Friday, October 9, 2015

Friday

Unfortunately, Thursday was one of those occasional days where time just dribbled through my hands like grains of sand as a host of pesky obligations kept me from doing what I enjoy most.  I had no time at all to watch the market, much less write about it.  Looks like it turned out to be another good day though, so my call was wrong again.  Not that that particularly bothers me since I made money as I'm always net long.  The only damage was to my pride.

But I guess we'll just have to let it go at that.  So I've got nothing for Friday and I also intend to take Monday off as the bond markets will be closed and it's sort of a semi-holiday.  That's all she didn't even write.  See you again Monday night!


Accuracy: 


Month    right  wrong  no call  conditional  batting   Dow
                                             average  points
January    8      6       4           1       0.563    627
February   6      4       5           3       0.692    183
March      7      6       5           4       0.647    976
April      3      8       7           0       0.273      1
May        6      5       5           2       0.615    581
June       8      6       3           4       0.706    552
July      10      1       5           4       0.938   1212
August    10      2       3           2       0.857   2314

September  7      4       8           1       0.667   1404

October    1      4       1           0       0.200     31

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Thursday lower

The Hoot 
Actionable ideas for the busy trader delivered daily right up front
  • Thursday lower.
  • ES pivot 1979.67.  Holding below is bearish.
  • Rest of week bias lower technically.
  • Monthly outlook: bias higher.
  • Single stock trader: VZ not a swing trade buy.
Recap

Well that was interesting. I was reasonably certain that with the Dow having hit its upper BB on Tuesday with a spinning top reversal candle it would go lower on Wednesday. But no such luck. Instead it gained 122 points to continue its recent week and a half long winning streak. So let's check the charts to see how that changes the picture for Thursday.SWISS VINTAGE train travel poster ROCHERS DE NAYE mntns LAKE GENEVA 24X36

The technicals

The Dow:  On Wednesday, the Dow rejected Tuesday's spinning top in a big way to continue crawling up its upper BB for the third day in a row. That has now left the indicators all extremely overbought with RSI having hit 98.64. Of note too is that the stochastic is now perfectly primed for a bearish crossover that could happen any moment. So although this is not a bearish reversal candle it is questionable how much further the Dow can move without reversing course at least for a day.

The VIX:  Similarly, on Wednesday the VIX rejected the spinning top that it put in on Tuesday to descend further on an inverted hammer to close down to 18.40. It is tracking its lower BB and has hit zero, and that's as low as it goes folks. The stochastic has actually fallen off the bottom of my chart and is now primed for a bullish crossover. So with a reversal candle in place here I would give better than even odds that the VIX goes higher on Thursday

Market index futures: Tonight, all three futures are lower at 12:23 AM EDT with ES down 0.52 %. I based my call for a lower close Wednesday in part on a red spinning top reversal candle in ES from Tuesday. Instead, on Wednesday ES put in a tall green marubozu that brought it all the way back up to month-long resistance at 1988, sent the indicators to highly overbought levels and moved the stochastic into position for a bearish crossover. However we remain in a rising RTC and this trend is far from over. On the other hand the new overnight is experiencing a fairly significant move lower and that bodes ill for Thursday.

ES daily pivot: Tonight the ES daily pivot rises again from 1971.08 to 1979.67.  That movr now puts ES back below its new pivot so this indicator turns bearish.

Dollar index:  After bumping into its 200-day MA on Monday the dollar gave it all back on Tuesday and then some on a tall red candle. But on Wednesday it finished essentially unchanged on a small doji star. The indicators continue falling but have not yet hit oversold so what we have here is a reversal warning of a move higher but one which requires confirmation.

Euro:  The euro meanwhile simply continues bouncing around in a two week long consolidation range bounded from below by 1.114 and from above by approximately 1.1300. After a nice gain on Tuesday it was unable to make any further headway on Wednesday and closed right back down to 1.1263 on a small red doji star. And the new overnight isn't doing much of anything so this chart continues to remain conflicted without any clear direction.  I woudn't be trading this currency at the moment.

Transportation:  Finally on Wednesday the trans outperformed the Dow by nearly a factor of two. They easily cleared resistance at 8085on a tall green marubozu that keeps them in a nearly two week long rising RTC. Indicators are now very overbought and the stochastic is in position to form a bearish crossover any day now. But without an actual reversal candle I cannot call this chart lower just yet.

Accuracy: 

Month    right  wrong  no call  conditional  batting   Dow
                                             average  points
January    8      6       4           1       0.563    627
February   6      4       5           3       0.692    183
March      7      6       5           4       0.647    976
April      3      8       7           0       0.273      1
May        6      5       5           2       0.615    581
June       8      6       3           4       0.706    552
July      10      1       5           4       0.938   1212
August    10      2       3           2       0.857   2314

September  7      4       8           1       0.667   1404

October    1      3       1           0       0.250    169


     And the winner is...

It sometimes happens that I am a day early in my calls and I'm thinking that this is one of those times. All of the forces that were in play last night are still there tonight only more so. And this time we're getting some better confirmation in the form of futures that are moving lower non-trivially. So I'm going to give it another try and once again call Thursday lower.
Single Stock Trader

I was thinking that Verizon looked toppy last night and indeed it came back in on Wednesday confirming Tuesday's tall inverted hammer with a lopsided green long-legged spinning top. Indicators continue to rise though but have not yet hit overbought. That leaves this chart in a very mixed up state but it is definitely not in my preferred swing buy mode at the moment.

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Wednesday lower

The Hoot 
Actionable ideas for the busy trader delivered daily right up front
  • Wednesday lower.
  • ES pivot 1971.08.  Holding below is bearish.
  • Rest of week bias lower technically.
  • Monthly outlook: bias higher.
  • Single stock trader: VZ not a swing trade buy.
Recap

Last night I was getting mixed messages fro the charts and therefore called Tuesday uncertain.  And hey lookee - the Dow ended up just 14 points while the SPX dropped seven.  There was really no way to call something like that.  So let's continue right on to Wednesday and see if we get some more clarity.

Unfortunately, this was yet another day when I kinda just ran out of time to do the actual writing so what you get is another famous Night Owl Lite.  All results, no blathering.  We'll resume the usual chart analysis tomorrow.

The technicals

...are skipped tonight...

Accuracy: 

Month    right  wrong  no call  conditional  batting   Dow
                                             average  points
January    8      6       4           1       0.563    627
February   6      4       5           3       0.692    183
March      7      6       5           4       0.647    976
April      3      8       7           0       0.273      1
May        6      5       5           2       0.615    581
June       8      6       3           4       0.706    552
July      10      1       5           4       0.938   1212
August    10      2       3           2       0.857   2314

September  7      4       8           1       0.667   1404

October    1      2       1           0       0.333    291


     And the winner is...

While I didn't write my usual piece about each chart tonight, I did analyze them and I'm seeing a number of decent reversal signs, and unlike last night the charts are in sufficient agreement now to call Wednesday lower.

Single Stock Trader


VX looking toppy right now.

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Tuesday uncertain

The Hoot 
Actionable ideas for the busy trader delivered daily right up front
  • Tuesday uncertain.
  • ES pivot 1964.00.  Holding above is bullish.
  • Rest of week bias uncertain technically.
  • Monthly outlook: bias higher.
  • Single stock trader: VZ still not a swing trade buy.
Recap

SWISS VINTAGE train travel poster ROCHERS DE NAYE mntns LAKE GENEVA 24X36Last Friday was something of a question mark as all the charts were posting reversal warnings. But in the end I was correct in ignoring those because on Monday the Dow posted a big 304 point pop that extended its winning streak to essentially five in a row. The market is now clearly on a roll so we need to see how much longer this can go on as we move ahead to the charts for Tuesday.

The technicals

The Dow:  The Dow was quite impressive on Monday putting in a 1.85% gain on a tall green marubozu that took it all the way to its upper BB. That also sent the indicators overbought for the first time in three weeks and caused the stochastic to show the first signs of curving around for a bearish crossover. So those are warning signs of a move lower but they all require confirmation. Basically it's still too soon to call this one lower for Tuesday.

The VIX:  Last night I called for the VIX to hit it lower BB at 19.30 one on Monday. Turns out the low for the day was actually 19.14 as the VIX put in a stubby red gap down hammer. We have now bounced off the lower BB but the indicators continue to fall and have not yet reached oversold. And the stochastic has still not begun to curve around for a bullish crossover. So while we do have a reversal warning now, it is a weak one and I need some confirmation of a move higher on Tuesday before calling an end to the current decline in the VIX.

Market index futures: Tonight, all three futures are lower at 12:48 AM EDT with ES down 0.20%. ES had a great day on Monday making this rally now four in a row. It is now quite clearly more than a relief rally or a DCB as September's big descending RTC is definitely done for. We are still a ways from resistance at 1988 but after having run hard for four days in a row and with the indicators just short of overbought and a stochastic beginning to curve around for a bearish crossover I'm starting to wonder if ES has enough gas left in the tank to continue moving higher on Tuesday.

ES daily pivot: Tonight the ES daily pivot rises again from 1923.25 to 1964.00. That once again leaves ES above its new pivot so this indicator continues bullish.

Dollar index:  On Monday the dollar confirmed Friday's giant gap-down doji star in a big way as it gained 0.28% stopping only at its 200-day MA. Indicators are now wandering around halfway between oversold and overbought so there's not much guidance there. However the Friday reversal followed by a nice bullish confirmation makes it look like the dollar still has enough gas in the tank to put in another advance on Tuesday.

Euro:  Last night I said there continued to be no direction in the euro and Mondays action did nothing to change that view as the euro gave up all of last Friday's gains and then some falling right back down to 1.1192 and stopping exactly on its 200-day MA. The indicators are now halfway between oversold and overbought so there is nothing to learn from them. The question is will the MA provide support or not. Right now it's looking in the overnight as though it just might. Still with a bearish candle on the books on Monday it's not at all clear that the euro won't continue lower on Tuesday.

Transportation:  I wasn't ready to commit to the trans last night either which is too bad because they outperformed even the Dow on Monday with a giant 2.31% green marubozu. That was enough to send the trans overbought even though the stochastic is still rising and has not begun to curve around for a bearish crossover. My only concern right now is that this chart looks like it is going exponential and that would make it ripe for a pullback which could come any day at this point.

Accuracy: 

Month    right  wrong  no call  conditional  batting   Dow
                                             average  points
January    8      6       4           1       0.563    627
February   6      4       5           3       0.692    183
March      7      6       5           4       0.647    976
April      3      8       7           0       0.273      1
May        6      5       5           2       0.615    581
June       8      6       3           4       0.706    552
July      10      1       5           4       0.938   1212
August    10      2       3           2       0.857   2314

September  7      4       8           1       0.667   1404

October    1      2       0           0       0.333    291


     And the winner is...

Technically tonight most of the signs remain bullish but there are a few areas of concern, like the VIX and the futures.  So I'm hesitant to call the market higher again, particularly after such a nice run.  On the other hand, there's not really enough bearish signs to call it lower.  So I guess all that leaves is Tuesday uncertain.

Single Stock Trader

Last night I was playing it conservatively after watching Verizon bleed for more than two weeks straight. But on Monday it turned out that last Friday's hammer was in fact the bottom as Verizon posted a big 2.71% gap-up marubozu on Monday. That was enough to vault it right out of its two week long descending RTC , send all the indicators rising off of oversold, and confirm the bullish crossover from the stochastic. So while we missed the bottom on this one this chart now looks like a buy to me.

Monday, October 5, 2015

Monday higher

The Hoot 
Actionable ideas for the busy trader delivered daily right up front
  • Monday higher.
  • ES pivot 1923.25.  Holding above is bullish.
  • Rest of week bias higher technically.
  • Monthly outlook: bias lower.
  • Single stock trader: VZ still not a swing trade buy.
SWISS VINTAGE train travel poster ROCHERS DE NAYE mntns LAKE GENEVA 24X36Recap

Last Thursday night you may recall that I made a conditional call for Friday claiming that the market would close higher if ES managed to stay or rise above its new pivot by the middle of the morning. Well it ended up taking a little longer than that and it wasn't until 12:40 PM that ES made that decisive break through its pivot after which it did indeed close higher. But it didn't quite meet the criteria for the conditional call so we count that as a miss. Still the general idea was sound as the move above the pivot did result in a higher close. Now let's considered the charts as we continue on to the first full day first full week of October.
The technicals

The Dow:  Wow - that sure was interesting! Last Thursday night I was hesitant to call the Dow lower on Friday and good thing too because it ended up gaining 200 points. That completely disconfirmed Thursday's doji star and sent all the indicators continuing on their way towards overbought but they're not there yet. The stochastic similarly has yet to even near the conditions for a bearish crossover. However the candle was a gigantic green hanging man. I'm not quite sure what to make of that long lower shadow that nearly touched the lower BB at 15,978. So we have a conflict here tonight - a reversal warning candle but three out of four recent up days establishing a new rising RTC. Which one gets confirmed on Monday? I have no idea. Once again, we require confirmation.


The VIXAnd by the same logic I wouldn't call the VIX higher on Friday either which was also good because it fell over 7% on a tall red bearish engulfing pattern to remain inside a new descending RTC of its own. Indicators continue falling but have not yet hit oversold and the stochastic is not quite in position to start forming a bullish crossover. We are also very close to the magic 20 handle and with the lower BB at 19.31 I wouldn't be surprised to see the VIX test that level on Monday.

Market index futures: Tonight, all three futures are higher at 12:50AM EDT with ES up 0.12%. Like all the other charts last Friday ES put in some decent gains but on a tall hanging man candle. That makes it three up in a row for three white crows. The indicators continue to rise but have not yet hit overbought. Interestingly, in the overnight we see that OBV has started falling for the first time in a week. My guess would be that we could be in for something of a pause or a pullback here on Monday were it not for the fact that ES continues to rise in the Sunday overnight.

ES daily pivot: Tonight the ES daily pivot rises again from 1912.17 to 1923.25.  ES remains well above its new pivot so this indicator continues bullish.

Dollar index:  I was right about the dollar last Thursday night when I said it was going to go lower on Friday because it lost 0.37% on a giant hanging man of its own just as we've seen in so many other charts tonight. This one actually tested its 200-day MA before recovering. This also had the effect of causing the stochastic to turn around for a bullish crossover from a high level. Those are often good for a move higher in the next day or two so that leaves us with mixed messages on this chart tonight. We have a bearish reversal warning but some bullish looking indicators so there's just no calling this.

Euro:  On the other hand I was wrong, very wrong about the euro last Friday as it did indeed confirm the spinning top that I discounted Thursday night by putting in a second giant green spinning top, one that hit 1.1331 before falling back to close at 1.1241. It also busted right through its 200-day MA but for all that action it remains in a wide consolidation zone that's been going on for 2 weeks now with no definitive break one way or the other. With the overnight losing just a bit there is really no clear direction here for the euro on Monday.

Transportation:  And finally the trans continued their own advance on Friday after with a pattern that looks very much like the Dow. They put in four nice days of gains after bouncing off their lower BB last week, but they also gave us a tall hanging man with a very long lower shadow. That is a clear reversal warning but one which requires confirmation on Monday so we can't make a call here tonight either.

Accuracy: 

Month    right  wrong  no call  conditional  batting   Dow
                                             average  points
January    8      6       4           1       0.563    627
February   6      4       5           3       0.692    183
March      7      6       5           4       0.647    976
April      3      8       7           0       0.273      1
May        6      5       5           2       0.615    581
June       8      6       3           4       0.706    552
July      10      1       5           4       0.938   1212
August    10      2       3           2       0.857   2314

September  7      4       8           1       0.667   1404

October    0      2       0           0       0.000    -13


     And the winner is...

Just about every chart has the same thing going tonight - a tall hammer/hanging man reversal warning.  However, that always requires confirmation.  I also have the feeling that the tall tail in all these candles was news-driven on Friday.  If we discount it, then we get some solid green continuation candles.  And with the VIX not looking anywhere near ready yet to move higher again and the overnight futures guiding higher, what the heck, I'll just go way out on a limb and call Monday higher.

Single Stock Trader

Last Thursday night I still wasn't ready to commit to Verizon as a swing trade buy for Friday that's a good thing too because it was one of only two stocks that lost ground in the Dow on Friday. But it did it on an interesting gap-down green hammer. Indicators simply continue bumping along the bottom at oversold so with the Dow dribbling down its lower BB we at least now have a reversal warning. But we still remain inside a descending RTC so this is a warning that requires confirmation. However, I think we are now an nearing a point where Verizon could be a swing trade buy.