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Crude Oil Collapses Overnight On Supply Glut And Fractal Analysis Say $7 is Support

Crude Oil continues to be a big mover as the supply glut has really pushed global capacity to its limits. Dozens of full tanker ships are anchored off the California and Singapore coastlines waiting for demand to pick up.  As long as the Virus shutdown persists globally, the supply gut will continue to wreak havoc on oil price levels into Summer.  As of early Monday morning, Crude Oil is lower by -17% to $14.10 as I type.

What most readers of our articles here don’t fully grasp is just how accurate our long-term predictions truly are and its why we link to past research posts that clearly prove our analysis can be deadly accurate.

You may remember our incredible research post from July 2019 which suggested Crude Oil would collapse in early 2020 calling out a potential $14 price target.

You may also like to review our warning from January 2019 related to Oil and Energy. We also predicted the gold bullion breakout and bull market to happen last year in April, May, or June, which is it, and we called that six months prior. Eric Sprott talked about our gold prediction and how much he liked out analysis on his podcast back then.

Our Adaptive Fibonacci price modeling system is suggesting a support zone near $9 to $18 may become a new sideways trading zone for Crude Oil.  We believe the downside risk to price levels is still excessive, but we also believe that true price valuation levels will keep Oil above $4 ppb as global demand will eventually recover.  Thus, we believe Oil will likely settle into a sideways price range between $9 and $18 as this virus event continues.  It may attempt brief moves outside these ranges but eventually, settle back into this range until true demand begins to accelerate higher.

Before we continue, be sure to opt-in to our free market trend signals 
before closing this page, so you don’t miss our next special report!

DAILY CRUDE OIL CHART
ADAPTIVE FIBONACCI PRICE MODELING

This Daily Crude Oil Chart highlights our Adaptive Fibonacci Price Modeling system’s results and clearly shows the Support Zone.  We believe this Zone will become a new sideways price channel for Crude oil.

WEEKLY CRUDE OIL PRICE CHART – SUPPORT ZONE

This Weekly Crude Oil Price chart also highlights the Support Zone.  The potential for Crude prices to retest the $7 to $8 price range based on this massive supply glut is not out of the question.  We believe Crude Oil will settle into the Support Zone while attempting to establish a price bottom near $7 or $8 over the next 90+ days.  It may become an extended sideways bottom/flag formation as the bottom forms.

Our suggestion is to expect a more sideways bottom formation in Crude Oil over the next 60 to 90+ days.  The supply-side glut is really pushing price levels down to extreme levels.  Nothing will change that aspect of the market dynamic until we exit this Virus shut-down and demand starts to skyrocket higher.  That may come in August or later in the year.

We do believe Oil will attempt to find support above $7 to $8 ppb as we believe the supply glut will push oil prices to a “core value level” where global buyers will attempt to say “we can’t sell oil at anything less than $x.xx”.  We believe that level is $7 to $8 ppb overall.

As a technical analyst and trader since 1997, I have been through a few bull/bear market cycles in stocks and commodities. I believe I have a good pulse on the market and timing key turning points for investing and short-term swing traders. 2020 is an incredible year for traders and investors.  Don’t miss all the incredible trends and trade setups.

We all have trading accounts, and while our trading accounts are important, what is even more important are our long-term investment and retirement accounts. Why? Because they are, in most cases, our largest store of wealth other than our homes, and if they are not protected during a time like this, you could lose 25-50% or more of your entire net worth. The good news is we can preserve and even grow our long term capital when things get ugly like they are now and ill show you how and one of the best trades is one your financial advisor will never let you do because they do not make money from the trade/position.

If you have any type of retirement account and are looking for signals when to own equities, bonds, or cash, be sure to become a member of my Long-Term Investing Signals which we issued a new signal for subscribers.

Subscribers of my ETF trading newsletter had our trading accounts close at a new high watermark. We not only exited the equities market as it started to roll over in February, but we profited from the sell-off in a very controlled way with TLT bonds for a 20% gain. This week we closed out SPY ETF trade taking advantage of this bounce and entered a new trade with our account is at another all-time high value.

Ride my coattails as I navigate these financial markets and build wealth while others watch most of their retirement funds drop 35-65% during the next financial crisis.

Chris Vermeulen
Chief Market Strategies
Founder of Technical Traders Ltd.

Concerned That Asia Could Blow A Hole In Future Economic Recovery

Thinking somewhat far off into the future, our researchers believe China/Asia could become the next Black Hole in the global economy.  China recently released its March PMI number which came in at 52.0 – showing moderate expansion in Chinese manufacturing.  The February Chinese PMI level was 35.7.  We strongly believe China wants to show some strength in their perceived economic recovery and that these PMI numbers are somewhat “manufactured for effect”.

We believe the real economic toll taking place in China/Asia will continue to unfold over the next 3 to 6+ months as the historic expansion of wealth and the exported foreign investment from Wealthy Chinese continues to contract over this time.  In a very similar manner to what happened in the US when the Japanese economy contracted in the 1990s – as wealth creation processes collapse, these foreign investors suddenly start to liquidate assets trying to protect their “home-country assets”.

(Suggested Reading: https://www.barrons.com/articles/china-pmi-data-coronavirus-51585666441)

We’ve recently posted an article suggesting the US Real Estate market could suddenly find itself in a real measurable collapse and we believe the foreign investors, speculators and speculative renters (Air BnB and others) will suddenly find themselves in a very difficult situation.  You can find our Real Estate article here.

As the COVID-19 virus event continues to unfold, the data from global nations will quickly identify any outlier factors and data points related to China/Asia and how they are reporting their data.  Chinese economic data has raised suspicions for quite some time with global analysts.  It seems highly unlikely that the Chinese economy rebounded from an almost complete shutdown in February and most of March to a moderate manufacturing growth level at the end of March 2020.  Meanwhile, throughout the rest of the globe, economies, and manufacturing levels are contracting as the COVID-19 shutdown continues.

(Suggested Reading: https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/asias-factory-activity-plunges-coronavirus-044302834.html)

We believe the disparity between the global markets and the numbers China continues to proffer will quickly result in a complete lack of confidence in future data related to any Chinese economic activity or future expectations. We also believe the global capital markets will make an immediate shift away from risks associated with any falsified data originating from China by mitigating forward risks in investments and currency market exposure over the next 3 to 5+ years – possibly longer.

Before you continue, be sure to opt-in to our free market trend signals 
before closing this page, so you don’t miss our next special report!

Source: Finviz.com

What happens when global events like the COVID-19 virus event takes place is that capital immediately attempts to identify extreme risks and attempt to move to safer environments.  Currencies are no different.  Global markets, investment, and manufacturing are increasingly exposed to risks related to the shifting markets and any false or otherwise “outlier” data being reported right now.  The bigger players can’t afford to take risks and will take active measures to protect their futures and investments.

Source: Finviz.com

(Suggested Reading: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/31/asia-markets-china-official-pmi-coronavirus-global-economy-in-focus.html)

Our opinion is that the Chinese PMI level of 52 for March 2020 is an outlier data point.  This virus event started in early January in China and almost all of February and March were when the globe suddenly became aware of the risks and infection spread.  Even though China may have attempted to ramp up manufacturing over the past 2+ weeks to appear to be “back to normal” – it makes no sense to us that manufacturing in China actually “expanded”, based on historical levels, that quickly.

Watch how quickly global economies and currencies work to mitigate the risks related to perceived “outlier data”.  We believe most of Asia will continue into an economic contraction over the next 3+ months and we believe the FOREX market will relate the immediate risk concerns related to Asia/China/global market expectations.  In other words, watch the currencies to see how global investors perceive risks associated with true economic activity.

The World Bank many not have a deep enough piggy bank to back the extended risks of an Asian Economic contraction lasting 6+ months.

(Suggested Reading: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/world-bank-says-coronavirus-outbreak-may-take-heavy-toll-on-asias-economy-2020-03-30)

As a technical analysis and trader since 1997, I have been through a few bull/bear market cycles. I believe I have a good pulse on the market and timing key turning points for short-term swing traders.

I hope you found this informative, and if you would like to get a pre-market video every day before the opening bell, along with my trade alerts visit my Active ETF Trading Newsletter. If you are a long-term investor looking for signals when to own equities, bonds, or cash, be sure to look into my Long-Term Investing Signals.

Ride my coattails as I navigate these financial markets and build wealth while others lose nearly everything they own during the next financial crisis.

Chris Vermeulen
Chief Market Strategist
Founder of Technical Traders Ltd.

Weakness Appears To Be Setting For This Week’s Economic Data

As the world reacts to the global economic slowdown because of the COVID-19 virus event and the massive stimulus programs and central bank efforts to support the global economy, investors still expect weakness in the US and foreign markets.  We believe this expected weakness will not subside until news of a proper resolution to this virus event is rooted in the minds of investors and global markets.

Hong Kong and China are currently concerned about experiencing a “third wave” of the COVID-19 virus within their society.  As the economies open back up to somewhat normal, people are very concerned that a renewed wave of new infections will suddenly appear and potentially result in another shut-down event or infectious cycle?  We believe all nations are watching what is happening in Hong Kong and China as they attempt to reopen their economies.

The rest of the world is still battling the rising infection rates and dealing with the economic shutdowns that have brought the global economy to its knees.  Europe, Japan, Canada, and the US are all experiencing vast disruptions to their economies and commodity prices and demand expectations are collapsing as a result.

Nearly a week ago, we issued a research article that suggested our proprietary Fibonacci Price Modeling tool’s key resistance levels may become a very valid ceiling for any price recovery.  It appears this is happening in the markets as the NQ Daily chart, below, shows.

Before you continue, be sure to opt-in to our free market trend signals 
before closing this page, so you don’t miss our next special report!

DAILY NASDAQ (NQ) CHART

The NQ resistance level, near 7880, has acted as a soft ceiling in the NQ over the past 4+ trading days.  Today, the NQ briefly rallied above this level, then rotated downward below this level again to confirm this key resistance level.  We believe this critical Fibonacci resistance level may continue to act as a price ceiling over the next few trading days and push prices lower as economic news and expectations hit the news this week and next.

The next downside price target for the NQ is 6565 – new price lows.

If you have not seen this important technical analysis on the Nasdaq which I posted a couple of days ago, be sure to see these charts.

SP500 (ES) WEEKLY CHART

This ES Weekly chart illustrates another key resistance level near 2679.  Although the ES price has not rallied up to reach this critical Fibonacci resistance level, we still believe this level is acting as a price ceiling and that the ES will weaken as future expectations are confirmed by earnings data, economic data and other collateral damage to the global economy.

We are still very early in understanding the total scope of this virus event.  The US and other global central banks are attempting to front-run any weakened expectations as a result of this virus event.  We continue to believe the extended collateral damage to the consumer, business and other aspects of the economy are yet to come.  Most recently, consumer delinquencies have begun to skyrocket and the news is being printed about landlords and renters being unable to satisfy obligations on April 1st.

This is part of the reason why we believe further caution is warranted at this time in the markets. We issued an Important Trade and Investment Alert Yesterday.

Our research team believes a deeper price low will likely set up over the next 30+ days to establish a true price bottom.  As we’ve warned, we believe extended collateral damage to the US and global economy will soon become better understood and the extended shutdown of the US and other economies only manages to complicate any positive expectations for a bottom.

We believe a deeper price low will set up within the next 30+ days and we urge skilled traders to pay attention to the broader expectations of the markets.  Earnings data and other economic data will continue to stream into the news centers over the next 30+ days.  Don’t get too aggressive with trying to buy a bottom in the markets just yet.  Be patient and wait for the markets to show you when the bottom has really setup.

As a technical analysis and trader since 1997, I have been through a few bull/bear market cycles. I believe I have a good pulse on the market and timing key turning points for short-term swing traders.

I hope you found this informative, and if you would like to get a pre-market video every day before the opening bell, along with my trade alerts visit my Active ETF Trading Newsletter. If you are a long-term investor looking for signals when to own equities, bonds, or cash, be sure to look into my Long-Term Investing Signals.

Ride my coattails as I navigate these financial markets and build wealth while others lose nearly everything they own during the next financial crisis.

Chris Vermeulen
Chief Market Strategist
Founder of Technical Traders Ltd.

Part III – Crunching Some Numbers – Virus, Market Crash, Rate Cuts

In this section of this multi-part research article related to the potential economic destruction of the Covid-19 virus event across the global markets (Part I, Part II).

We’re going to peer into data related to the GDP and other factors of the US economy.  Remember, the US economy is the largest single economy and consumption component in the world.  As we suggested in our earlier research, the US and China (combined) account for about 30% of the total global GDP each year.  The top 12+ GDP nations on the planet account for just under 80% of the total annual GDP for the globe.  What happens if economic activity and global GDP collapse for the next 24+ months because of the Covid-19 virus?

First, be sure to opt-in to our free market trend signals before closing this page, so you don’t miss our next special report!

The second thing we want to discuss is the real potential for economic interruption within the global markets.  As of today, the US has declared an emergency status and many states and cities have already started to shut down schools, sporting events, entertainment venues and many other aspects of the US economy.  Additionally, a travel ban has been set up in an attempt to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus and the potential of an uncontrolled global contagion.  We believe these travel restrictions will stay in place for at least 60+ days and we believe the spread of this virus will continue for at least another 45+ days before potentially “leveling off”.

The third thing we want to discuss is the economic fallout that is resulting from this Covid-19 event.  It has clearly become evident that exporting a large portion of our manufacturing capabilities to China and other nations puts the USA in a very dangerous situation.  China has threatened to withhold vital medical supplies and other items from the USA over the past few weeks as China attempts to blame the USA for initiating this virus event.  Simply put, America will not be held hostage by China under any circumstances.

Additionally, we believe other mature economies and nations are also starting to reconsider many policies and manufacturing processes related to this event.  Although we don’t have any real proof that this Covid-19 virus event originated in a Chinese lab in China, the very first instance of this virus was documented in China in November 2019 and didn’t really spread to any other country until well into 2020.  It makes perfect sense this Virus originated in China and spread throughout the Chinese New Year to other nations.

Debt and Banking capabilities become a real issue at times when consumers shift spending and economic habits.  Large sectors of the economy become “at-risk” very quickly.  The way our researchers put it is “isolated economic events may cause certain economic events to unfold, but extended economic events put greater pressure on even mostly healthy corporations and enterprises as lack of revenues and a shift in consumer activity can result in a broad market collapse”.

So, here we have the setup of the economic event and now we can speculate about the consequences.  Our researchers believe the immediate needs of all nations is to attempt to contain this virus event and to reconsider policies and manufacturing processes/locations to eliminate risks related to hostile countries.  Is it worth it to save a few pennies to manufacture something while putting your entire nation at risk when an event like this happens?

The funny thing about all major events, like this, is that usually cause people and nations to “shift gears”.  Remember after 9/11 how America shifted away from certain policies and came together to support our military against terrorists around the world?  Remember after the 2008-09 credit crisis how the US took immediate steps to attempt to prevent this type of financial event from happening again and how consumers were “shell-shocked” to re-enter the marketplace after the fallout?  This same type of social constriction happens all over the world as consumers/people act in a flock-mentality.

WHAT DO OUR RESEARCHERS BELIEVE IS THE MOST LIKELY OUTCOME FOR Q1 AND Q2 OF 2020?

We took the past 73 years of quarterly US GDP data and attempted to run two rolling Standard Deviations on them.  The first, a 12 quarter (roughly three years) rolling Standard Deviation.  The second, a full 10-year rolling Standard Deviation.  The purpose of this was to determine how volatile past economic events have been related to these standard deviation ranges.

There have only been a few economic events that meet any of the criteria similar to the Covid-19 virus event.  The closest was the 2008-09 Credit Crisis.  All other events were isolated US types of events related to bubble events and Federal Reserve functions.

1957-1958: a collapse in GDP growth (below the 12 QTR StdDev) took place where GDP contracted by nearly 10 billion (-2%), then almost immediately rebounded back to 2x StdDev growth by 1959.

Mid 1960 to mid-1961: GDP growth collapsed to below 1x StdDev range, at one point almost stalling in Q1 1961, then immediately rebounded back to 2x StdDev growth by the end of 1961.

Q1 1982 to Q1 1983: GDP growth stalled to levels near 0.5 StdDev range for a period of 12 months before slowly rebounding back to 1x+ levels by late 1983 into 1984.

Q3 1990 to Q4 1991: GDP growth stalled to nearly 0.6 of the StdDev range, then rebounded back to 1.5x StdDev range by Q2 1992

Q4 2000 to Q3 2002: The Dot Com bubble and the 9/11 terrorist attacks resulted in an extended contraction in GDP expansion throughout this time.  By Q4 2001, GDP growth was only 0.53x the StdDev range.  Growth finally rebounded in late 2002.

Q1 2008 to Q1 2010: The Credit Crisis really took a toll on GDP.  Throughout most of 2008, GDP levels were still positive and above 0.5x the StdDev range.  Yet in Q3 2008, everything turned negative and GDP reached an extreme (-2.088x) StdDev range in Q3 2009.  Gdp rebounded back to 2x StdDev range in Q1 2010.

Q3 2015 to Q3 2016: This was an election year GDP contraction.  GDP continued to grow, but fell below the 1x StdDev range that seems to be very consistent.  Q4 2016 returned to levels above 1x StdDev.

What this shows us is that a -2x StdDev range is not uncommon and that a bigger move could take place with the right global economic setup.  A 3x or 4x GDP reversion (downside collapse) is also not out of the question if certain circumstances setup to present such an event.

IN CONCLUSION

This lengthy article and extensive research, our researchers do believe a 2x to 3x GDP reversion event is on the immediate horizon.  Given current data points and the fact that we’ve had little “transition” from previous growth phases to this potential new contraction phase, we believe the GDP contraction for Q1 2020 is likely going to be -10% or more from previous levels.  We believe Q2 GDP contraction may actually be higher (-12% or more).  This will be the result of China’s contracting and quarantining economy as well as the fallout from the continued spread of the Covid-19 virus throughout the rest of the world.

We believe Q4 2020 may result in a positive GDP quarter before further GDP contraction takes place in early 2021. We believe this will likely be the result of extended global economic malaise, global banking issues, global credit, and corporate earnings issues and the possibility that a global asset revaluation event may be taking place (similar to the 2008-09 Credit Crisis event).  This time, though, we believe it will be foreign markets engaging in a Credit Crisis and asset revaluation process that will drag the US economy into a 2021~2023 slump.

A 2x StdDev GDP event right now would be a collapse of $1.65T.  A 3x StdDev GDP event right now would be a collapse of $2.486T.  A 4x StdDev GDP event (God forbid), right now would be a collapse of $3.316T.  Remember, it is not really the size that matters – it is the length of time this contraction takes place.

Be prepared for some really ugly earnings data in Q1 an Q2 of this year, then we’ll figure out if our expectations were accurate or not and what we should be doing to plan going forward.

The type of market condition I think we have entered could be here for a long time, and it’s going to be a traders’ market, which means you must have a trading strategy, plan your trades, and trade your plan. It’s amazing how simple a few trading rules that are written down on paper can save you thousands of dollars a week or month from locking in gains or cutting losses.

I have this mini trading strategy mastery course if you want to take control of your trades and override your emotional issues. And also if you want to start making money from home which is the only option going forward the next 3-6 months from the looks of it my trading as a business program is something to think about doing.

– If you hold winners until they turn into losers

– Taking too large of a position and get stuck with a drawdown so large that if you close the position you will lose 10-50% of your trading account

– have mastered the art of buying high and selling low repeatedly?

All these things happen to most traders, and they can easily be overcome with a logical game plan I cover in the crash courses, pun intended 🙂

In short, if you have lost money with your trading account this year giving back years of gains, I think it’s worth joining my trading newsletter so you can stay on top of the markets and if you really want to excel take my mini-courses. I take the loud, emotional, and complex markets and deliver simple common sense commentary and a couple of winning trades each month for you to follow.

My trading is nothing extreme or crazy exciting because I’m not an adrenaline trading junky. I only want to grow my entire portfolio 2-4% a month with a couple of conservative ETF trades. Earning a 22%-48% return on my capital every year without the stress of being caught up in this type of market, and knowing I have a proven bear market trading strategy incase this market continues to fall is a comforting thought.

As a technical analysis and trader since 1997, I have been through a few bull/bear market cycles. I believe I have a good pulse on the market and timing key turning points for short-term swing traders.

Visit my ETF Wealth Building Newsletter and if you like what I offer, and ride my coattails as I navigate these financial markets and build wealth while others lose nearly everything they own during the next financial crisis.

Chris Vermeulen
www.TheTechnicalTraders.com

Crunching Some Numbers – Our Researchers Share Their Data – Part II

Continuing our earlier multi-part research post related to our extensive number crunching and predictive modeling systems expectations going forward many years, (Part I) this second part will highlight some existing data points and start to discuss the concepts of what the Covid-19 virus event may do to the immediate global economy.  Remember, in the first part of this article, we shared research related to the US Fed Funds Rate (FFR) and how the Covid-19 virus event may create an environment of economic malaise over the next 12 to 24+ months as well as potentially disrupt the population and deficits over a 5+ year span.

This type of event is very similar to war (think WWII) in the sense that consumer spending changes, population growth, and levels change, GDP changes and deficits change for all involved.  Our researchers modeled the GDP levels from 2017 will now with the intent of attempting to identify probable outcomes of GDP output throughout the world over the next 5+ years.  Throughout these types of events, a massive capital shift takes place where consumers within areas impacted by war shift their spending and purchasing habits to address the immediate real needs of their attempted survival.  Speculation vanishes.  People only spend on things they are confident they can afford to risk their money on.  Anyone who is able to take advantage of the displaced or disparaged has a real opportunity to create some real gains if they don’t become the next displaced or disparaged individual.

Here is some data we used to model what we believe will happen over the next 2 to 5+ years as a result of the Covid-19 virus event.  We are using this global data as a basis for our modeling going forward and attempting to align 2018 and 2019 data with that reported by the St. Louis Federal Reserve data.  Our objective is to attempt to identify the scope and extend of any potential change in economic cycles going forward and to prepare our friends and followers of what to expect.

This data illustrates the scale and scope of the total global GDP output of all the nations on the planet for 2017.  It is important to understand that China and the United States are the two biggest GDP producers of all nations.  Between the US and China, both nations produce roughly 40% of the world’s total GDP annually.  When you consider all nations producing more than $1.5T in annual GDP on this graphic, these 12+ nations (including OTHERS) produce nearly 78% of the world’s total GDP annually.

The nations that make up this list of top GDP producing nations are:

These nations (and the group of nations listed as OTHERS) total almost 80% of total annual GDP across the entire planet.  Keeping in mind that we are attempting to model the Covid-19 virus event, which nations are likely to be the hardest hit on this list?  Obviously China, Japan, Germany, Italy, South Korea, and the United States are all prime targets of the Covid-19 virus event.  Brazil, Canada, France, India, and Others are secondary targets for GDP disruption.  Yet, their proximity to the price candidates makes them fairly easy targets for future GDP disruption related to the Covid-19 virus.

The point we are trying to make by illustrating this is that 80% of the world’s total GDP is at risk over the next 24+ months related to shifting consumer spending, central bank activities, asset valuation levels and much more.  We’re not talking about 4% or 5% of the world – we’re clearly showing you that 80% of the world’s total economic output is within the cross-hairs of this virus event.

Be sure to opt-in to our free market trend signals before closing this page, so you don’t miss our next special report!

Our modeling suggests the 2017 GDP levels presented by the image (above) and the subsequent yearly REAL GDP levels presented by the St. Louis Federal Reserve deliver this data as a basis for our modeling system.

Our attempted modeling of the Covid-19 virus event across global economies is based, in part, on what happened in the 2008-09 Credit Crisis event.  Throughout that span of time (2008 to 2009), US GDP fell -3.36% over 12 to 16 months.  The difference between this Credit Crisis event and the Covid-19 event is that the Covid-19 event appears to be disrupting a broader segment of economic sectors across dozens of nations/cities all at once.  Whereas the Credit Crisis event resulted in somewhat isolated asset and economic contractions related to banking, insurance, credit, and assets – the Covid-19 virus event appears to be much broader in scope and consequences.  Our researchers believe the Covid-19 virus event will reach nearly every segment of the global economy in some way or form – causing some type of economic disruption either in supply, demand or overall consumer activity related to the sector/economic component.  Therefore, we believe the scope of the contagion event related to Covid-19 will be, at a minimum, 2x to 3x the scale and scope of the Credit Crisis.

We’ve come to the conclusion that the disruption to earnings, revenues, expenses and other economic factors across a broad spectrum of global economic outputs may look something like this.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is image.png

We believe Q1 and Q2 of this year will be a disaster for almost all nations.  We believe there is a chance Q3 and Q4 2020 may see a moderately strong recovery (or the start of a recovery).  We believe winter 2020 and into 2021 may bring further influenza type illness and may begin the process anew.  Or, we believe the recovery process may be somewhat stalled in 2021 as we believe the fallout from the previous year may still be taking place across multiple asset classes and corporate level and banking/insurance level industries.  We believe that by mid-2022 and early 2023, the global economy will begin to find a solid foundation for future economic growth and that global GDP may begin to move higher overall.

We are basing our modeling process on the information we have gained from our experience in the markets and from living through the 2008-09 Credit Crisis event.  Far too many people fail to understand the contagion event process that takes place when consumers abandon traditional spending patterns as income levels become more “at-risk”.  As we’ve suggested many times in previous articles, consumer spending and the “flock mentality” is not something to underestimate.  Current GDP levels are calculated mostly by consumer spending activity.  Think about what that means going forward.

Here are some St. Louis Federal Reserve data charts that we used in attempting to model these results.

A potential further decrease in M2 (velocity of money) throughout this Covid-19 virus event is very likely.  This is one of the primary reasons we believe this event may last more than 24 months in total span.  We believe the continued decline of the M2 velocity level is a very strong indication that historical levels of economic activity (1965 through 1995) simply are not present in today’s global economic world.  This complicates how money is used within the global market – it is being engaged as active money transactions by a -30% ration than 1995 levels. If M2 continues to decline, we believe the consequence of this move will relate to an even slower recovery from the Covid-19 virus event.

In the next part of this article, we’ll explore the real data points and outlier expectations of the 2020 Covid-19 virus event.

As a technical analysis and trader since 1997, I have been through a few bull/bear market cycles. I believe I have a good pulse on the market and timing key turning points for short-term swing traders.

Visit my ETF Wealth Building Newsletter and if you like what I offer, and ride my coattails as I navigate these financial markets and build wealth while others lose nearly everything they own during the next financial crisis.

Chris Vermeulen
www.TheTechnicalTraders.com

Yield Curve Patterns – What To Expect In 2020

Quite a bit of information can be gleaned from the US Treasury Yield Curve charts.  There are two very interesting components that we identified from the Yield Curve charts below.  First, the bottom in late 2018 was a very important price bottom in the US markets.  That low presented a very deep bottom in the Yield Curve 30Y-10Y chart.  We believe this bottom set up a very dynamic shift in the capital markets that present the current risk factor throughout must of the rest of the world.  Second, this same December 2018 price bottom set up a very unique consolidation pattern on the 10Y-3Y Yield Curve chart.  This pattern has been seen before, in late 1997-1998 and late 2005-2008.

The reality of these two patterns setting up in the Yield Curve charts suggests that the US and global markets are going to experience a surge in volatility and a very real potential that the US and global markets will contract over the next 6 to 24 months.  Within about 3 to 6+ months of these patterns setting up, one of two separate outcomes typically takes place.

A.  A continued US stock market price advance takes place pushing the Yield Curves lower and ultimately setting up a massive stock market top formation.

B.  A moderate price peak sets up where the Yield Curve levels begin to rise from these current levels while the US and global stock markets begin a moderate correction phase – eventually leading into the possibility of a massive price collapse.

Our research team believes the deep price rotation near the end of 2018 set up a very unique capital shift event that took place within the global markets.  Currently, there is well over $75 Trillion in the US and global markets.  This capital has become enough of a force in the global markets to act as the “moon and the tide”.  In a way, this capital, and the search for profits and safety, has propelled the global markets into a very fragile position.

This total amount of capital, in combination with the derivative markets and global credit markets, presents a significant risk for global central banks and nations.  Many foreign nations have pushed their debt levels to well over 100% of GDP.  Still, even more, have engaged in reckless lending and shadow banking practices that engage a further level of risk to the global markets.  Global central banks have taken on excessive debt levels and acquired assets after 2009 in order to help stabilize the global markets.  The combination of all of these facets of new capital, risk, and assets add a new dynamic to historical patterns in the Yield Curves.

Even though the patterns are similar in structure, the risks are far greater than in 2000 or 2008.  Before, the Central Banks were like a ship navigating the Tides of the seas.  Now, the Central Banks have become the Tides and the Moon – they are essentially an omnipresent force in all levels of assets, capital, risks, and contagion.

We believe the 30Y – 10Y yield curve may move slightly lower if any type of reprieve or complacency continues throughout the global markets that risk is not a factor going forward. This would suggest that the US stock market may continue to move a bit higher – possibly seeing the DOW breach the $30,000 level.  Otherwise, we believe the Yield Curve may continue to climb suggesting that a global market peak is setting up and a price reversion event is beginning to take place.

This 10Y – 3Y Yield Curve chart highlights the potential for a brief collapse in this level to below ZERO, yet it is not necessary at this point in time to confirm a potential major market peak.  Ideally, the future of the US and global stock markets depend on how these yield curves react at this juncture in time.  A deeper move to levels below ZERO will suggest a broader market peak is setting up.  A rally from these levels would suggest the peak has already set up and that real risk and fear are entering the global markets.

The NQ setup an Engulfing Bearish pattern after a very impressive rally from moderate rotation in December 2019.  We highlighted the potential that the US markets are rallying to a peak in a number of research articles recently.  The one we’ve included, below, is an excellent example of this type of research.

January 31, 2020: A COMBINATION TOPPING PATTERN IS SETTING UP

As we’ve been suggesting for many months, this is the time for skilled traders to become “cautious long traders”.  This upside move could end in a very violent manner as the Moon and Tide shift suddenly as fear and central bank paralysis setup in the markets.  We urge all our friends and followers to prepare for this eventual setup and to understand the total scope of this omnipresent capital/debt event.  This time will certainly be different because Central Banks have become banker, holders, guarantor and leveraged participants in the future outcome.

Our suggestion is to plan to setup your portfolio so you have sufficient cash in reserve in the event of an unexpected market decline.  We also suggest proper protection/hedge investments, such as precious metals and metals miner ETFs.  Currently, this single Engulfing Bearish pattern is not enough of a trigger to warn of any immediate action for traders – but the Yield Curve charts are clearly showing us the markets will either continue to rally to an ultimate peak or begin to setup that peak very quickly from current levels.

Think of it this way, we know the music will likely stop at some point in the near future, we just don’t know exactly when it will stop.  So, we have to prepare for the scramble for the chairs when it ends.

Join my Swing Trading ETF Wealth Building Newsletter if you like what you read here and ride my coattails as I navigate these financial markets and build wealth while others lose nearly everything they own.

Chris Vermeulen
www.TheTechnicalTraders.com

Is The Technology Sector Setting Up For A Crash? Part IV

As we continue to get more and more information related to the Coronavirus spreading across Asia and Europe, the one thing we really must consider is the longer-term possibility that major global economies may contract in some manner as the Chinese economy is currently doing.  The news suggests over 700+ million people in China are quarantined.  This is a staggering number of people – nearly double the total population of the entire United States.

If the numbers presented by the Chinese are accurate, the Coronavirus has a very high infection rate, yet a moderately small mortality rate (2~3%).  Still, if this virus continues to spread throughout the world and infects more and more people, there is a very real potential that 20 to 50 million people may be killed because of this event.  It may become one of the biggest Black Swan events in recent history.

We really won’t know the total scope of the damage to the Chinese and Asian economies for another 35+ days – possibly longer.  The information we have been able to pull from available news sources and from the Chinese press is that hundreds of millions are quarantined, the Chinese Central Bank is pouring capital into their markets in order to support their frail economy and, just recently, President Xi suggested stimulus will not be enough – austerity measure will have to be put into place to protect China from creating a massive debt-trap because of this virus.

Austerity is a process of central bank planners cutting expenses, cutting expansion plans, cutting everything that is not necessary and planning for longer-term economic contraction.  It means the Chinese are preparing for a long battle and are attempting to protect their wealth and future from an extreme collapse event.

From an investor standpoint, FANG stocks have outperformed the S&P, NASDAQ and DOW JONES indexes by many multiples over the past 5~6 years.  The chart below highlights the rally in the markets that originated in late 2016 (think 2016 US Presidential Election) and the fact that foreign capital poured into the US stock market chasing expected returns promised by future President Trump.

It becomes very clear that the FANG stocks rallied very quickly after the elections were completed and continued to pull away from valuation levels of the S&P, NASDAQ and DOW JONES US indexes.  How far has the FANG index rallied above the other US major indexes? At some points, the FANG index was 30~40% higher than the biggest, most mature industries within the US.  In late 2018, everything contracted a bit – including the FANG index.

As or right now, the FANG index has risen nearly 274% from October 2014.  The S&P has risen nearly 60% over that same time.  The NASDAQ has risen 140% and the S&P 500 Info Tech Index rose 180%.  The reality is that capital has poured into the technology sector, FANG stocks and various other US stock market indexes chasing this incredible rally event.

(source: https://www.theice.com/fangplus)

This Netflix Weekly chart highlights what we believe are some of the early signs of weakness in the FANG sector.  The sideways FLAG formation suggests NFLX has reached a peak in early 2018 and investors have shied away from pouring more capital into this symbol while the Technology index and FANG index have continued to rally over the past 8+ months.

This Weekly Custom FANG Index chart highlights the rally that took place after October 2018 and continues to drive new highs today.  This move on our Custom FANG index shows a very clear breakout rally taking place which is why we believe more foreign capital poured into the US markets as the US/China trade deal continued to plague the global markets and as BREXIT and other economic issues started to weigh on economic outputs.  What did investors do to avoid these risks?  Pour their capital into the hot US technology sector.

Another chart we like to review is our Custom Technology Index Weekly chart.  This chart shows a similar pattern to the FANG chart above, yet it presents a very clear picture of the excessive price rally and rotation that has taken place over the past 5+ months.  The real risk with this trend is that investors may start to believe “it will go on forever” and “there is no risk in these trades”.  There is a very high degree of risk in these trades.  Once the bubble bursts, the downside move may become very violent and shocking.

A reversion event, bubble burst event, in the technology sector as a result of the economic collapse in China and throughout other areas of the world may break this rally in the technology sector at some point and may push investors to re-evaluate their trading plans.  Until investors understand the risks setting up because of the Coronavirus and the potential for a 20%, 30%, even 40% decrease in economic activity and consumer spending may finally push global investors to really think about the true valuations within the FANG/Technology sector.

We writing this article to alert you to the very real fact that “what goes up – must come down” at some point.  Pay attention to how this plays out and what may cause global investors to suddenly change their opinion of the Technology sector.   A pullback in this sector may result in a -40% to -50% price reversion.

We believe the economic collapse and humanitarian crisis that is unfolding in China may be enough to put a massive dent in future expectations for 2020 and 2021.  You simply can’t have a major global economic collapse in this manner without having some type of cross-over event.  As we learned in 2008-09 with the US credit crisis – when a major economy collapses its assets and financial markets, the ripples spread across the globe.  China may become the next financial crisis event for the new decade.

Join my Swing Trading ETF Wealth Building Newsletter if you like what you read here and ride my coattails as I navigate these financial markets and build wealth while others lose nearly everything they own.

Chris Vermeulen
www.TheTechnicalTraders.com

Is The Technology Sector Setting Up For A Crash? Part III

FANG stocks seem uniquely positioned for some extreme rotation over the next 6+ months.  The continued capital shift that has taken place over the past 5+ years has driven investment and capital into the Technology sector – much like the DOT COM rally.  The euphoric rally in the late 1990s seems quite similar to today.

The biggest difference this time is that global central banks have pushed an easy-money monetary policy since just after 2000.  The policies and rallies that took place after 9/11 were a result of policies put in place by George W. Bush and Alan Greenspan.  Our research team believes these policies set up a  process where foreign markets gorged on cheap US Dollars to expand industry and manufacturing throughout the late 1990s and most of the early 2000s.  This process sets up a scenario where the US pumped US Dollars into the global markets after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and foreign markets gobbled this capital up knowing they could expand infrastructure, industry, and manufacturing, then sell these products back to the US and other markets for profits.  Multiple QE attempts by the US Fed continued to fuel this capital shift.

It wasn’t until after 2008-09 when the US Fed entered a period of extreme easy money policy.  This easy money policy populated an extensive borrow-spend process throughout most of the foreign world.  Remember, as much as the US was attempting to support the US markets, the foreign markets were actively gorging even more on this easy money from the US and didn’t believe anything would change in the near future.  China/Asia and most of the rest of the world continued to suck up US Dollars while pouring more and more capital into industry, manufacturing and finance/banking.

This process of borrowing from the US while tapping into the expanding US markets created a wealth creation process throughout much of Asia/China that, in turn, poured newly created wealth back into the US stock and real estate markets over the past 7+ years.  It is easy to understand how the trillions pushed into the markets by the US Fed created opportunity and wealth throughout the globe, then turned into investments into US assets and the US stock market.  Foreign investors wanted a piece of the biggest and most diverse economy on the planet.

This foreign investment propelled a new rally in the Technology sector, which aligned with a massive build-out of technology throughout the world and within China.  Remember, in the late 1990s, China was just starting to develop large manufacturing and industry.  By the mid-2000s, China had already started building huge city-wide industry and manufacturing.  But in the late-2000s, China went all-in on the industry and manufacturing build-out.  This created a massive “beast” in China that depends on this industry to support finance and capital markets.  This lead to the recent rise in the global and US markets as all of this capital rushed around the globe looking for the best returns and safest locations for investment.

FANG stocks have taken center stage and the recent rally reminds of us the DOT COM rally from the 1990s.  Could the Coronavirus break this trend and collapse future expectations within the global markets?  Is it possible that we are setting up another DOT COM-like bubble that is about to break?

THE WEEKLY CHART OF APPLE (AAPL)

This first Weekly chart of Apple (AAPL) shows just how inflated price has rallied since August 2019.  The share price of AAPL has risen from $220 to almost $320 in the last 6 months – an incredible +49%.  We attribute almost all of this incredible rise to the Capital Shift that took place in the midst of the US/China trade war.  Foreign capital needed to find a place to protect itself from currency devaluation and to generate ROI.  What better place than the US Technology Sector.

THE WEEKLY CHART OF FACEBOOK (FB)

Facebook has also seen a nice appreciation in value from the lows in late 2018.  From the August 2019 date, though, Facebook has seen share prices rise about +25% – from the $180 level to the $225 level.  Although many traders may not recognize the Double Top pattern set up near the $220 level, we believe this setup may be an early warning that Technology may be starting to “rollover” as capital may begin searching for a safer environment and begin exiting the Technology sector.

THE WEEKLY CHART OF GOOGLE (GOOG)

Google (Alphabet), GOOG, is another high-flier with share prices rising from $1200 to $1500 from August 2019 till now – a +28% price increase.  We can clearly see that GOOG is well above the historic price channel set up by the rotation in late 2018.  We believe resistance near $1525 will act as a price boundary and may prompt a downside price rotation associated with the rotation away from risk within the Technology sector.  Any downside move, if it happens, could prompt a price decline targeting $1350 or lower.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:

Remember, we are warning of a change in how capital operates within the markets.  The Capital Shift that has continued to drive advancing share prices in Technology may be nearing an end.  It does not mean the capital shift will end, it just means this capital may rotate into other sectors in an attempt to avoid risks and seek out returns.  We believe this is a real possibility because we believe the Coronavirus in China is disrupting the markets (supply/manufacturing and consumer spending) by such a large factor that we believe capital will be forced to identify new targets for returns.  In other words, we believe the Technology Sector may be at very high risk for a price reversion event if this “black swan” event continues to disrupt the global markets.

Let’s face it, a very large portion of our technology originates and is manufactured in China.  In fact, a very large portion of almost everything we consume is manufactured in China.  Heck, the cat food I buy every week is made in China.  If this Coronavirus continues to force China to shut down large sections of their nation and manufacturing while it continues to spread, then the only real outcome for the rest of the world is that “China manufacturing capabilities will be only 10~20% of previous levels” (if that).

Once supply runs out for most items originating from China, then we are going to have to deal with a new reality of “what are the real future expectations going to really look like” and that is why we are preparing our followers and friends the Technology sector may be one of the biggest rotating sectors in the near future.

Join my Swing Trading ETF Wealth Building Newsletter if you like what you read here and ride my coattails as I navigate these financial markets and build wealth while others lose nearly everything they own.

Chris Vermeulen
www.TheTechnicalTraders.com

NOTICE: Our free research does not constitute a trade recommendation or solicitation for our readers to take any action regarding this research.  It is provided for educational purposes only.  Our research team produces these research articles to share information with our followers/readers in an effort to try to keep you well informed.  Visit our web site (www.thetechnicaltraders.com) to learn how to take advantage of our members-only research and trading signals.

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Technology Sector Setting Up For A Crash? Part II

In the first section of this article, we highlighted three key components/charts illustrating why the “rally to the peak” is very likely a result of a continued Capital Shift away from risk and into the US stock market as an attempt to avoid foreign market growth concerns.  This method of pouring capital into the US stock market is a process that is driving incredible asset rallies in the US technology sector.  Already the US technology sector (FANG and our Custom Technology Index charts) are up almost 15% in 2020.  How long will it last and when will it end?

Recently, China has revised the Coronavirus data with a sharp increase in infection cases – now over 40,000.  We believe the true number of infections in China are currently well above 250,000 from video content and other data we’ve researched.  We believe economic data originating from China for January and February 2020 will show a dramatic 60% to 80%+ decrease in activity for many of the major cities.  Satellite technology suggests manufacturing and consumer activity in most major Chinese cities is only a fraction of what would be considered normal – 10% to 20% or normal levels.

This means the manufacturing capacities in China have collapsed and that supply to the rest of the world will collapse as well.  This means major electronics manufacturers and suppliers will suddenly quickly experience shortages and outages very shortly.  This is why we believe the technology sector may come under severe pressure over the next 6+ months and why we believe the “high-flying” technology sector may be one of the biggest sector rotations of 2020.

Just how much of a “collapse” are we talking about?  How can anyone attempt to quantify the true scope of this potential “black swan” event and how it may result in sector rotation?

Let’s start with some of the basics.  First, the global economy has been focused on Chinese manufacturing and production of goods for more than the past 20+ years.  Over the past 10 to 15+ years, the Chinese economy has become the central hub of manufacturing and supply for some of the largest economies on the planet.  At this point in time, nearly every nation on the planet relies on China in some form for some essential goods that support their local economies.

This image showing the size and scope of global economies may highlight just how interconnected we really are.  The Chinese economy is 15.4% of the total global economy when taken as a whole compared to other global economies.  Yet, China supplies a very large number of these other nations with cheap goods, essential components for industry and manufacturing as well as a very large number of everyday essential items for consumers.  So, when we attempt to consider a “shut-down” of the Chinese economy as they attempt to deal with this virus, try to think about how long it would take for the supply chain to dry up and then what?

Source: visualcapitalist.com

Try to take a moment and think about the total scope of what we’re dealing with in regards to this Corona Virus outbreak.  Take a minute to review this graphic from InvestmentWatchBlog.com showing some of the “Best” US firms and how many rely on China for manufacturing/supply of critical components or generate a large portion of their revenues from China.

Source: investmentwatchblog.com

It has been over 45 days since the end of 2019.  China knew about this virus fairly early in December 2019.  So, in reality, it has been over 75 days since this outbreak first started. The data accumulated by Johns Hopkins CSSE started on January 20, 2020.  Since that time, China has experienced a more than 4000% increase in new Corona Virus cases – that is only about 21 days.  The number of infected has risen to well over 64,000 and we believe that number (reported by the Chinese government) may be only a fraction (1/8th to 1/6th) of the real infected rate.

Source: gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com

Not all technology companies rely on China to supply products and software.  Many technology companies have strong core business enterprises that are independent of Chinese manufacturing.  Yet we continue to believe the disruption in manufacturing and supply from China will disrupt forward earnings data enough to potentially send the technology sector much lower than current levels.  Additionally, if capital rushes out of technology in search of a more suitable opportunity – where will that capital find a new home?

What happens if this “shut down” of the Chinese economy lasts for more than 6+ months and what happens to the world economy as a result of this virus outbreak?  In Part III of this research article, we’ll try to share our insight a bit further and attempt to show you where real opportunity exists as this rotation plays out.

Join my Swing Trading ETF Wealth Building Newsletter if you like what you read here and ride my coattails as I navigate these financial markets and build wealth while others lose nearly everything they own.

Chris Vermeulen
www.TheTechnicalTraders.com

NOTICE: Our free research does not constitute a trade recommendation or solicitation for our readers to take any action regarding this research.  It is provided for educational purposes only.  Our research team produces these research articles to share information with our followers/readers in an effort to try to keep you well informed.  Visit our web site (www.thetechnicaltraders.com) to learn how to take advantage of our members-only research and trading signals.