Blockbuster or a Flop?

US bank stocks went on a tear after the Trump election. The promise of a pro-growth agenda combined with higher rates the FED was proclaiming set up an ideal environment for them to prosper and roll in the dough. Unfortunately, the promises and proclamations ran into political reality and as such that ideal environment is becoming a distant memory.  As you can see in my chart of the US bank sector ETF, XLF, below, banks ripped higher, topped and are close to breaking down out of a very symmetrical and almost ideal head and shoulders (topping) pattern. A breakdown below the blue horizontal neckline and hold, points to a downside target at, T1.  Since there is little support at that level, it is likely if T1 is hit, they continue lower down to the T2 zone as that is a level of major support.

On the flip side, some European banks which, many were on the precipice of default and setting up the potential for another 2008 banking-type crisis, look exactly like the US banks.  Except upside down.  A good example of this is represented in the chart of Deutsche Bank, DB, below. Like their US brothers, they have not broken out of their almost symmetrically ideal (inverse) head and shoulders (bottoming) pattern. A break and hold above the blue horizontal neckline points to an upside target at T1, some 40% higher. If it really has some legs and slices right through T1, the T2 zone represents a level of major resistance where it will likely struggle as supply is likely plentiful. I find this situation unique and interesting as investors are potentially setting their sights on Europe.  If so, this would be a major fundamental shift.

Patterns in development are nothing but a potential setup for a future investment.  Until either one of these confirms they should be viewed only as you would a trailer to an upcoming movie. Something to grab your interest but sometimes turn out to be the highlights of a studio flop.

A Hundred Times

Baidu (BIDU) which literally translated means “A hundred times” is one of the largest internet companies in the world and China’s search engine leader.  Since reaching an all-time high in late 2014, found a bottom a year later. Since that time it has been making a series of lower highs but higher lows essentially going nowhere. This, as we know, creates a symmetrical triangle pattern. A break out of the pattern can occur in either direction and because of its unreliability, an investor who took a position in the direction of the break needs to be alert for the possibility the break was a fake and price quickly reversing in the opposite direction. With all this uncertainty and potential management headache many investors will be better off ignoring these patterns and move onto something with a higher probability.  But those willing to take the risks see the upside targets these patterns offer well worth their hazards and Baidu is no different. 

After last week’s breakout from the pattern on some 20% increase in volume combined with momentum above 50 and rising, provides some level of comfort this move is real. Baidu’s (BIDU) first conservative upside target is back up to prior highs at $250, some 30%+ higher.  Beyond that is anyone’s guess as once price has moved onto new highs and it gets into rarefied air, reasonable target estimates become fuzzier. An investor who wants to wait for a confirming move higher this week could buy the breakout and place a stop just under the breakout level. A move back into the pattern would invalidate it and provide the reason to exit the position. Using this management framework offers the investor an excellent opportunity to make $4 for every $1 invested. Personally, I would take an opportunity offering this risk to reward ratio a hundred times out of ahundred.

$60 Trillion of World Debt

I saw this chart posted by visualcapitalist.com and had to forward it along. While it has little to do with investing, it is an obsession of mine. I am a firm believer that one day we will have to face the piper and have our day of reckoning.  While debt isn’t evil, the level of debt we (the US) have almost fits that description. But the interesting thing is, and maybe provides some solace, is looking across the global landscape it appears as if there are a few countries/regions that may have to face the piper before we do. Ultimately though, our day will come.

As you can see the chart breaks down $59.7 trillion of world debt by country, as well as highlights each country’s debt-to-GDP ratio using color. The data comes from the IMF and only covers public government debt. It excludes the debt of country’s citizens and businesses, as well as unfunded liabilities which are not yet technically incurred yet. All figures are based in USDollars.

The numbers that stand out the most, especially when comparing to the previous world economy graphic:

• The United States constitutes 23.3% of the world economy but 29.1% of world debt. It’s debt-to-GDP ratio is 103.4% using IMF figures.
• Japan makes up only 6.18% of total economic production, but has amounted 19.99% of global debt.
• China, the world’s second largest economy (and largest by other measures), accounts for 13.9% of production. They only have 6.25% of world debt and a debt-to-GDP ratio of 39.4%.
• 7 of the 15 countries with the most total debt are European. Together, excluding Russia, the European continent holds over 26% of total world debt.
• Combining the debt of the United States, Japan, and Europe together accounts for 75% of total global debt.  Yet, combining their population they account for less than 25% of the world’s total humans

Wow, That was Fast!

Back on March 1st I wrote about the inverse head and shoulders pattern developing setting the stage for a big rally in Beef prices in “It’s What’s for Dinner”.  At the time cattle future prices were hovering around $55/contract and the pattern’s upside target was some 45% higher at $80.  I am happy to say that last week that target was hit. While it is massively overbought, there is no divergence and as such looks like it may want to make another push higher after the current pullback is complete. Anyone who followed the call should consider taking at least partial profits. 

It’s important to remember pattern opportunities don’t always work out this well and when they do, it is rare they move this quickly.

Junk Bonds Pointing to Further Stock Upside

The latest from one of the best technical analysts out there, Tom McClellan.

Junk bonds are the canaries in the stock market’s coal mine. 

If you want to know ahead of time that trouble is coming for the stock market, then one of the best places to look is the high-yield (or junk) bond market.  The movements of prices among these bonds correlates much more closely to the stock market than to T-Bonds.  More importantly, when liquidity gets tight, the junk bonds are the first to be sold by traders wanting to lessen their portfolio risk. 

We can see the importance of this message in this week’s chart, which features A-D data from FINRA TRACE.  For those who like the full spelling of acronyms, that means “Financial INdustry Regulatory Authority Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine”.  FINRA tracks the price changes on a total of 7876 individual bonds, and breaks down the Advance-Decline statistics into categories of Investment Grade, High Yield, and Convertible bonds.  The chart above features the A-D data for the High Yield bonds.

This A-D Line arguably does a better job than the composite NYSE A-D Line at doing what we want an A-D Line to do, which is to show us divergences at important times.  That is the whole reason behind ever looking at breadth data of any type.  We want it to give us an answer which is different from what prices are saying, but only at the right moments. 

A lot of analysts mistakenly assert that if one is interested in the stock market, then one should only look at A-D data from the stock market.  And to take that point further, they assert that one should filter out all of the contaminants such as preferred stocks, rights, warrants, bond closed end funds, and other detritus which together are making the stock market less pure.  I debunked that point in a March 24, 2017 article. 

Just recently, the overall NYSE A-D Line moved to a new all-time high, saying that liquidity is plentiful and it should lift the overall stock market.  The same message comes from this High Yield Bond A-D Line, which has also pushed ahead to a new all-time high.  The message is that liquidity is so plentiful that even junk bonds can go higher.  And history shows that such plentiful liquidity is also beneficial for the overall stock market.