Equity Index Update (Special Edition)

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Brad Sullivan

Monday December 17, 2007

The index markets were weighed down on Friday with the release of a stronger than anticipated CPI reading. Volume flows were on the lighter side as interest in the trade was pretty muted…however, the SPZ did end the session lower by -1.5% and settled at session lows of 1478.50. This morning, the index is called to open lower at 1473.50 (-5.50) on the session. This marks a new low for the month of December and it is a month that can only be described as schizophrenic thus far.

Consider that this month has a significant historical upside bias and after early selling, the indices responded with a tremendous upside push. That push higher was unwound last Tuesday as the FOMC failed (in the market’s eyes) to respond appropriately to the current credit issues in the global market…throw in a little inflation fear and things are not looking as good as the buy side would have hoped.

Along these lines let us examine the movement post FOMC announcement and the subsequent joint injection of reserves by the chorus of global reserve banks. It is worth noting that in absolute value, it was the greatest move in the history of the SP futures from 1:30cst to the close and close to the 8:30 open on Wednesday…85 total SP POINTS. Since that time the indices have moved lower in a grinding fashion with each bounce failing to attract buyers at higher levels. With the SP now trading at -1.5% for the month and closing about the same distance below its 200 day MA (-1.5%) one has to wonder if the die has been cast and lower prices are ahead.

One thing that appears to be in store is a dialing down of intraday volatility. While the absolute moves have been large, the session range continues to tighten and for day traders that means to tread with caution. It is certainly worth pointing out that in the last 12 years there have only been 7 sessions with a high to low range of more than 45 SP points. The range on Dec. 11 was 56 points and on Dec. 12 46 points. The last time it happened was Jan. 3, 2001 (surprise mid-day rate cut), where a 46 point range was preceded by an 81. Clearly there is some position movement and it appears that the group that has blinked first is the long side.

KEEP IN MIND THAT TODAY AT 9:00 WE WILL HAVE THE FIRST AUCTION OF THE NEW “SYSTEM” ANNOUNCED LAST WEDNESDAY...ALSO TOMORROW BRINGS EARNINGS FROM GS (GOLDMAN SACHS) AND THIS IS QUADRUPLE WITCHING EXPIRATION WEEK.



Editors' Note: Brad Sullivan's comments are posted each day near the Cash Open in our SuperPlatinum Virtual Trading Room.

Timer Digest Market Commentary

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Fari Hamzei

We finally had our bounce last week. But the volume was so-so at best. This week, Financials and Big Oil are under pressure with Precious Metals up. Today, we witnessed a large number of high Dollar-weighted Put/Call Ratios for major equity names. It was very broad-based. It reminds us of late last February before the Big Drop.

Longs should be very careful here till we get closer to the FED Meeting on Dec 11th.

Timer Digest Market Commentary

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Fari Hamzei


With NYSE Advance-Decline McClellan Oscillator hooked up from deeply oversold levels (-261 on Monday), the short-term bounce is finally here. The Friday after Thanksgiving, seasonality charts remind us that we have a bullish bias. Going further out, what bothers me is that all the market timers are trying to pick the bottom somewhere in here, which tells me we are not close to THE bottom.



I am still looking for huge volume day with indiscriminate selling climax, accompanied with outlandish vol expansion. The good long entry is several days later when we observe the vol retest. Until then, SELL THE RALLIES.




Have a Great Thanksgiving and always remember to take care of the less fortunate ones.....

Timer Digest Market Commentary

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Fari Hamzei

Well, we got our one day wonder (a bounce) yesterday and this cat showed a lot of life. The November Puts retail traders bought late last week became absolutely worthless, and now, the November Calls they bought yesterday should become worthless by tomorrow as the new reality will sink in when traders ask why FASB Rule 157 (Fair Value Measurements) got delayed for one year TODAY [two business hours before it went effective].

Stay SHORT.

Commodity Currencies Need a Break

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Ashraf Laidi

The relationship between stocks and commodity currencies of Australia, Canada and New Zealand is taking an usual turn today, whereby equity indices are rising and these currencies are falling behind relative to the rally in EUR, GBP and CHF. One explanation is the weakening outlook for world growth, which is weighing on oil and gold prices. Talk of a potential supply hike from OPEC is sending oil below $93 per barrel while gold struggles just above the $800 figure.

We have already seen this broad weakness in commodity currencies last week after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke predicted a “marked slowdown” in US Q4 growth. Another possible explanation is that currency traders are cautious from opening fresh dollar shorts ahead of this week’s G20 meeting of finance ministers in South Africa, where US Treasury Secretary Paulson is expected to receive considerable support for the “strong dollar policy”. Specifically, Canadian politicians have grown increasingly vocal in their complaints about the strong Loonie, which caused Canada the biggest burden of this year’s decline in the dollar. Last week, Canada’s Finance Minister Flaherty said he and Bank of Canada Chief Dodge will be having currency discussions with their G20 counterparts.

Considering the aforementioned risks against commodity currencies and our expectations for further erosion in US and global equities, we expect the unwinding of yen carry trades re-emerge against CAD and NZD and to a lesser extent the AUD (because Australia’s fundamentals are powered by an increasingly hawkish RBA).

November 15: Another August 15?

The next bout of equity selling could emerge on November 15, which marks the last day of the 45-day notice period at which clients should notify hedge funds to withdraw their money. With the broader market down nearly 7% since the beginning of the quarter, clients may take some money off the table as was the case in Q3 when August 15th was marked with massive selling across all equity indices. At the open of August 15, the S&P500 was down 5% since the beginning of Q3. Today, the S&P500 is down 5.7% since the beginning of Q4. In this case, we expect renewed rallies in the yen crosses and for the Aussie, Kiwi and Loonie to come under renewed pressure. The fact that the VIX measure of volatility stands at 2-month highs and the S&P500 is below its medium and long term averages (50, 150 and 200 day) underlines lingering preoccupation in the market. Given the technicals in the US benchmark indices and the ongoing repricing of MBS via credit rating downgrades, we expect the indices to retest their August lows. This means that another 5% decline in the S&P500 is in store.

Wednesday’s release of the October retail sales report is expected to show a 0.2% increase following 0.6% in Sep and a 0.3% rise in the core figure following a 0.4% rise. But given last week’s dismal reports on store sales, we do not rule out a decrease of as much as 0.2% in the headline rate, in which case will be the confirmation for Dr. Bernanke that the erosion in housing has begun to show in consumption. A resulting selloff in equities is likely to boost the yen and affirm the aforementioned forecast against high yielding/commodity currencies.

Timer Digest Market Commentary

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Fari Hamzei

THIS WAS SUBMITTED TO TIMER DIGET AFTER THE CLOSE ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9th, 2007.


We have not observed the type of climatic selling one usually sees at the market bottoms. Volume is picking up each day as we discover new lower lows and volatility is increasing.

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My best guess at this juncture is that we need to take out the August lows which correspond to 1370-1380 on SPX Cash Index and 12,500 on DJIA and then reassess the battlefield damage. Along the way, we have November Options X counter-trend move next week and that could create a short-term dead cat bounce. But longer term, the trend remains BEARISH and my outside target remains at about 1300 on SPX Cash Index which roughly corresponds to 12,000 on DJIA.

Market Timing

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Fari Hamzei

First chart is our Timer Chart for SP-500 Cash Index (SPX). Notice that McClellan Osc for NYSE closed today at-211 level. This is a short-term extremely oversold signal. Given that Nov Options X is next week and we often see a counter-trend move during options expiry, odds are that we should go up a bit here into next week, make a bunch of put options go worthless (the Options MMakers have to pay rent too come Dec 1st !!), and then cascade DOWN. What is very clear now (since my last post here on Friday October 19th) is that Cumulative ADVANCE/DECLINE Line (yellow line graph) peaked this year in early June and with next two all-time highs in SPX, the Cum AD Line has setup a Bearish Divergence. In addition, we closed below its 200-day Mov. Avg.(white line graph), for the first time since Sept 10th.

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Same analysis goes for the next chart: the NASDAQ-100 Cash Index (NDX) -- except that one has to be reminded that the CUM AD Line for NAZZ peaked in FEBRUARY of this year. This does not bode well for the LONGs' argument.

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Next Chart is our Wyckoff chart and what I want to bring to your attention is the fact that while DJIA & SPX each made a three-weeks lows yesterday (channel breakdown pattern), DJ Trans put in a multi-month low and closed near its 2007 Open. This is, again, an ominous sign for our equity markets as a whole as the rate of economic expansion slows down.

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Next chart shows Russell 2000 (RUT). Here we go again, another six weeks low (since August 16th when Uncle Ben sent some of our SPX trading brethrens into the next world prematurely in order to save Citigroup from imploding). Risk tolerance is now at a new premium not seen recently. Bids to the market should evaporate. Stay defensive.

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Volatility is increasing in both NYSE and NASDAQ markets but as next two Sigma Channels charts show you, they are NOT at exhustion levels YET.

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Most probably, this is where I think we will go to on this first leg down: 1422 on SPX. which corresponds to -2 sigma at this time. There is an outside chance, we may get down to -3 sigma (1383). Notice this is the Weekly Chart. So it will take time to get there. My guess is that this will be in the next 3 to 4 weeks or so. If 1383 does not hold,... well, we shall get to that on my next post.




Bottom Line: For Intermediate-Term Timing, STAY SHORT.