Russia fell to 39.8. In Asia, two purchasing manager surveys in China fell to 38.8 and 40.9 respectively. The Yuan fell limit down on the news. As further corroboration of a global contraction, the most recently released semiconductor sale figures indicated a drop of 2.4% in sales year over year.

The markets didn't react kindly to this plethora of bad economic reports. As of this writing, NYMEX oil has dropped as low as $50.76. The markets in Europe had crash level drops on the day, with the exception of the FTSE in Britain, which missed the cut off by a hair. In the U.S., the Nasdaq and S&P 50 are trading at crash levels so far. This is taking place after the biggest up week for the U.S. indices since the mega-bear market in 1974. Last week the S&P 500 rose 12%, the Nasdaq 11%, and the Dow 9%. Too much, too fast is never sustainable in stock market action and today's trading is showing that once again the validity of this rule.

Retail reports for Black Friday aren't much to cheer about either. While sales supposedly went up 7.2% from last year, surveys indicate that 70% of shoppers purchased only deeply discounted items. So sales might hold up, but retail profits are likely to plummet. The desperation for bargains was so acute that a Walmart worker on Long Island was trampled to death. In bad economic times, the public's actions can indeed become quite ugly.

NEXT: NBER Admits that New York Investing Was Right

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer, New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

Short-Covering Rallies, Explosive and Brief

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. In addition to the term helicopter economics, we have also coined the term, helicopternomics, to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government and to update the old-fashioned term wheelbarrow economics.

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On Monday night New York time, the Nikkei in Japan hit a new intraday low dipping into the high 6000s (it was almost 40,000 at its peak in early 1990). An hour or two of sharp trading in either direction means very little in current market conditions though and the Nikkei reversed and closed up 6.4%. South Korea had the opposite trading pattern, being up 8% during the session, but closing down 3%. The Shanghai deposit had a similar loss and Singapore and Taiwan were flat. The sharp drops, which have been going on for some time in stock markets throughout the world, indicate increasing short positions. Eventually, the shorts become so large they create an unstable situation that can lead to sudden and explosive rallies.

This was no more clearly illustrated than when trading in Asia was winding down and Europe opened. A short squeeze in Volkswagen caused by Porsche announcing it was increasing its stake in the company caused a 348% rally in Volkswagen stock in only two days. Volkswagen briefly became the largest company in the world based on market capitalization (this would be a nonsensical claim by any other criteria). Volkswagen is part of the the DAX in Germany and its weighting in the 30 stock index rose to 27% creating a massive move up in the DAX as well. It was soon announced that Volkswagen's weighting in the DAX would be adjusted down to 10% in order to create a more realistic pricing situation. A number of major U.S. hedge funds and Goldman Sachs were caught on the wrong side of this melt up. While some media reported that Volkswagen experiencied the largest short squeeze ever, its price move pales in comparison to one that took place in Northern Pacific stock in the U.S. during 1901.

On Tuesday, the U.S markets opened with a strong bullish tilt, but at least at one point it looked like they would turn negative. A rumor in the afternoon that the Fed would cut rates to zero caused an explosive end of the day rally (neither truth, nor realistic claims are necessary preconditions for short squeezes). The S&P 500 ended up the most rising 92 points or 10.8%. The Dow was up 889 or 9.8%, the Nasdaq 144 or 9.5%, and the Russell 2000 trailed with a rise of 34 or 7.6%. The financials (the most shorted of all stock groups for good reason and despite the recent ban) had their biggest rally in history. Equally massive rallies took place that evening in the beaten down Asian indices, with Japan up 10% and South Korea 12%.

The U.S. Fed then announced at the close of its two-day meeting on Wednesday that it was cutting interest rates 50 basis points to 1% (the same interest rate that gave rise to the current credit crisis). Since this cut was expected and some traders were obviously looking for a lot more, it should have been more than fully priced into the market. Nevertheless U.S. markets rallied initially, but sold off at the very end of the day. On Thursday evening Japan followed up with its own rate cut of 20 basis points, leaving interests rates at just 0.30% (they've been lower there). The U.S. Fed will probably be getting close to that level soon enough. Japanese stocks fell 5% on the news because apparently the market wanted more. Technically speaking this was a stock market crash, but a drop of this magnitude has become so common in the last two months that no one pays particular attention anymore.

NEXT: U.S. Election's Impact on the Market

Daryl Montgomery

Organizer, New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

Stock Market Enters Bermuda Triangle

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. In addition to the term helicopter economics, we have also coined the term, helicopternomics, to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government and to update the old-fashioned term wheelbarrow economics.


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In technical analysis, a symmetrical triangle pattern usually indicates a continuation of a trend. The U.S. market indices look like they are making such a pattern on the charts. Triangles aren't the most reliable of chart patterns however and a break on both to the upside and downside is possible. If a downside break occurs, and this has not happened yet, then look for a test of the intraday lows of of around 7850 on the Dow, 840 on the S&P 500 and 1542 on Nasdaq. If successful, this could put in a double bottom and make a rally possible. A break of these levels would indicate a test of the 2002 lows on the Dow and S&P, at 7200 and 775, would likely take place.

While Monday was a good rally day in the U.S. markets, the action took place on below average volume indicating a lack of conviction in the buying. On Tuesday, the Dow was up an hour before the close and then experienced approximately a 250 point drop to end down 232 or 2.5% (It's volatility like this that is preventing the the market from getting anywhere on the upside). The Nasdaq was the hardest hit of all the indices because of bad tech earnings. It dropped 73 points or 4.1% to close below 1700 at 1696. The selling continued overnight in Asia, with Japan, Hong Kong and Korea experiencing another crash day. The Nikkei was down 6.8% or 632 points, but was still well above its 2003 low. Financials bore the brunt of the selling in Japan. The Hang Seng and KOSPI were down 5.2% and 5.1% respectively. Oil fell below $70 a barrel in Asian trading.

Things were a little better in European trading this morning, but not much. The 3 major indices, the FTSE, DAX and CAC-40 managed to hold their losses at the 4% level, just below the criteria for a crash. In a surprise move, Hungary raised interest rates 3% to protect the collapsing Forint. Surprisingly, despite all the global negativity, U.S. stock futures were up early on in pre-market trade. Wachovia's announcement of a $24 billion quarterly loss, the biggest for any U.S. financial company ever, seemed to have turned sentiment highly negative.

By a number of technical criteria, the U.S. markets should have bottomed by now. There has of course been a short-term rally, but the market is having trouble holding it. Not that the monetary and fiscal authorities haven't been trying to assist it, with one new program after another - and you can expect another 50 basis point rate cut from the Fed next week as well, with Fed funds returning to the 1.0% rate that caused the credit crisis in the first place. Right now bad earnings and negative outlooks are causing stocks to sell off. None of the major problems with the financial system have been permanently solved however. Expect them to continue showing up again and again, just when you least expect it.

NEXT: The House of Cards Economy

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer, New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

Will Double Digit Crashes Follow Triple Digit Losses?

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. In addition to the term helicopter economics, we have also coined the term, helicopternomics, to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government and to update the old-fashioned term wheelbarrow economics.

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In the last nine trading days the Dow has lost 2271 points or 20.9% of its value. Within this nine days there have been three or four days (depending on your definition) with market crashes. As of yesterday, there have been an unprecedented 6 trading days in a row with triple digit losses. The market meltdown is by no means limited to the U.S., but is global. As bad as the short-term picture is, the long-term could be much worse. Last night in Japan, the Nikkei began testing its 2002 low in a sell off that has lasted 18 years so far. If the U.S. markets follow this pattern, they will not bottom before 2225.

If you define a crash as a closing drop of 5% or more on the major indices, Thursday was the third crash day in less than two weeks (it was the fourth, if you just consider intraday drops). In an unusual trading pattern, the Dow and S&P were down more than the Nasdaq. This was caused by the SEC lifting the short selling ban on financials, which included Dow stocks GE and GM, and of which the Nasdaq has few. While the Nasdaq dropped 95 points or 5.5% to 1645, the Dow dropped 679 points or 7.3% to 8579 and the S&P dropped 75 points or 7.6% to 909. This was the first Dow close below 9000 in five years. The Russell 2000 dropped the most of all, losing 47 points or 8.7%. Trading volume was above average, but not at the spectacular level that indicates a wash out bottom. The VIX, the volatility index, hit 64.92 - way above its top of 55 in 2002, but still considerably below the historic 150 high during the 1987 crash.

As bad as it was in the U.S., worse things happened in overseas markets. The Nikkei dropped 1042 points or 11.4% to close at 8115. Drops greater than 8% took place in Australia, Hong Kong, India, the Philippines and Singapore. Indonesia closed its markets and suspended trading indefinitely. Russia did the same - again. Austria closed it market for half a day when stocks dropped 10% on the open. The major European indices were down 5% to 8% in mid-day trading. Light sweet crude fell below $82, but gold and silver both held up in the drop.

Markets don't go down forever and an explosive bounce will be taking place some time soon. Today, the Dow decisively broke its 200-month moving average (around 8470) on the open. Nasdaq and the S&P 500 broke this level several days ago. While a test of the 2002 lows for the S&P 500 and the Dow is now likely, Nasdaq may fare a little better. Look for support for the Dow around 7200/7300, S&P around 800, and Nasdaq around 1500. While it looks like we could be getting there today, market bottoms on Fridays are an unusual event.

NEXT: Do the Markets Indicate a Depression?

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer, New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

The New Crash Monday Phenomenon

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. In addition to the term helicopter economics, we have also coined the term, helicopternomics, to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government and to update the old-fashioned term wheelbarrow economics.

Our Videos Related to this Blog:

Three weeks ago, Monday was an ugly day in the U.S stock markets. The Dow was down around 500 points. The drop two weeks later on Monday was even worse, the Dow was down 778 points. At the bottom yesterday, another Monday, the Dow was off 822 points (it closed down only 370 or 3.6% however). The other indices were hit even harder. The bank failures, bailouts, and sometimes lack of bailouts that are taking place over the weekend are the cause of these Monday downward spirals. When the major bank failures end or the market hits a definitive bottom, Monday will once again be a safe day to be long in the market.

Unlike the previous Monday routes, significant intraday buying came in during the afternoon to lift the stock indices off their lows. It was reported that the shadowy U.S. government operation known as the plunge protection team had met in the morning and just before noon, a number of new Fed money pumping operations were announced (a lot more of the same things that haven't worked in the past). This didn't immediately reassure the market, which kept dropping until approximately 2:45. At the lows, the Dow hit 9503, the S&P 500 1008 and the Nasdaq 1777. The S&P and Nasdaq lows were in areas of strong chart support (mentioned in last Saturday's posting), the Dow's low was not. A strong rally followed and the Dow managed to close at 9955 (the first close below 10,000 since 2004), the S&P at 1057 and the Nasdaq at 1863. Europe though having closed before the rally period began lost heavily. The Euro Stoxx 600 index was down 7.6% on the day. As usual in times of market crisis, gold rallied closing up $33 and oil tanked closing down $6.07 at 87.81.

While yesterday's market action didn't feel like a definitive bottom, a number of indicators reached levels that have previously signaled bottoms. New Lows reached 1078 toward the close and anything over 1000 is typical of major bottoms. The VIX, a measure of market volatility, hit 58 during the day, it's high during 2002 was only 55 (however, it rose to 150 during the 1987 market meltdown and this could happen again). The TED spread, a measure of perceived credit risk in the economy, which had already blown past it's 1987 highs of around 3.00 in September, reached 3.91. Market breadth, with 15 to 1 declining stocks to advancing stocks on the NYSE was also indicative of a bottom. However, it was even worse last Monday. Volume was high on the Nasdaq, but not outrageously so, and only somewhat above average on the Dow - not signs of a washout. A successful test of yesterdays lows would create some reassurance that the market has indeed bottomed (at least for now).

Crash Mondays seem to always be followed by rally Tuesdays (although today may be an exception). The panicky authorities pull out all the stops to get the market going back up again. The Fed first announced that it's TAF auctions would now be for $150 billion each (they started at $20 billion last December). Funding limits for its other operations were raised as well. Last night Australia lowered rates a full percentage point, jumping the gun on a possible coordinated world-wide central bank interest rate cut. This morning the U.S. Fed announced that it will buy worthless commercial paper on the open market to unclog the credit system. Let me assure you that the stock market will eventually succumb to these manipulations and rise appropriately. Unfortunately, so will the price of everything else. You may have to sell some of those higher priced stocks in the future to pay for your $100 hamburgers.

NEXT: The Third Crash is the Charm - Fed to the Rescue

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer, New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.

Today's Global Stock Market Meltdown

The 'Helicopter Economics Investing Guide' is meant to help educate people on how to make profitable investing choices in the current economic environment. In addition to the term helicopter economics, we have also coined the term, helicopternomics, to describe the current monetary and fiscal policies of the U.S. government and to update the old-fashioned term wheelbarrow economics.

Our Videos Related to this Blog:

A market sell off spread around the globe last night and is about to reach U.S shores as this is being written. This current round of selling was precipitated by a banking crisis in a number of European countries and in Korea over the weekend. Several Eurozone states moved to guarantee bank deposits and large bank bailouts from last week had to be restructured to make them work. The Asian bourses and Israel was the first to open after this news and the pronounced selling took place from the get go, with a number of exchanges recording crash level drops.

The trouble started on Saturday when the a plan for a coordinated bailout of the European banking system fell apart. Sunday, Germany moved to guarantee all bank deposits (Ireland was the first to do so last week). Austria and Denmark quickly followed suit and then so did Sweden . At the same time, Euro governments moved to shore up a number of troubled banks to prevent the problem from spreading. Germany had to restructure the rescue deal for lender Hypo Real Estate (after only one week), BNP Paribas agreed to buy a majority stake in Fortis which had been partially nationalized by Belgium and the Netherlands last Monday, and UniCredit, Italy's second-biggest bank, announced that it needed to raise capital. Tiny Iceland looked like it was about to become the first country with a banking system that completely collapsed. Across the world in Asia, South Korea's finance minister said Korean banks were having trouble securing funds in foreign currencies and that the government would offer loans from its reserves.

When markets resumed trading, the results were ugly. Israel was down 7% at one point, as was Russia. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong and the mainland Shanghai index experienced crash level drops of 5.0% and 5.4% respectively. Indonesia was the worst hit market with a 10% drop. Australia, India, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand were hard hit as well. The Nikkei in Japan was in slightly better shape than China, falling only 4.25% to 10,473 (well below the low of 14,000 plus bottom that it hit in 1992).

Europe, which is still trading as this is being written, followed Asia's lead. The major stock indices - the DAX in Germany, the FTSE in England, and the CAC-40 in France all fell between 4% and 5% after trading opened. Smaller countries were fairing worse with Norway down 6% and Austria down more than 8%. Oil fell to just over $90 a barrel, but gold and silver were rallying as is usually the case during financial crises. As happened last Monday morning, the precious metal rallies were taking place even though the U.S. dollar was up (the euro was down two cents against it).

As has been the case ad nauseum, central banks in Europe were pumping huge amounts of liquidity into the financial system to control the crisis. None of the previous moves have had any lasting effects, nor will this one. The next likely government action is a coordinated global interest rate cut, which we should be seeing soon. When this doesn't work, you should assume that trading bans (such as no short selling at all) will be extended and then no selling at all will be allowed because the stock markets themselves will be closed down for a day or two or even a week or more.

The U.S. markets have just opened with the Dow down almost 300 points and the Nasdaq down more than 50. It should be an interesting day.

NEXT: The New Crash Monday Phenomenon

Daryl Montgomery
Organizer, New York Investing meetup
http://investing.meetup.com/21

This posting is editorial opinion. Like all other postings for this blog, there is no intention to endorse the purchase or sale of any security.