But it's not quite there yet as of 6:13 AM ET. The ES hourly 24 hour S&P futures chart needs to break below 4155 first. Then that would have a conventional measured move target of 4128. Whoop de doo. If it doesn't break down today, then they'll head higher into the FOMC picnic tomorrow.
There's a lot of news on the liquidity front, which I will address in a Liquidity Trader update tomorrow. Nothing urgent has changed as far as I can tell but I'm still parsing reams of Fed data to see if there's a nugget of insight somewhere that might open the lockbox of future secrets for us.
For now all we can do is follow the charts. And pray for guidance. And not the kind of guidance that comes from the Fed. Because it is flying blind. And lying about it. If there's one thing that Jerome Powell learned from the master, Bernanke, it's self exculpatory gaslighting.
When asked at his last dog and pony show if the Fed staff had warned the FOMC that any banks were in trouble, he cleared his throat and said, "I don't know. I'll have to get back to you on that." I instantly commented that that was a bald faced lie, and in the past week we got proof of that fact in the release of news of the Fed staff report that had been prepared months before that delineated point by point the exact problem the reporter asked about.
Not only is Jerome Powell incompetent. He is a crook. Not only is he a crook, he's a lousy liar. Biden should have fired the guy, but I guess he thought it good to have a useful, dishonest schemer, in charge of the Fed.
As bad as Powell is, Bernanke was worse. Bernanke was responsible for the financial genocide of millions of hard working, thrifty, honest, risk avoiding elderly Americans who had saved money all their lives just to earn a little interest income in retirement. Bernanke stole that from them and gave it to his Powells in private equity, at Wall Street banks, and big hedge funds.
Bernanke famously said in 2010, "Monetary policy has winners and losers." He chose his crooked cronies to be the winners, and simple, hardworking, honest people to be the losers. The man was a willful financial mass murderer. When it comes to financial holocausts, the soft spoken, even toned, studiously academic Bernanke epitomizes the banality of evil.
Yellen, despite her failings of insight, to her eternal credit, started a policy to start reversing the long term theft of savings. Unfortunately, she acted too late, and she moved cautiously and incrementally. When Powell came in, within a few months he doubled down on the Bernankist financial genocide. In doing so, Yellen's would be Volckerist legacy was destroyed and is forgotten.
By doubling down on QE and ZIRP Powell finished Bernanke's job of destroying the savings and lives of honest , risk averse, retired savers. The Fed first them of their rightful interest income and transferred it to speculators. Then many of those retired savers were forced to spend down their principal into penury. I saw that process first had in my own family. I'm would guess that you, or people you knew went through it as well. We know the truth of the devastating downside of ZIRP.
And now we see the devastating consequences of the aftermath. Finally, QE, and helicopter money in the pandemic set off the worst consumer price inflation in 40 years. Before that, we had the worst asset price inflation ever. But nobody seemed to mind that because supposedly everyone benefitted. Until it ended.
Now we have a consumption goods inflation that is robbing everybody, except debtors. And a real asset price deflation that is crushing debtors. Many of those debtors can't pay anymore, or if they can pay, the won't because they no longer have any equity to protect. It's gone. So those same big shots with uninsured deposits are running scared. The dominoes in the banking system are starting to fall.
We're in a holy mess. Neither the Fed, nor Janet Yellen's Treasury knows what to do about it. Yellen didn't make this mess, but now she and one of the wiseguys who did are in charge of cleaning it up.
There is no way.
It's a metastatic cancer. There's no surgical or medical cure. It will grow, and metastasize, until it finally kills the body politic in the US, and the rest of the world. The disaffected always turn to the siren call of the fascists. The cycle ends badly. Rebirth and renewal are too far over the horizon for many of us. The younger folks will need strength and courage and luck to get through what lies ahead.
We've been here before 100 years ago. The past is the future.
So what to do. Buy stocks, of course.
Seriously, if the ES doesn't break 4155 today. 😒
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For moron the markets, see:
Don’t Go Short if This One Thing Happens May 1, 2023
Swing Trade Chart Picks – The Future is One Word – Baking Soda April 26, 2023
Gold’s Lost Luster Will Shine Again April 25, 2023
Enjoy the Market Mirage Now Because We’re Really In a Desert April 24, 2023
The Fed’s Circle Jerk, is ‘Twerking? April 18, 2023
Here’s How We Know That Doom Has Already Arrived April 6, 2023
Macro Liquidity Says No Way Jerray! April 4, 2023
How to Play When Fed Changes the Game, Not Just the Rules March 19, 2023
Systemic Meltdown Under Way As Dead Bodies Finally Start Surfacing March 12, 2023
Here’s Why There Will Never Be Bull Markets Until This One Thing Happens February 26, 2023
If you're serious about the underlying forces of supply and demand that drive the markets, join me!
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March 30th...
Passing through....just want to step in here and remind you of what I previously posted on several occasions.
"When gold begins to travel inverse to the broad markets...it will be a short-term phenomena(deception)...don't buy into it."
It's not all bad in gold though...
Since I'm here...I'll toss this out there.
Won't be long gentlemen...
Best of luck...
The CoinGuy
oh...and...
While I'm here....The SPX needs to hold the swing point at 3800. Personally speaking...I'd like to see us head up to the top of the range once again and give us a clean pattern completion...although, the Twin Peaks formation doesn't require it from here so it's anybodies guess.
I'm sitting and patiently waiting for the swing point to break on volume.
No need to repeat my case....2,240 to 2,250 will be touched...soon.
I think Shania can say it it best...Dance with the one that brought you. Although...Ol' CoinGuy might add...despite "Pattern Phase Distortion" being present in the pattern from the October 13th "suspicious" low. The pattern...is...intact.
Only an advance above 4300(on Volume) would break the pattern.
Why the distortion? Election narrative manipulation? SPR sales to China? DJI manipulation? Do you really have to ask?
SIVB is nothing more than an orchestrated signal to "misstep with intent" to subjugate.
UCC Guidelines update eh? You better understand this...CBDC acceleration.
I will repeat. The misstep will be intentional.
Something I didn't mention when posting the "Dust in the Wind" chart originally is this. See the first decline in 2018? A straight crash...and repeated in 2020? Then, the second decline? A pause to refresh before crashing yet again. I know you're all familiar with the rule of alternation so I don't feel as though I need to fill in the blanks. Just use 1250...and a little imagination...it'll get you there.
Almost forgot...
Remember this chart of the ^XOI? This was the day I called the high...we've had two attempts to overcome the June 8th peak only to set up a "Right Side Dominant" Twin Peaks formation(see next chart).
Pay attention to the "compression" in the chart...it gives you the answer to the question you're not asking yet.
To Conclude...
When I was reviewing the posts over the last few weeks to see what topics were being discussed...I noticed the forum has become a fan of anniversaries.
Good morning(Especially you Doc, haven't spoken in awhile...🙂)...
Haven't held any positions since we covered the morning of the 13th of October. Considering the shenanigans of "a dozen or so" DJI stocks going into the election...haven't seen any reason to comment...until now.
As of the close...I'm in. All in.
I'll pass back through as we touch 3250.
Best,
TCG
oh...and...
Be careful in the metals. The bounce/retest has been solid...I didn't expect the ^HUI to get back over 225/235. I'm actually impressed, but they're rolling over here. Although, nothing is confirmed until the GLD is back below 160. UUP will turn, but a new high? I doubt it. A retest is probably not too much to ask though. I expect just above 30 "just as long as the key at 27 holds". I'm pretty sure it will. 27.17 should be max pain, but it looks like it's bottoming right here. There is solid support at the BTTB(Back to the Breakout) area here at 27.44. Wait and see I suppose...
I've looked over my long term forecasts. I've made zero changes. SPX 224(x) to 225(x) will be touched. GLD...I'll comment at 130.
I've also looked over my charts. 2008 is the still the dominant pattern. In the short term...as far as I'm concerned, you are on the road to a "Lehman" style event.
9/37/22.....the adlerian calendar
Adlerian calendar is calculated by the Market’s movement around a galactic body known as the Federal Reserve. Months are defined by 6 week gestation periods whereby the new calendar month begins and ends with a defining moment where one individual known as the Chairman defines the financial existence for all others.
The Adlerian calendar was derived from the Philadelphian derivative where one individual interprets the scripture of the Chairman and the actions of the Chairman’s committee. The process of this one select interpreter is also known as Gastrointestinal Epithelium where he guides and protects his followers from the toxic or otherwise harmful luminal contents of this galactic body.
In Germany, when crossing the street, everyone waits for the green walk light, even when there's no traffic.
France: Traffic light? What traffic light? Cars? What cars? Bah!
In German cities, cars have the right of way over pedestrians.
France: Cars? What cars? Bah!
In Germany if you want a glass of water with your meal, 3 euros.
France, 1 liter carafe ice cold tap water, corked, free.
In Germany, if you want ketchup with your burger or fries, €1.50 for a tablespoon. |
France free bowl of homemade ketchup from scratch.
German food: Fat and gristle
French food: Fat and more fat
Grocery stores in Germany: 1 per 3 square kilometers
France: 3 per square block
Fruit and vegetable stores and stands - France, 1 per block.
Germany: What is a fruit and vegetable stand? Vee haf REWE and ALDI.
Cafes in France- 10 per square kilometer
Germany - 12 per square kilometer
Coffee in French cafe: 3 tablespoons of strong espresso
Germany: Mug of dishwater, therefore Germans need more cafes than the French
Bakeries- tied, if you like pretzel bread.
Number of restaurants in French cities: A lot
German cities: More, the Germans apparently do not eat at home. More proof of that is the scarcity of grocery stores
Dinner Time in German towns: 5:30 PM (17:30). By 8:30 (20:30), everyone is home in bed. If you show up after 8 PM, too bad, restaurants and supermarkets are closed. You vill wait for breakfast, and you vill like it. Understood?
France: If you show up for dinner before 8 PM (20:00) you are rude and uncultured, probably American tourist.
That's your travel guide for today.
Back to the business at hand, yesterday's breakout on the hourly chart of the ES 24 hour S&P futures looked pretty convincing until it wasn't. Look where it stopped. Right at a key downtrend line.
Then it quickly fell back under a couple of resistance lines it had just broken. That was the Sell-Mortimer-Sell moment. Until it wasn't. Support broke, but that too was a false breakdown.
Old school conventional TA is a trap anymore. Now, first thing we must do when we see a break is look for the fake, because AI traders are smarter than we are. Apparently, only they know where we go from here, as the ES is at a maximum indecision point at of 5:15 AM NY time. Any trading between 4447 and 4497 will just be noise. Breaking one of those levels might be signal. Or maybe not.
The bulls have two factors in their favor. A 5 day cycle up phase should be starting. And hourly oscillators have mostly been making higher lows for a week, particularly versus last week's low. That doesn't mean that an upside breakout will follow, just that a downside breakout is less likely today than an upmove. But watch out if they take out 4447. Next likely stop, 4425.
Ciao for now. I'm going to Beethoven's house for lunch.
German Hamburger
More of my travel photos at https://www.instagram.com/200daysineurope/
For moron the markets, see:
Gold Sets Up August 8, 2023
All We Need is a Few Good Shorts August 7, 2023
Under the Big Top August 7, 2023
More Supply is Just a Lie But Withholding Weakens August 4, 2023
Let the Scary Pictures On Primary Dealer Financing Do the Talking July 31, 2023
Correlations Don’t Matter Until They Do, Like Now July 23, 2023
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Outfits like Apartment List and Zumper do market rent surveys all the time. They are reliable. The BLS data is a joke. I have warned for years that it would lag falling market rents on the way down and that CPI would be overstated as a result.
YEARS.
I have warned about it, and now it's happening. I have warned for years that the Fed was behind the curve on the way up and would be behind on the way down.
And it's happening. Just as I predicted. This is NOT rocket science. I was a commercial real estate appraiser and market analcyst for a long time. I know how to measure rents. The private market rent surveys are accurate. I have no doubt about that. These companies collect reams of data. Big Data is self correcting. Anomalies are averaged out.
I knew rent inflation in recent years was pushing real inflation higher faster than the Fed recognized. And I am not surprised in the least that rents are falling now, and that the Fed hasn't got a clue.
Because the government methodology is flat out fraud.
CPI was never intended to measure inflation. Its purpose was to index labor contracts to the "cost of living." So the government invented all kinds of contortions to suppress the number. Worked great on the way up, but the same methods result in overstatement on the way down.
Of course rents are adjusting. They went up too far, too fast. People can't pay. Too much multifamily rental stock came on the market. Boom, now rents are falling or at least aren't going up.
The whole system of measuring "inflation" is a joke.
I'll add this chart for those not familiar with fifth waves in major crashes. This is the typical fifth wave coming off the "Twin Peaks" topping formation.
In the ^GSPC...you're just finishing the transition from the twin peaks(in 2) to the first wave of the 3rd wave of the decline. Get a position and hold on for dear life...is my best advice.
I took a look back to familiarize myself with the current discussion. I wish I hadn't. If I did have something to say...I would only be echoing the sentiments of PH and would note...well said, PH. If I was to add...
I know it is NOT easy, but always be slow to anger...and quick to apologize.
From my perspective. You're going to need each other going forward...
Now...more than ever...you need the ability to understand and comprehend the world around you from multiple perspectives. This isn't a weakness...but strength. Be forgiving...
Our perspective and awareness are much more limited than our ego's would confess...
TCG
oh...and...
WTF...anytime.
You know. There is NOTHING in this world I like more than questions. Give me a few minutes to mull that over...I'm going to head in to the archives and take a look at a few charts....I'll be back.
SVB hired BlackRock’s Financial Markets Advisory Group in October 2020 to analyse the potential impact of various risks on its securities portfolio. It later expanded the mandate to examine the risk systems, processes and people in its treasury department, which managed the investments. The January 2022 risk control report gave the bank a “gentleman’s C”, finding that SVB lagged behind similar banks on 11 of 11 factors considered and was “substantially below” them on 10 out of 11, the people said. The consultants found that SVB was unable to generate real time or even weekly updates about what was happening to its securities portfolio, the people said. SVB listened to the criticism but rebuffed offers from BlackRock to do follow up work, they added.
https://www.ft.com/content/fbd9e3d4-2df5-4a65-adbd-01e5de2c5053
2023 is the year private equity hands in the keys on commercial real estate. The same with asset backed securities - look at car loans for example. The deals can't be done. The Fed and regulators want lending back in the hands regulated banks. That's going to take a deflationary ramp down for private equity, pension funds, wall street and insurance companies. ZIRP-forever and the Fed put made mark-to-unicorn and tax payer bailouts a way of life. We're never going back to those days. This will be painful and it'll take years but it's for the best.
There are always mitigating factors. The last 3 debt ceiling kabuki theaters were under the QE regime. This one is under QT. As you pointed out, the Fed will need an aggressive response when the ceiling is lifted. I would not rule out a temporary program to absorb the new issuance. It will be a form of temporary QE, but the Fed will call it something else.
They are monsters.
And now, our daily dose of useless meanderings from an aging, plaque hardened, market addled brain. These thoughts are free, so take them for what they're worth. However, on the off chance that you are crazy enough to think there's value here, check out the really good stuff!
Now, I'm not big on analyzing Fedwords, because you know, money talks and bullshit walks. And Chairman Jaysus's pressers are peak bullshit. So I did not listen to Jaysus come to market moment yesterday. However, I did follow the reactions of various conomists, Wall Street captured PR flacks, and assorted Fed critics to get the gist of what he said, and how they spun it.
There was no gist. And even if there was, what difference does it make? Rallies cannot be sustained on margin alone, or even massive T-bill paydowns. Yesterday, Jorma, a gentlestoolie who has stuck it out here, putting up with me for nigh on 20 years and 9 months, bless his heart, pointed out something that I had missed. 9 days ago, the Treasury started pumping money back into the market ecosystem via T-bill paydowns. This was unscheduled, and it was large. But why, and to what effect?
I was curious about what class of buyer held the most T-bills. I thought it would be money market funds. If MFers are the biggest holders, that would do the markets little good. They'd just buy more T-bills, pushing rates down a few ticks, or they'd put the cash into the Fed's RRP slush fund, where it would mostly just sit on the John, waiting. Which is exactly what's happening. Since November 25, the Fed's overnight RRP money taken in rose by $140 billion.
But surprise, surprise, surprise. I was wrong.
Again.
MFers are not the biggest holders of T-bills.
Dealers and Borkers are! They typically buy 50-53% of total issuance. And why do you think they do that? Carry trades and collateralization. Because they can borrow Fed Funds at less than the bills yield, and then use those bills to borrow a ton more cash with which to buy shit. Or better yet, sell short and collect interest on the margin loans they put out.
Whatever. Because they are, in the aggregate, horseshit traders. Their fixed income positions are invariably wrong, and they are never hedged sufficiently in the futures when they are wrong in their cash positions. I know this because I've been tracking the weekly data on their fixed income positions for the past 20 years.
They have been most wrong at epochal market turning points, such as the top in 2007, or the bond market price top/yield bottom in mid 2020. Massively, dead fucking wrong both times. In fact, that mispositioning is what caused the market and economic crises. The Fed and its economic PR flacks on Wall Street and in its captured media, redirected the public's attention to anything and everything else that was not the root cause. The banks' and dealers' bad, stupid, outrageous, disgusting, behavior. Not only was attention directed away from them, the Fed rewarded them for it. Since the days of Greenspan and Bernanke, those cretins, those crises have triggered massive Fed overreactions in which the Fed, instead of punishing the perpetrators of the fraud, REWARDED them.
Which has led us to where we are to day. The Fed's NO WAY OUT moment. But as always the Street now has a convenient scapegoat whipping boy, SamsonandDelilah Bankman Willget Fried, while the perpetrators of the really big crime get patted on the backside, and get paid yet again.
But I digress. I have this compulsion to vent about this every so often. Forgive me.
The point of the paydowns right now is to reliquify the dealers. I have been roaring for the past year about how much money they, and their big bank parent holding companies, are losing. Most of those losses are hidden in their investment accounts, which are the bulk of their assets, and which are NOT MARKED TO MARKET. No mark to market, no loss, right? Wrong, because as the Fed calls in $95 billion in cash per month, the banks have to liquidate something. So there's a gradual stream of losses that hit the balance sheet month after month. These take a toll over time. Liquidation begets more liquidation as asset prices fall in waves.
Credit Sweese Cheese is merely the tip of the shitberg. There will be more.
With the Fed sticking to its guns on shrinking the balance sheet--which, forget rates and all the talk is the only aspect of Fed policy that actually matters--the Treasury decided to step up and ease market conditions for the time being. So they're pumping about $50 billion in cash into dealer accounts this month to smooth the market wrinkles. It's quasi QE.
There's no guarantee that it will work, but it has certainly made intraday trading much more interesting than watching paint dry. Whether it's tradable or not depends on how much time you are willing to spend watching your screen, and how well honed your electronic gaming reflexes are.
What a bullshit market this is. At least with a steady flow of QE, it was predictable. Buy the dip, buy the dip. Now? Who knows? An answer: Fed Steadfast But Treasury Throws a Bullish Curve
Despite allowing a couple of my shorts to get stopped out in Tuesday's upside early carnage, I came in heavily short yesterday, held tight, and am heavily short today. Not 100%. About 30% long, 70% short. They put the fearagad into me on Tuesday, so I've resolved to pick the best trending or best looking bottoms to hold long, along with some of the multitudinous crap that wants to break down, short.
And now it's time for what you all have been waiting for, our daily Orderly Markets Chart of the ES, 24 hour S&P fugutures.
First, we note that a 5 day cycle low is due tomorrow, not today. Ideally... And with a 5 day cycle projection of 3860. Hourly cycle and momentum oscillators also suggest a bottom later rather than now. Probably tomorrow. Tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar on tomorrow. It's only a day away.
Let the games begin.
For moron the markets, see:
Fed Steadfast But Treasury Throws a Bullish Curve December 14, 2022
Swing Trade Screen Picks – 4 More Shorts. 4 More Shorts December 12, 2022
Limited Supplies Delivered At Bear Custard’s Last Stand December 12, 2022
Gold Hones In On New High Projections December 9, 2022
Federal Tax Revenues Are Slowing December 6, 2022
Fed Policy Will Stay Bearish Until It’s Too Late November 20, 2022
The Repeal of Rule Number One, Don’t Fight the Fed November 14, 2022
Bond Market Rally is Technically Valid but Belies the Facts November 12, 2022
If you're serious about the underlying forces of supply and demand that drive the markets, join me!
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Potatohead raises a good point that we've talked about before. That the Fed pays subsidies in the form of free interest income to holders of the free money that the Fed handed them during the course of QE. That includes Primary Dealers, banks, and money market funds. The Fed is approaching the point where it no longer earns enough income to cover the cost of these free income subsidies to the banks and other large asset holders.
As the spread between what the Fed earns in interest income and what it pays out in interest subsidies to banks, dealers, and money market funds, that means a reduction in Fed surplus income. That surplus is normally transferred to taxpayers. Every time the Fed increases the interest on excess reserves or RRP holdings, it increases those subsidies to the banks and money market fund holders. That costs the taxpayers money that they otherwise would have gotten back from the Fed, but it's a pittance in terms of the overall budget. It doesn't even amount to a rounding error, or a fraction of a rounding error. The whole idea that the Fed is losing money completely misses the point. And yet, the subject arises, so let's look at it.
In the fiscal year ended September 30, the Fed had transferred $106 billion back to the Treasury, which was an average of slightly less than $9 billion per month. That was still up there with fiscal 2021, which was at $100 billion for the year.
But the monthly comparisons have collapsed in the past few months. In November, the Fed sent back only $188 million, that's million with an m, to the US Treasury. That compares with $7.9 billion in November 2021, and $7.4 billion in November. Back in pre pandemic days before the Fed had ballooned its balance sheet again by giving another couple trillion in free assets to the banks, it was still paying the US Treasury about $4.5 billion per month. So its clear that the Fed's surplus has indeed collapsed and could go from surplus to deficate in the months ahead.
So, yes. It's true.
This comes from the "QE is only good" school of Economism. True, Fed profits and losses are a moot point in terms of policy. True, losses have only a minimal impact on taxpayers. Furthermore, the Fed doesn't mark its gold to market. It's still carried on the books at $35 an ounce. There are hundreds of billions in unrealized gains in that 262 million ounce gold holding. That's a giant profit cushion. The Fed could always use that gold hoard to tighten policy by selling some of it.
The whole argument about Fed profits and losses, misses the point. That is that while boosting Fed profits and returning a few shekels to taxpayers, ballooning the balance sheet, handing out trillions in free zero cost assets to the banks and their leveraged speculating customers, and on top of that laying free interest income to the holders, was a subsidy for those banks and speculators at the expense of workers, savers, and retirees.
Then with the pandemic, and fiscal helicopter money transferring income to the unwashed masses, inflation came hard as a tax on everyone but borrowers, who again get a subsidy because of it. Of course those late arriving borrowers get wiped out as their assets deflate under the pressure of QT. We'll see how long that lasts. As long as stocks and bonds keep rallying every few months, it can last a long time.
Furthermore, the idea that QE had only good effects is delusional, therefore insane. It ignores the income and spending lost to savings beneficiaries, including retirees and insured people. Something that absolutely no one accounts for is how much did it cost the economy in terms of increased insurance premiums due to lost interest income. And how much did it cost the economy due to reduced income and spending to retirees, not to mention the moral cost to the fabric of society. These things are immeasurable, because we tried only abnormal policy. We have no normal policy to compare with because they didn't try it. In fact, they're normalizing now, and the economy is still doing ok.
So the Fed's balance sheet losses aren't even a pimple on the elephant's ass in terms of policy. The argument is a diversion, both by the bears, who incorrectly believe that it will cause something bad to happen, and by the bulls who point out that it's no big deal.
Both arguments miss the point. QE has been destructive in so many ways that few talk about, morally, politically, and economically. All of these negatives have fed into one another, directly or indirectly feeding the authoritarian populist movements that threaten democracies around the world. QE benefitted only the well connected criminal few who had the capacity and will to play the speculators' game that the Fed enabled, promoted, and rewarded, while leaving the masses ever further behind. People saw those benefits only accruing to the wealthy, who had done nothing to earn them. People saw that the fruits of their labor either being outright stolen or at least diminishing in comparison to the financiers, and corporate robber barons, and speculators. They developed their own big lies in response.
Can we envision a way out of this that does not entail massive destruction? That's the question, not whether the taxpayers lose a few billion more in the short run.
Meanwhile, we focus on the daily squiggles in this thread. In the past 4 weeks, the stock market, as shown by the ES, 24 hour S&P futures, has become Nowhere Man (credit Jimi). We show the Nowhere Man pattern on the hourly chart every day. It says now that the market has been going nowhere, but that if it drops below 3907, it could go Somewhere. That somewhere being a measured move target of 3737.
Otherwise, Nowhere. If they clear 3950, 4000 is probably nowhere from here.
For moron the markets, see:
Federal Tax Revenues Are Slowing December 6, 2022
Swing Trade Screen Picks – Picks are Balanced this Week December 5, 2022
Bears Last Custard Stand December 4, 2022
Bears Beware, Money Managers Are Finally Spending their RRP Slush Fund November 30,2022
Swing Trade Screen Picks – Read My Lips, No New Longs (A Few More Shorts) November 28, 2022
Major Inflection Point Here to Determine Whether Bull or Bear November 28, 2022
Gold and Miners, Pullback Looks OK November 23, 2022
Fed Policy Will Stay Bearish Until It’s Too Late November 20, 2022
The Repeal of Rule Number One, Don’t Fight the Fed November 14, 2022
Bond Market Rally is Technically Valid but Belies the Facts November 12, 2022
Bad News for the Markets – Not Just Withholding Boomed in October November 3, 2022
Surge in Withholding Tax Collections in October Indicates Faster Jobs Growth November 2, 2022
Bear Market Isn’t the Mirror of a Bull October 31, 2022
If you're serious about the underlying forces of supply and demand that drive the markets, join me!
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My mother, who required assisted care, and ultimately, Alzheimers care, died broke after we had to spend all of the life savings my dad and she accumulated expecting it to supplement their social security. And then I spent my own resources to help maintain her for a few years until the end. Might have been different with a normal interest income of CPI+ a point or two. I was able to handle it, but a lot of seniors "graduated" out of assisted living back to the kids as a result, ruining the finances, and disrupting the lives of their families.
I loved the discussion yesterday about the good and bad of living in various places in Europe vs. N. America. I want to talk a little more about my sense of connection to Warsaw. I'm deeply attached to that city. It both haunts and fascinates me.
I love Poland and most of its people, but I find its right wing government and its supporters troubling and scary. When I lived there, I saw that there was still freedom of speech on the streets, but I also so the trappings of an incipient police state, waiting in the wings to exert its will over the bulk of the population that would oppose it. On the national independence day, I witnessed an enormous, heavily armed, militarized police force stationed throughout the downtown. Expecting what, I don't know.
The Germans bombed Warsaw to the ground when they were retreating from the Russians in 1945. They were pretty pissed off for, first, the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and then a few months later the Poles, rising up against the Nazi pigs and killing a bunch of them. So in a fit of retaliation they leveled Warsaw on their way out. After the war, Eisenhower, who had seen his share of destruction, said that he had never witnessed such devastation.
Today we see a similar pique of destructive, murderous madness being used against Ukraine by the Russians. But I digress.
At the War's end, Warsaw was left essentially a blank canvas, except that in some sections, the rubble was so high that it could not be removed. So where they couldn't clear it, the Russians and their Polish Communist collaborators built right on top of the rubble, mostly in a neighborhood called Muranow. It actually turned into a pretty nice urban neighborhood.
The commies were big on building gigantic, drab apartment blocks, block after block, after block, but with big parks in between.
In the modern capitalist system these apartment blocks have been turned into co-ops and condos, still ugly on the outside, but many folks have renovated those apartments into hip modern urban spaces. And the ground floors have all been converted to commercial space. So today, Warsaw has the density of a big city, with all the energy that brings.
In fact, parts of Warsaw could be mistaken for Queens or Brooklyn or the Lower East Side. Depending on how you feel about cities that's a good thing. About the only crime you need to worry about is public drunkenness. Muggings and murders are almost unheard of.
And then there are the parks. From the vantage point of my apartment high above the city, Warsaw looked more like a giant park, with urban strips running like veins and arteries and clusters through the greenery. So even with all its urban density, I could always escape to some quiet greenery a few steps from my apartment. This was true in most areas of the city that I visited.
The communists rebuilt the old sections of town, hard by the Vistula River, with a faithful vision of Warsaw's glorious past as the Paris of Eastern Europe. Amazingly, they did a good job. I guess that love of place and the pride of history can sometimes shine through even the grayest, most repressive, bureaucratic regimes.
But the rest of the city was planned by the Russians and their partners in crime primarily for the purpose of moving large numbers of tanks and troops across town fast, to send a message to any would-be freedom lovers that the regime would crush you.
That grid of enormous, wide boulevards went mostly underused until the 1990s when the capitalists took over. For some odd reason, Poles fell in love with American culture, particularly, car culture. Outside of the old center, Warsaw became a city devoted to the automobile, not pedestrians, as most European cities are. So once you get outside of the districts in the center of town down by the river, you're in a traffic choked wasteland of urban sprawl, lined with giant shopping centers, parking lots and soulless glass office buildings. It's not much different than Atlanta or Houston, only with colder, nastier weather.
I lived in Warsaw for 7 months. I have a deep emotional attachment to the place. 1000 years of my ancestry was there in that region and that city. The DNA that built me came from there.
At its peak in the 1920s, the Jewish population was 42% of the city. It was the center of the Jewish world. If you are looking for it, you can still see the earmarks of that culture noted around the city in mostly quiet ways. Otherwise you might not notice it. The tragedy of the end of that legacy can still be felt to this day, particularly when you stumble upon the signs of remembrance in places like Plac Grzybowski and the Bridge of Sighs, or the Polin Museum, or the Jewish Historical Institute, or the old synagogue rebuilt and still functioning in a quiet park between Ulica Świętokrzyska and Ulica Grzybowska. I felt the attachment to the place before I went, while I was there, and to this day.
And did I mention the food? Polish cuisine goes without saying, but regardless of the genre of cuisine, I found the restaurants in Warsaw, and in Poland in general to be among the best in Europe. Really. Definitely better than France (French cuisine is overrated 😄).
Now, so why are we here...???
Oh. Right. The stock market.
Just please note. Despite yesterday's seemingly endless carnage, which saved the shredded bear case to live another day at least, the short term uptrend has yet to be broken. So beware before you short this mutha. Yeah, nibble if they approach 4040, get long if they clear it, and don't stay short if they don't get below 3984, or at least are poised to, at the end of the day.
I don't know about you, but this market makes me prefer talk about geography, history, and ancestry.
Meanwhile, speaking of yields, I don't know much about these things, but does this chart look bottomish to you?
For moron the markets, see:
Bears Last Custard Stand December 4, 2022
Bears Beware, Money Managers Are Finally Spending their RRP Slush Fund November 30,2022
Swing Trade Screen Picks – Read My Lips, No New Longs (A Few More Shorts) November 28, 2022
Major Inflection Point Here to Determine Whether Bull or Bear November 28, 2022
Gold and Miners, Pullback Looks OK November 23, 2022
Fed Policy Will Stay Bearish Until It’s Too Late November 20, 2022
The Repeal of Rule Number One, Don’t Fight the Fed November 14, 2022
Bond Market Rally is Technically Valid but Belies the Facts November 12, 2022
Bad News for the Markets – Not Just Withholding Boomed in October November 3, 2022
Surge in Withholding Tax Collections in October Indicates Faster Jobs Growth November 2, 2022
Bear Market Isn’t the Mirror of a Bull October 31, 2022
If you're serious about the underlying forces of supply and demand that drive the markets, join me!
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The whole world is perfectly aligned for Russia! Russia! Russia!
FTW...
Going forward. Please remember/recall the two themes. "All issues that stumble at 192" and "So. About Half?"
Don't think for a second that I forgot...
I owe you a Gold Star chart.
Don't be turned off by the rough appearance...there is a gem inside. This IS the most potent chart I have publicly posted.
The consolidation "in the ^DJI" from January 26, 2018 to the peak on February 12, 2020(747d) right before the pandemic crash is the left...and...from the January 5th, 2022 peak until this very day(555d)....is the right side. Understanding wave pattern distortion(and you should have at least a basic comprehension by now), you might begin to SEE they are nothing more than a mirror image of one another.
Subtract right from left?
Speaking of mirror images. In my last post entitled..."Real Answers to Real Questions".
June 16 - June 30 - July 14.
"As you enter into the formation...in the same manner you shall leave."
This CAN apply to time as well...
Bear Instruction Manual 5.0
I did look over the BIM 5.0, no changes are necessary. All numbers are good, but I will comment that SLV/GLD are in the throes of a crash...avoid this area at all costs. With the SPX, I've already mentioned it many times. Wait until 4460, then 4410 is given up on volume.
In ALL Things...Patience.
TCG
Think this through. Study. Never Give Up!
I'll drop in at 2,240 to 2,250 on the SPX.
Oh...and...
Would this clear up the question everyone is afraid to ask?
2.24 + 2.24 = 5.18
See you then.
That’s right. It’s not the Fed any more. This ain’t the QE era. Non-subscribers, click here for access.
Subscribers, click here to download the report.
The stock market has mounted a seemingly sustained rally despite the fact that the Fed continues to steadily withdraw money (aka liquidity) from the financial system. Non-subscribers, click here for access.
This is not the good old QE days when the Fed steadily pumped money into the system, and we knew that the market would always rise, except when the Fed paused its pumping. We saw a market hiccup under Janet Yellen’s balance sheet shrinkage program in 2018, but then Panic Jerry set new standards of QE pumping in 2019 and 2020. Non-subscribers, click here for access.
I thought that once the new QT started that the market would be mostly bearish, with occasional rallies. Uh huh. Not. Non-subscribers, click here for access.
I am reminded that in the pre QE days of blessed memory that we often had bull markets with the Fed managing balance sheet growth at a nominal pace of 2-5% per year, year in and year out. But even that is different from today when, yes Virginia, there really is a QT, and the Fed really is shrinking its balance sheet. Except when it isn’t. Non-subscribers, click here for access.
Alas, the world is not so simple any more. The system can, when investors and bankers are of a single mind, create ample liquidity on its own simply by self-expanding credit. Bankers can decide to offer more credit. Investors can decide to use it. Non-subscribers, click here for access.
Or if asset prices, in this case stock prices, start rising far enough for long enough, players at the stock tables can simply decide to do it on their own. That includes not just the big investors and traders at the tables, but also the dealers running the games. Everybody winks and gets in on the winning action. Prices rise. Rising collateral value means more margin is available. Traders borrow against it. And away we go. Non-subscribers, click here for access.
Today the market has an added bonus: massive T-bill issuance by the US Treasury. Here’s where things get perverse. I had expected, wrongly, that the enormous supply would put downward pressure on all asset prices as the market was forced to absorb the new T-bill supply that would come when the debt ceiling was lifted. But my analysis was faulty. Non-subscribers, click here for access.
Two things happened that I did not expect. Fortunately, the technical analysis (TA) that I do in tandem with the liquidity side told me a few months ago that it was time to get long stocks. So I followed the TA, while trying to guess at what the liquidity source would be. This was just the opposite of the way things worked under QE, when we knew exactly what the source was, how much was coming and when. The TA naturally followed. Non-subscribers, click here for access.
The first thing that happened is that the big hedge funds hedged away the likelihood that Treasury note and bond prices would fall when the wave of new supply was released onto the market. So far that hedge has worked, by preventing bond prices from falling. I do not think that hedge will work indefinitely, but for now it is, and that’s all they needed to continue speculating on the long side in stocks. Non-subscribers, click here for access.
The second thing that happened, which I neglected to consider in my initial analysis of what would happen when the debt ceiling was lifted, is that T-bills are perfect collateral. They can instantly be used as collateral for repos — repurchase agreements (RPs) – which are very short term loans from banks or the Fed for nearly 100% of the face value of the T-bills. And use it, they have. Non-subscribers, click here for access.
At the same time, money market funds had over $2.3 trillion sitting in the Fed’s Reverse Repo (RRP) slush fund back in April. The Fed’s RRP program takes in excess cash from dealers, banks, and particularly money market funds. I had long noted that it would be used at some point to fund absorption of Treasury issuance and possible to support a rally in stocks. I had warned in these pages for the past year and a half that when the RRP started to decline, look out for stocks to rally. Non-subscribers, click here for access.
Voila, here we are. As of Monday, July 3, cash in the RRP slush fund had dropped from $2.275 trillion on May 22 to $1.909 trillion. That’s $356 billion in cash that came out of the RRPs to fund the absorption of the T-bill issuance. Those T-bills became collateral for an increase of private bank to dealer and bank to hedge fund RPs, instantly creating a massive amount of new credit for players to play with. And play they did. Non-subscribers, click here for access.
So here we are in a brave new world of automatic, self-created market finance, which will be indefinitely funded by the issuance of new Treasury securities. The tidal wave of $600 billion of new issuance in 2 months post debt ceiling suspension will slow after July. But we can still expect an average of $100 billion per month in issuance. And instead of new supply always pressuring the market, we must face the fact that the dealers and gamblers at the tables can, at will, increase the use of virtually automatic credit whenever they want to. The T-bills will provide the fodder. Non-subscribers, click here for access.
Is this system infinite and unbreakable? Of course not. The longer this goes on and the bigger it gets, the more fragile it becomes…Especially because the Fed, the ECB and BoJ are still working to control inflation. The Fed will continue to shrink its balance sheet, withdrawing cash from the banking system. Its two cohorts are a little less predictable, particularly the BoJ, but as long as the inflation numbers continue to run hot around the world, then the central banks will continue to attempt to drain money from the system by shrinking their balance sheets. Non-subscribers, click here for access.
So there’s that as an offset to the will of the players to continue borrowing and leveraging to drive asset prices higher. This rally will end, and it is likely to end hard, in tears. But for now, we can’t see from liquidity alone, when that will be. There are some things that suggest that the time is growing near for the first big correction. I will continue to monitor the liquidity measures for any hints of reversal, but as always, the technical analysis will determine when we should change tactics, even if, in this new world, it’s not always clear why, at first. Non-subscribers, click here for access.
In this report I present the most current banking, money market fund, and Fed balance sheet charts to illustrate what’s going on, and give us a leg up on specifically what to expect and look out for in the stock and bond markets. Non-subscribers, click here for access.
Subscribers, click here to download the report.
KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING NOW, before the Street does, read Lee Adler’s Liquidity Trader risk free for 90 days! Act on real-time reality!
Meanwhile, back in day trading land, we have a little bitty break in the ES 24 hour S&P futures. The hourly chart has a 5 day cycle projection of 4432, already done. 4430 and 4425 are sport levels. If they don't hold, I'd look for 4415.
For moron the markets, see:
It’s Not Your Daddy’s Liquidity Anymore July 5, 2023
June Was Stellar but Whiplash Injury Hurt July 3, 2023
Growing Stronger Every Day July 3, 2023
We Now Know What is Driving the Rally June 20, 2023
Gold Gets Nearer Important Cycle Lows June 18, 2023
The Fed’s Slush Fund is Working June 16, 2023
Investors Breathe Sigh of Relief But D-Day Is Now June 6, 2023
Incomprehensible, That’s What You Are June 2, 2023
Modestly Hedged Dealers, Record Short Hedge Funds Suggest Disaster Ahead May 25, 2023
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Will do Jimi...
Schedule is getting red hot on this end...and I still need to pencil in two surgeries. I'll spare you the rest of the details other than every time I get an infection...they postpone the damn things 6-8 weeks. Twice now...
There is a lot of things I'd really like to say here...I just can't find the time to sit down and spit it out.
After this turn appears...I'll drop by at my designated spot at 2,240 to 2,250 and say hello. If this market cracks to the upside(and takes the GLD over 192.00)...i'll probably just hang up the commentary right here. If I'm this blind...I have no reason to be forecasting markets. I'll rip off 'ol CoinGuy's Captains bars and toss them in the trash and hang around the guys in the kitchen peeling spuds. I fit in with the blue collar guys better anyway...
Spud Peeler has a nice ring to it, although...when they tossed me in the kitchen for 90 days when I was in the U.S. Navy...I didn't actually see them peeling spuds...I saw them opening #10 cans and adding water.
What did TCG do in the Navy? Corrected...Charts. Been doing so for a very long time...
Always a pleasure Jimi...take care of yourself.
The CoinGuy
oh...and...
I'll leave you with a chart or three. I'd leave more, but I believe the case for the bulls and the bears has already been made known. Won't be long now...the turn will decide the fate of each.
I posted the SPX version of the "Was 2008 All That Long Ago" chart on this forum, but I never posted its sister chart for the ^HUI. I just updated it for some of the guys(old students) that don't like to leave the nest. Here's a copy, but I'll post the original first...
Original:
UPDATED!...When you invert a peak/trough....it's because there is a specific number in mind. Check that post-it note...
Did you find that 2008 low? Add 4 months...
I'll conclude with this...albeit slightly edited. Can't give it all away...smile. Although, I do my best...
The charts that accompany this one...you've seen these before. I consider this to be my most important series. If you don't understand what I'm saying here...stare until it's clear. Again, I will repeat. "As you enter into the formation(in 1929)...in the same manner(in 2022) you shall leave."
Remember...I measure from "The Middle".
The Beginning...
The Middle...
The End...
This IS...IT Updated.
Amen!
The sponsorship for CLO / ABS BBB mezzanines is collapsing as ratings are no longer sufficient for insurance and pension participation and the NAIC has already announced they are going to crack down in insurance company sponsorship. Insurance companies own $255 billion of this garbage (about half the market). And you can’t securitize without them. Synthetic ABS is going to implode. The NAIC will no longer allow CLOs, CMBS, and CFOs to be considered "exempt" from filings. I expect pensions and insurance companies to be stress tested in future as well. The GILT blow-up was a warning short. They pose an existential threat to the Treasury market. Time to end the Fed put and ZIRP. We have no other way forward with $30T in debt.
High yield issuance is down 85% year-over-year. Basically, there is no issuance anymore. And trying to judge actual yields using JNK or HYG doesn’t capture real yields required to make new issuance pencil out. These ETF mainly trade about two dozen energy sector companies, all the other 1080 or so names haven’t traded in years. Open ended bond funds like HYG should also require stress tests. And they are already showing wear-and-tear. HYG is 1.2% below net asset value and JNK is 1.8% below net asset value.
fxfox...
Correct...my only 'daily use' pen is the Lamy Safari fountain pen. I personally will buy nothing else. Although, when I do use a ballpoint I prefer the Parker Jotter and for a mechanical pencil...Kuro Toga.
When even a crash can't stop people from piling into tech and crypto...you know it's not going to end well.
What happens when the squirrel hits the lever and no peanut pops out?
CBDC.
While I'm posting, I'm going to quickly comment on the SPX. Why? It's bothering me. Something is in the air...
Barring an out of left field event and from what I'm hearing...that is very possible here. Despite this possibility...as mentioned on the 17th, I'd still prefer we head to the top of the range for a secondary peak. THAT is where a nice bull/bear release(of energy) could take place. What concerns me with this is that I'm already seeing turns in other markets and individual issues that are displaying some scary behavior. Patterns and formations are both on the edge of breaking...and that is what is usually witnessed right at the turns. Are they telegraphing something...I do not know. I just know IT...when is see IT.
I posted the original version of this chart on the 17th of March, here's another quick look. Russia is on the left...the SPX is on the right.
This is nothing more than a Twin Peaks formation...and what I fear is that we're going to be given every point of the Russia! Russia! Russia! decline into...as mentioned....2,240-2,250.
What the current lever pullers usually dish out...they seem to get in return. Have you noticed this?
I'll ask again. How many days from January 4th to August 16th?
The magnet in Russia was also 2,240 to 2,250...
To conclude...
I see a lot of talk about AI. In the office I've had a saying for years. "You are the AI they've been waiting for".
'Think' that through. Ever wonder what percentage of your own thoughts...are actually your own? If you used 2000 as a start date? Then 2008?
How do you think the younger generation is fairing?
Again.
"You...are the AI they've been waiting for."
TCG
oh...and...
I'll add this chart back for those who didn't see it.
Tom showed me 20 videos from the last week calling for "BTC to one million in 90 day's".
I call this chart, "ETH to one thousand in 90 day's".
Just a simple common fourth wave pattern. Nothing fancy here. Although...please note the left/right up/down inversions within the pattern. Textbook perfect...
If I could only recall 1/10th of the ways SLV has produced Coin. For some reason this chart below never made it to the light of day. I found it tucked in the archives...and updated it.
I don't believe I have seen AussieBear post in the last year, but after perusing through the discussion of the last couple of weeks...I saw mention of the ^AORD. I'll post this quickly.
A quick check this morning...looks like were mirroring the US broad markets. I believe the word Doc used...was...'Relentless'? Parfait.
After viewing the above chart...perhaps another look at the ^XOI index is in order? Think! Study!
I'll close with this thought...
If Lloyd Blankfein, the ex-CEO from Government Sachs says it...it must be true. Right?
It would be insane if they would guarantee for ALL deposits.
But so were negative interest rates. If you would have asked me, say in 2005, if there will be negative interest rates in the Eurozone I would have said: "What? What are you talking about? That would mean the end of capitalism, the end of proper risk calculation, and so forth. Never ever will they do that!"
10 years later we had negative interest rates. For years!
FHLB RELOADING THE MAGAZINE
They already have $800B in the regionals....they have run out of amunition.
So they have to reload.
The Fed industrial complex really doesnt want to see any more regionals go "FDIC".
Its also very bad politics.
So its back to the FHLB as the primary bail out mechanism.
This is what I call soft nationalisation.
The implicit deposit guarantee makes a comeback.
They have to plug the regional bank solvency gap.
They are going to use a combination of:
1/ FHLB advances.
2/ Large bank deposits.
3/ Recapitalisations (Prefs and Warrens).
4/ Fed Printing (as a last resort).
One more time...."Until 3600 is breached on Volume...you're still in the topping pattern in the ^GSPC".
WTF...
I saw in my notes that I gave you a Gold Star awhile back for one reason or another.
I always give a bonus chart to those I give a Gold Star too...
Here ya go.
Mull it over. Carefully...
What sector is leading this decline? Correct. Bank stocks...everything else will eventually follow.
With that said...
"Once the MAGNET(2,24(x) to 2,25(x).) in the ^GSPC has been achieved, it is best to walk away and clear your head for the eventual turn in the market, BUT that does not mean the MAGNET is the low."
Far from it...
Since I cannot recall if you were around in the spring of last year when I explained the magnet...I'll repeat...The March 23, 2020 low is the MAGNET for ALL issues. The tech stocks are leading the decline and are one step ahead of the ^GSPC/^DJI and have already reached their prospective magnets. For further information on this topic you could go back into the archives and take a peak at "Through the Looking Glass".
What am I really saying here WTF?
To sum up...
As the tech stocks(^IXIC) enter into their fifth wave...the ^GSPC/^DJI complex will fall from their lofty position of the topping pattern into their third wave. Confirmation will come in the ^GSPC as you crack 3600, but only on Volume.
Again. One Step Behind. The magnet, when reached...will not be the low. A retest will be in order...at a minimum. Although, a nice quick truncated fifth has the highest odds of what really takes place.
At that time...long positions will the most favorable. For a time...
Take care and I'll see you on the flipside...
TCG
oh...and...uh...
Again. I'll park this right here...
The level of speculation I've witnessed over the last few weeks...it's nothing short of disheartening. Most of the issues being ramped...should be closed and eventually will be.
She acknowledged that inflation has outpaced ECB’s December estimates, revealing its ungrounded optimism; and then immediately supplies a rosy soft-landing return to 2.0% target by 2025.
Your girl Yellen at work Lee. I never cut her any slack. I think of her as the Abby Joseph Cohen of the FOMC. She, the nice dainty grandma, fronting for flesh eating monsters.
They simply ran out of precise weapons. They had a few, they are gone.
It is all about propaganda in Russia/Soviet Union. Since over 100 years. Core principle is to make the world believe that Russia is stronger and more weaponized than it actually is.