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Q1 GDP Data Masking The True Global Economic Future?

As Q1 GDP data is released on Wednesday, April 29, which will reflect the first three months of 2020 in terms of total economic output, we believe the number will skew the current true global economic conditions to a large degree.  The pandemic shutdowns started in the US on March 15th – nearly 2 weeks before the end of Q1:2020.  Thus, we had a fairly normal Q1 in terms of economic activity, production, and consumer engagement. Everything changed after March 15th, 2020.

Skilled traders need to watch the current economic data and “week over week” data that is presented.  Skilled traders also need to pay attention to the news items that are being pushed out to the public.  Larger and larger corporations and sectors are moving towards bankruptcy or screaming for a bailout. Airlines, Hotels, Car Rental, and dozens of other sectors have all collapsed over the past 5+ weeks.  We expect real estate activity and pricing to collapse as well.  The results of the last 5+ weeks, after the March 15th shutdown started, have been anything but normal.

We continue to believe the current data and news, which is still representative of the Q1 (pre-shutdown) economic activity may lull investors/traders into believing the global economy will rebound fairly quickly from this virus event.  Traders/investors are looking at this current data and thinking, “well, this isn’t so bad”.  But they are failing to understand the true scope of the economic contraction event and what the longer-term outcome is likely to be in terms of recovery.

TOTAL WORLD GDP OUTPUT

The total world GDP output was approximately $190 trillion.  An estimated 15% to 20% global GDP contraction as a result of the Covid-19 virus event would shave $28.5 to $38.0 trillion right off the top of the 2020 global economic output.  Should the global shutdown last through the end of May 2020 (or beyond in some form), we believe the contraction in global GDP could become even more severe.

The complicated issues that arise from this global contraction in GDP also bleed over into supply-side economics.  As the world attempts to “shelter in place” to avoid spreading the virus and risking more lives, demand collapses. Once demand collapses enough (resulting in price level collapses as we’ve seen in Oil) the result in production/supply issues becomes even more complicated.  Unlike Eggs or Milk, one simply can’t bury or destroy other types of supply.  The destruction of certain industries, resources, and capabilities will become very real over time as a result of any extended contraction event.  The longer-term results of this type of event are sometimes called “stagflation” – where price levels rise as income and economic output stay moderately flat.

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CUSTOM SMART STOCK MARKET INDEX

Our Custom Smart Cash Index highlights the “new price channel” that setup recently and why all traders/investors should really start to pay attention to how the global markets have transitioned into a new phase or price cycle.  You can see from the chart, below, that the global markets broke below an upward price channel that has been in place since 2012 recently and has established a new downward price channel spanning the December 2018 lows to the February 2020 highs.

We believe the current upward price trend on this chart is nothing more than a “bullish retracement in a bearish trend” and that the global markets will begin another downside price move within 5 to 10+ days.  As we’ve been trying to share with you over the past few weeks, the longer-term global economic disruption is just getting started.

US DOLLAR DAILY CHART

We believe the US Dollar will enter a new phase of increasing demand throughout the world as global economies begin to feel the pressures of the demand-side collapse.  We believe the US dollar is uniquely positioned to benefit from the global economic crisis simply because the US economy is the biggest and most capable economies on the planet in terms of the ability to recover from this virus event.  As foreign nations attempt to deal with weakening currencies and economies related to the collapse in demand and continued virus-related economic transitions, we believe the US economy will be one of the first global economies to regain any real growth over the next 2 to 3+ years.

Thus, we believe the US Dollar may attempt another quick downside valuation move, similar to what happened in February/March 2020, then rally to levels above 102 again as continued economic data hit the markets.  Remember, valuation levels of currencies are often based on future expectations of economic stability and capability for any nation.  The US Dollar is a bit different because it is also the “currency of choice” in terms of global economic activity.  We believe the US Dollar could begin a moderate “melt-up” process as the virus data continues to scorch the world’s economic output.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:

These longer-term economic expectations are key to understanding how the recovery process will create opportunities for skilled traders and investors.  We believe the world will survive this virus event.  Yet, we also believe the global economic landscape will likely change over the next 3+ years as this virus event could very easily push many foreign nations away from economic relationships or projects they have engaged in over the past 10+ years.  This virus event is really a “big game-changer” in terms of how and what the future of the global economic world will look like for many.

As we’ve warned many times, it is not the localized “one-off” economic event that presents a real problem for the global economy – central banks can simply patch the economy up with an infusion of cash.  The bigger problems for the global economy happen when a fundamental shift takes place that lasts 6 to 12+ months and disrupts the “systems” in place throughout the globe.  We believe this virus event could start a process that disrupts supply, demand, consumer engagement, and true valuation levels of almost all commodities and assets throughout the globe over the next 24+ months.

In Part II of this article, we’ll attempt to share more data and highlight where opportunities may present real profit objectives for skilled investors and traders.

The next few years are going to be full of incredible opportunities for skilled traders and investors.  Huge price swings, incredible revaluation events, and, eventually, an incredible upside rally will start again.

I’ve been trading since 1997 and I’ve lived through numerous market events.  The one thing I teach my members is that risk is always a big part of trading and that’s why I structure all of my research and trading signals around “finding profits while reducing overall risks”.  Sure, there are fast profits to be made in these wild market swings, but those types of trades are extremely risky for most people – and I don’t know many successful traders that want to risk their hard-earned money when daily price swings in various assets are moving 10% to 95%.

I’m offering you the chance to learn to profit, as I do with my own money from market trends that I hand-pick for my own trading.  These are not wild, crazy trades – these are simple, effective, and slower types of trades that consistently build wealth.  I issue about 2 to 4+ trades a month for my members and adjust trade allocation based on my proprietary allocation and risk algo – the objective is to gain profits while managing overall risks.

You don’t have to spend days or weeks trying to learn my strategy.  You don’t have to try to learn to make these decisions on your own or follow the markets 24/7 – I do that for you.  All you have to do is follow my research and trading signals and start benefiting from my trading experience.  My new mobile apps make it simple – download the app, sign in and everything is delivered to your phone, tablet, or desktop – updates, videos, education, and trade alerts.

I offer membership services for active traders, long-term investors, and wealth/asset managers.  Each of these services is driven by my own experience and my proprietary trading and risk modeling systems.  I have a small team of dedicated researchers and developers that do nothing but research and find trading signals for us to take advantage of together. Our objective is to help you protect and grow your wealth.

Please take a moment to visit www.TheTechnicalTraders.com to learn more.  I cannot say it any better than this…  I want to help you create success while helping you protect and preserve your wealth – it’s that simple.

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.

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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