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As we continue to delve into the looming Real Estate crisis that will likely hit the US and globe over the next 12 to 24+ months, we want to focus on the human psychological process of dealing with a crisis event and how that relates to economic engagement.  In the first part of this research article, we discussed how the time-line and events that have unfolded over the past 120+ days have setup a continuing global crisis event.  The best of our knowledge, there has been nothing like this, other than massive wars like WWII, that have taken place on the planet over the past 75+ years.

This presents a very real possibility that human psychological processes have engaged throughout the planet that may disrupt how effective the recovery efforts are in the near future.  If humans engage in a traditional psychological crisis-cycle process, then there is little chance that the economic recovery will reach 2018-2019 levels very quickly.  Let’s review the psychological process of a crisis event.

THE NORMAL PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTIONS TO A CRISIS EVENT ARE:

Vicarious Rehearsal: People that are distanced from the crisis event (location or expectations) tend to react in a way that reflects their belief that “it won’t result in any dramatic changes to their lives”.  Thus, they continue behaving and acting as they would without the crisis.

Denial: The process of denial takes on many forms.  Some people simply ignore the warnings or information related to the crisis.  Others become agitated or confused.  Some simply chose to believe the threat is not real and others may believe the threat does not relate to themselves.

Stigmatization: Sometimes, segments of society may become stigmatized by their community as anger or blame drives people to believe infected people or segments of society that may promote the crisis event are identified.  We’ve already seen some of this type of activity throughout the globe take place.

Fear and Avoidance: Fear becomes a central psychological element that may drive certain people to act in extreme, and sometimes irrational, ways to avoid the perceived or real threat.  Fear, much like Greed, is to primary element of all human activity and we must understand these components and how they transition throughout this virus event.

Withdrawal, Hopelessness, and Helplessness:  When people realize the threat is real and feel there is nothing they can do or change in their lives to avoid the consequences of the threat – a feeling of Hopelessness and Helplessness begins to set in.  When this happens, people tend to withdraw from normal activities and isolate themselves from the threat and society as a whole. (Source: https://www.orau.gov)

We believe these components of how society reacts to a crisis event are more like a “transitional process” than a series of separate events or actions.  We believe, initially, Vicarious Rehearsal and Denial are the initial reactions to a crisis event.  Then, these transition into Stigmatization and Fear when society realizes the threat of the crisis is very real and tangible.  Lastly, society moves into a balance between the last three elements where Stigmatization, Fear, and Hopelessness permeate as the crisis event continues to unfold.

Can we find any evidence that consumers were acting in a manner consistent with this psychological process within the data?  What would we look for in the data and how would we identify key characteristics of this psychological process?

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First, we would look for Vicarious Rehearsal and Denial in the form of “opportunity and greed” in the data.  The US Fed lowered interest rates to near ZERO on March 15, 2020.  This may have prompted a surge in refinancing and purchase commitments from qualified buyers.  We would look for a surge in mortgage applications in March 2020 as the expansion and severity of the virus crisis was surging.  Additionally, we would also look for a surge in home prices and sales levels as qualified buyers attempted to profit from lower rates.

When we look at the charts below, pay attention to the spikes on the charts in March 2020 and how they correlate to the US Fed decreasing interest rates just prior to the shut-down “National Emergency” order from President Trump.  The good news in early 2020 related to Q4:2019 earnings and economic data seemed to lull people into believing the risks were minimal.  Well, quite a bit has changed since then…

US MBA Mortgage Applications (WoW): Notice the spike on the week of March 11, 2020, above 50?  This level was nearly double the previous peak levels going back over 2 years.  A flood of buying and refinancing activity took place in early March 2020 near peak price levels.

US Existing Home Sales (MoM): This existing home sales data shows that both January and March 2020 exhibited strong sales numbers of existing homes.  Pay special attention to how quickly this data changed in April 2020.  Existing home sales levels have collapsed from the previous monthly levels as consumers have moved beyond the Denial stage and into the Fear stage.

US House Price Index (MoM):  This chart shows that house price levels are still appreciating while demand has already started to collapse.  Again, pay attention to what happened in March 2020 and what is happening in April 2020.  Mortgage applications have collapsed.  Existing home sales have collapsed.  Yet, prices remain rather high right now.  It would appear that home sellers are reluctant to decrease pricing as aggressively as potential buyers are exiting the market.  Eventually, the lack of real demand will prompt price levels to contract to attract interested buyers.  As we’ve seen before, though, when prices start to decline – a vicious cycle begins where potential buyers wait out the bottom or “low-ball” offers because they know the dynamics of the markets have changed in their favor.

US Jobless Claims 4-Week Average (WoW):  The real kicker, in our opinion, is how the shut-down has resulted in a massive segment of new job losses in the US.  It is hard to argue with the fact that the “average” 4-week jobless claims number shot up to levels above 1,000,000 recently.  This is the highest level we’ve seen in this economic indicator EVER.  These levels are nearly 10x the 2008-09 credit crisis levels – trying to put this into perspective.

When we have massive amounts of people suddenly losing their jobs (sources of income), this creates a massive disruption in the supply/demand side of the Real Estate market.  How massive is this number??  Take a look at the last chart…

Yes, this is a real chart of the jobless situation in the USA.  Please remember, if the situation in the USA is as it is being reported, then the situation throughout the rest of the world may be similarly related to job losses.  The point we are trying to make is that the job losses recently have been massively higher than anything we saw throughout the 2008-09 credit crisis – nearly 800% to 900% more massive.

I am hoping people can see what I am trying to warn about, which is the next major market crash, much worse than what we saw in March. See this article and video for a super easy to understand the scenario that is playing out as we speak, and real estate will follow.

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 going to be an incredible year for skilled traders.  Don’t miss all the incredible moves and trade setups.

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. Yesterday we closed out SPY ETF trade taking advantage of this bounce and our account is at another all-time high value. Exciting times for us technical 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. These simple to follow ETF swing trades have our trading accounts sitting at new high water marks yet again this week, not many traders can say that this year. Visit my Active ETF Trading Newsletter.

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.

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 Strategies
Founder of Technical Traders Ltd.

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

Our continued efforts to alert and assist fellow traders to the incredible setups that are currently happening throughout the globe with regards to increased global economic tensions are starting to take root.  We are hearing from our readers and follower and we love the comments we are receiving.  Near April/May 2018, we started predicting that the end of 2018 and almost all of 2019/2020 were going to include incredible opportunities for skilled traders.  We made these predictions at about the same time that we issued a series of incredible calls regarding the future market moves in 2018 & 2019.

April 22, 2018: Predictive Modeling Is Calling For A Continued Rally
https://www.thetechnicaltraders.com/our-advanced-predictive-modeling-is-calling-for-a-continued-rally/

May 8, 2018: If You Knew What We Knew…
https://www.thetechnicaltraders.com/if-you-knew-what-we-knew/

September 17, 2018: Predictive Trading Model Suggests Falling Stock Prices During US Elections
https://www.thetechnicaltraders.com/predictive-trading-model-suggests-falling-stock-prices-us-elections/

January 20, 2019: Will China Surprise The Market?
https://www.thetechnicaltraders.com/china-surprises-the-us-stock-market/

 

Our most recent multiple-part research post regarding the current global economic environment and how EU elections, US/China trade issues and a very contentious US Presidential Election cycle are poised to continue driving increased price volatility just hit the digital medium last weekend (https://www.thetechnicaltraders.com/us-vs-global-sector-rotation-what-next-part-ii/ ).  We urge all of our followers to read this detailed article about how a series of global events are stacking up to create incredible opportunities for skilled traders.

Today, we are focusing on Crude Oil because our proprietary adaptive learning Fibonacci modeling system is suggesting a surge of massive volatility is very likely to happen over the next few months in Crude Oil and we believe the DOWNSIDE price risk is the most likely outcome at this point.  Fibonacci price theory dictates that price must ALWAYS attempt to seek out new price highs or new price lows – ALWAYS.  We interpret this price requirement as the following:

“Tracking major price peaks and valleys, one can determine if the price is currently achieving new higher high price levels or lower low price levels (thus continuing the price trend) or failing to reach these new higher high or lower low levels.  Any failure to reach new higher highs or lower lows is a warning that price may be attempting to continue a previous price trend or reversing.”

This Weekly chart of Crude Oil clearly illustrates our thinking in terms of this Fibonacci price theory component and other technical aspects.  The CYAN price trend line (downward sloping) suggests a failure to establish any new price highs over the longer term trend.  Additionally, the recent downward price rotation suggests price weakness may be returning to Crude Oil.  Pay very special attention to the Fibonacci price projection levels on the right side of this chart.  Notice that the upside price projections start near $74 and the downside price projections start near $33.  This is an incredible $41 price range in Crude Oil and this very wide Fibonacci projection range suggests massive volatility is about to hit.

 

This Daily Crude Oil chart showing our proprietary Fibonacci price modeling system’s results also suggests incredible upside and downside price projections.  The upside levels target the current price level (near $63.50) as well as additional levels above $70.  The downside levels target a range of lower price objectives between $53 and $57.  The current Fibonacci price target level (CYAN) is quite interesting as it suggests Oil prices will find resistance near $63.50 and potentially move lower if this upside price trend fails.

 

Therefore, we take the entire analysis into consideration and come to the following conclusion:

If price falls below the $64 level and begins to move below $61.85 (the Daily Fibonacci Bearish Trigger Level), then we would consider the current upside price trend to have “failed” in attempting to reach a “new higher high” level (which would require price to move to levels above $66.60).  This conclusion would suggest that the failure of the upside price move should prompt a downside price move attempting to take out the $60.07 lows (attempting to establish a “new lower low” price level).

The longer-term downward sloping price channel suggests the failure to achieve recent higher price highs is indicative of a failed rally attempt which will prompt a new downside price move in the near future.  The only condition that could reverse this analysis is if Oil prices rallied above $66.60 and attempted to break the longer term price channel.

It is our opinion that Crude Oil will attempt a move lower, attempting to breach the $60.07 low price level and attempt a move back to levels near $55 to $56 before finding support.  This current rotation in price is a process of setting up a downward sloping Pennant/Flag formation (we believe).  Global economic factors, being what they are right now, are likely to see increased supply and decreased demand for Oil across the planet – at least until more clarity and resolution is established with the US/China trade issues and the US Presidential elections.

Get ready for a big move in Crude Oil.  Our analysis suggests the move will be to the downside with a downside target between $53 and $55 right now.  Any further price expectations will be updated as we get further information from our proprietary price modeling systems.  Remember, any new conflicts/wars with Iran or in the Middle East will push Oil prices much higher and negate the technical analysis/supply/demand price analysis we’ve presented.  We would not like to see any conflicts happen, but we have to be aware that this reality exists and that Oil could rally well past $70 if a new conflict occurred.

If you want to follow the exact trades I take while learning to read the charts and make money be sure to join my Wealth Trading Newsletter today!

Chris Vermeulen