Posts

Recently, I was asked to participate in a live radio talk with Arnold Gay and Yasmin Wonkers at Money 89.3 Asia First and was sent the following questions to prepare for the show.  I thought this would be a great way to share my thoughts and expectations related to the Covid-19 virus, global economics and what the Central Banks are doing to combat this virus economic event.

The reality is that the bottom in the markets won’t set up until fear subsides and the unknowns related to this virus event are behind us.  Until then, the global markets will attempt to seek out the true valuation levels based on this fear and the unknowns.  This means true valuation could be much further away from current price levels as the virus event is still very fluid in nature.

I’ve included a few of our custom index charts to highlight exactly where the markets are currently situated and have attempted to explain my thinking related to these charts.  Please continue reading.

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!

CUSTOM SMART CASH INDEX WEEKLY CHART

This first chart is our Custom Smart Cash Index Weekly Chart.  We had been expecting a breakdown in the US stock market last August/September 2019 (near the origination point of the line on the RSI pane) as our Super-Cycle system indicated a major breakdown was likely near the end of 2019 and into early 2020.

As the US Fed started pumping credit into the Repo market and the US/China trade deal settled over many months, a zombie-like price rally pushed prices higher through December 2019 and into early 2020.  We alerted our members that this was likely a blow-off rally and to prepare for greater risks.

You can see how dramatic the change in trend actually is on this chart.  We have broken the upward sloping price channel and moved all the way to the lower range of the GREEN downward sloping price channel.  This is HUGE.  Near these levels, we believe the US stock market will attempt to find support while continuing to rotate and setup additional “waterfall downside price events”.  These custom indexes help us to understand the “hidden side” of the market price action.

Chart by TradingView

WEEKLY CUSTOM US STOCK MARKET INDEX

This next Weekly chart is the Custom US Stock Market Index and we want you to pay very close attention to the fact that the recent lows have come all the way down to reach the upper range of the 2016 trading range.  Once the 2018 lows were breached, we knew the markets were setting up for a deeper downside price move.

We do believe this current level is likely to prompt some type of “Dead Cat Bounce” or moderate support though.  The entire range of 2016 (low, midpoint and high) are very much in play right now as these represent the current support levels for the US stock market.  We do believe some moderate support will be found near these levels – yet we have to wait for the price to confirm this bottom setup.

Chart by TradingView

WEEKLY CUSTOM VOLATILITY INDEX

This is our Weekly Custom Volatility Index and the extremely low price level on this chart suggests the US stock market may attempt to try to find moderate support soon.  We have not seen levels this low since 2009.  If the markets continue to push lower, this Custom Index will continue to stay below 6.0 as the price continues to decline.  Yet, we believe this extremely low price level may set up a bit of support near recent lows (within the 2016 range) and may set up a sideways FLAG formation before the next downside price leg.

Chart by TradingView

Please continue reading the questions (below) and answers/thoughts to those questions (below the questions).  We certainly hope this information helps you to understand and prepare for the next 6 to 12+ months as we believe the volatility and unknowns will persist for at least another 4 to 6+ months. But keep in mind the market dynamics change on a daily and weekly basis and if you want to safely navigate them and have a profitable year follow my analysis and ETF trades here

QUESTIONS:

1. Rates at zero, massive injections and coordinated central bank action… why isn’t the market convinced the situation is under control?

2. What are investors looking for now – A peak in coronavirus infection rates? A sense that a proper healthcare response is in place and won’t be overwhelmed?

3. The main issue seems to be that this is not a slowdown, but the sudden closure of economic activity, do you see massive fiscal support coming, including bailouts for sectors like airlines?

4. Do you get a sense that the White House finally gets it, and is now moving to reassure markets and ordinary Americans?

ANSWERS/THOUGHTS:

The markets are not reacting to what the global central banks are doing right now and probably won’t react positively until two things happen: fear of the unknown subsides across the globe and the total scope of the global economic destruction is assessed (think of this as TRUE PRICE VALUATION).  Right now, we are in the midst of a self-actuating supply and demand-side economic contraction that will result in a renewed valuation level as markets digest the ongoing efforts to contain/stop this virus.  Where is the bottom, I have an idea of where the bottom might setup – but the price will be what dictates if that becomes true.

If 2018 lows fail to hold as a support level, then we are very likely going to attempt to reach the 2016 trading range and I believe the midpoint and low price range of 2016 are excellent support levels for the market. I show the SP500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones index analysis and prediction in this video below.

What we are looking for in terms of closure of this event (or at least a pathway out of it) is some type of established containment of the event, the spread of the infections and the ability for governments and economies to begin to advance forward again.  As long as we are stuck in reverse and do not have any real control of the forward objective (meaning consumers, corporations and governments are reacting to this event), then we will have no opportunity to properly estimate forward expectations and advancement in local and global economies – and that is the real problem.

The White House and most governments get it and are not missing any data with regards to this virus event.  I truly believe that once this virus event ends and the general population gets back to “business as normal”, the world’s economy will, fairly quickly, return to some form of normal – with advancing expectations, new technology and continued global economic and banking functions.  Until that happens, which is the effective containment and control of this virus event, then no amount of money or speech writing is going to change anything.

Far too many people are acting emotionally and afraid right now.  The facts are simple; until we get a proper handle on this virus event, there will continue to be extended threats to our economy, people, families and almost every aspect of our infrastructure, banking, society and more.  Once the virus event is mostly contained and settled, then we can get back to business cleaning up this mess and finding our way forward.

I’m not worried too much, my research team and I advised our clients to move into bonds and cash before the drop in equities and have been warning our members of a “zombie-rally) for the past 5+ months which took place as expected.  We called for a “volatile 2020 with a very strong potential for a breakdown in global markets” near August 2019.  This is playing out almost exactly like we expected (except we had no idea a virus event would be the cause).

I firmly believe the global leaders and dozens of technology firms will have a vaccine and new medical advancements to address the Covid-19 virus.  I believe this event will be mostly behind us in about 90+ days.  What happens at that point is still unknown, but I believe we will be able to see a pathway forward and I believe all nations will work together to strengthen our future.

In closing, I urge everyone to try to relax a bit and understand this is a broad (global) market event with a bunch of unknowns.  It is not like the Fed can just throw money at this problem and make it go away.  This is going to be a process where multiple nations and various industries and groups of people will have to work together to reduce and eliminate this threat.  Because of that, there are no real clear answers right now – other than to be prepared for a few months of quarantine to be safe.

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

March 3, 2020: the US Fed issued an emergency rate cut of 0.50% to move rates to levels near 1.0% as a result of global economic concerns related to the spread of the Coronavirus and the potential damage it may do to the global major economies.  President Trump had been suggesting the US Fed needed to be ahead of the risks associated with future market expectations to allow for increased liquidity and global economic function.  Yet, we believe this move by the US Fed came at the wrong time for most investors and traders.

The global markets had already begun a process of revaluing risk in the markets near the end of February 2020.  After the Q1 earnings data was digested and the newest Chinese data became available, investors suddenly understood the risks that we had been warning about for most of January and February.  Suddenly, the US markets collapsed and traders were revaluing forward expectations.

Now that the US Fed has engaged in a 0.50% rate cut, the real risk solidifies in investor minds as “hey, the Fed is acting in a manner to ease money supply in preparation for a broad global slowdown”.  What does this mean for skilled traders?  We’ll explore the future price action using our Adaptive Dynamic Learning modeling system.

DOW JONES WEEKLY CHART

This INDU Weekly chart showing the ADL predictive modeling system results suggests the INDU will likely rotate near current lows (near 27,000) with very high volatility.  Current volatility ranges on the INDU suggest the US markets could rotate 1000 points a day very easily over the next few weeks.  Near early April, our ADL modeling system is suggesting the INDU will attempt to rally back to near 29,500 setting up a potential Double-Top formation.  Our earlier research suggests the INDU/YM will likely form a bottom well before the S&P and NASDAQ – so this aligns with our earlier research.

Once the Double-Top sets up – all bets are off as risk will be extremely high for another breakdown event.  We believe a true bottom will form/setup sometime between May and June 2020.  Therefore, any recovery in the INDU to levels near 29,500 before the end of April would strongly suggest the markets are setting up for a Q1 earnings collapse – and a potential for a much deeper price low to set up as a real bottom.

NASDAQ WEEKLY CHART

This NQ Weekly Chart highlights a shorter-term ADL projected price outcome.  The reason we went further back in time to produce these results is because these ADL results aligned with price quite efficiently and also illustrated the perceived weakness in price throughout the end of 2019.  Notice the CYAN DASH lines below the price in December 2019 – these are the ADL predictive price levels for that span of time.  Near the early January 2020 price bars, the ADL predictive modeling system identified price levels that almost mirrored the NQ price activity.  Currently, the ADL system is predicting the NQ will find temporary support near 9000 for a few weeks before breaking lower to levels near 8000~8200.

This price move, which is opposite that of the INDU, suggests the tech-heavy NASDAQ may continue to experience price pressure with a potential for a downside “waterfall” price event setting up.

TRANSPORTATION WEEKLY CHART

Lastly, this TRAN (Transportation Index) Weekly chart highlights was we believe to be a more true valuation event setting up over the next 60 to 90+ days.  This ADL chart suggests the TRAN price will almost immediately move back to levels near 11,000 (with a potential for a new high print above 11,300), then consolidate near 10,800 before breaking lower in late April or early May.  This type of price action aligns with the Q1 results reflecting an economic contraction while optimistic investors attempt to push price levels back towards recent highs before the reality sets into the markets.  The real forward expectations of Q2-2020 and Q3-2020 may be a fraction of levels reported for Q4-2019.

The US Fed is attempting to front-load the global markets with easier monetary policy to allow for unknown risks that may span 6 months out or longer.  Our researchers believe the US stock market will set up a major bottom sometime between May and June 2020 (possibly a bit later) and from that point we expect the US markets to begin to move gradually higher.  We believe this move will be similar to the downside price collapse that happened in January 2018 when the markets formed a clear Double-Bottom and began to move higher after May 2018 – eventually peaking above all-time highs.

Although the Fed fired an emergency rate cut of -0.50%, the reality is that investors may see this as a “miss” in terms of hitting a target.  Yes, it eases capital flows and sets investor expectations to believe the US Fed is prepared for this risk – but it also diminishes the potential for the US Fed to take decisive action in Q2 or Q3 of 2020 if the markets collapse as we expect.

As we’ve been saying for many months, 2020 is sure to be an incredible year for skilled traders.  Pay attention to our research to prepare for the biggest moves in the markets.

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 both short-term swing trading and long-term investment capital. The opportunities are massive/life-changing if handled properly.

I urge you visit my ETF Wealth Building Newsletter and if you like what I offer, join me with the 1-year subscription to lock in the lowest rate possible and ride my coattails as I navigate these financial market and build wealth while others lose nearly everything they own during the next financial crisis. Join Now and Get a Free 1oz Silver Bar!

Chris Vermeulen
www.TheTechnicalTraders.com