Pre-Market Global Review - 12/5/13 - Good Reports Doesn't Move Markets

Good Morning Traders,
 
As of this writing 5:40 AM EST, here’s what we see:
 
US Dollar –Down at 80.605, the Dec US Dollar is down 38 ticks and is trading at 80.605.            
Energies – January Oil is up at 97.50.       
Financials – The March 30 year bond is up 5 ticks and trading at 129.10.      
Indices – The December S&P 500 emini ES contract is down 2 ticks and trading at 1791.25 
Gold – The February gold contract is trading down at 1232.60 and is down 141 ticks from its close.      Note: The front month for crude is now January "14. 
            The front month for Gold is February'14.
            The front month for the 30 Year Bond is now March.
 
Initial Conclusion: This is not a correlated market.  The dollar is down- and oil is up+ which is  normal but the 30 year bond is trading higher.  The Financials should always correlate with the US dollar such that if the dollar is lower then bonds should follow and vice versa.  The indices are lower and the US dollar is trading lower which is not correlated.  Gold is trading lower which is not correlated with the US dollar trading down.   I tend to believe that Gold has an inverse relationship with the US Dollar as when the US Dollar is down, Gold tends to rise in value and vice-versa. Think of it as a seesaw, when one is up the other should be down.   I point this out to you to make you aware that when we don't have a correlated market, it means something is wrong.  As traders you need to be aware of this and proceed with your eyes wide open. 
               
Asia traded mostly lower with the exception of the Sensex exchange which traded higher.  As of this writing all of Europe is trading mixed. 
 
  Possible challenges to traders today is the following:
                                                
1.  Challenger Job Cuts y/y is out at 7:30 AM EST.  This is major.                    
2.  Prelim GDP q/q is out at 8:30 AM EST.  This is major.          
3.  Unemployment Claims is out at 8:30 AM EST.  This is major.  
4.  Treasury Sec Lew Speaks speaks at 8:30 AM EST.  This is major.  
5.  Prelim GDP Price Index q/q is out at 8:30 AM EST.  This is not major.  
6.  Factory Orders m/m is out at 10 AM EST.  This is major.  
7.  Natural Gas Storage is out at 10:30 AM EST.  This could move the Nat Gas market. 
  
      Currencies       
 
Yesterday the Swiss Franc made it's move at around 10:20 AM EST after the economic reports were released.  The USD fell and the Swiss Franc rose.  This was a long opportunity on the Swiss Franc.  The key to capitalizing on these trades is to watch the USD movement.  The USD rise only lent confirmation to the move.  As a trader you could have netted 20-30 plus ticks on this trade.  


Charts Courtesy of Trend Following Trades

Swiss Franc - 12/13 - 12/4/13

USD - 12/13 - 12/4/13

Bias


Yesterday we said our bias was to the upside as the Bonds were trading lower and crude was trading higher.  The markets however said no as the Dow dropped 25 points and the S&P fell by 2.  The Nasdaq posted a gain of 1 point.  Today we aren't dealing with a correlated market and the futures are showing no signs of direction.  Hence our bias is neutral.     Could this change?  Of Course.  Remember anything can happen in a volatile market.

Yesterday the Dow dropped by 25 points and the S&P lost 2, so the question becomes what is causing this?  We had pretty good economic reports and the markets fell.  Why?  It's the same fear that been driving these markets for months and that is fear of tapering.  The Smart Money doesn't want to lose the easy money they've been getting for years and each time good economic reports are posted they immediately sell into the markets because they believe that most people will view this as a signal that the Fed will slow down or start to taper the 85 billion dollars a month that they the Fed has been pumping into the markets.  This, despite the fact that an FOMC member stated in a headline that there won't be any tapering until the economy rebounds.  We've been dealing with this situation for almost 6 months now since the June FOMC meeting and yet no taper is in sight.  So the mantra appears to be "bad news, markets go up - no taper" "good news, markets go down - taper."  This has made it extremely difficult for those who trade as the exact opposite has been the case for generations...
 
Each day in this newsletter we provide viewers a snapshot of the Swiss Franc versus the US dollar as a way and means of capitalizing on the inverse relationship between these two assets.  Futures Magazine recognized this correlation as well.  So much so that they printed a story on it in their December issue.  That story can be viewed at:

http://www.futuresmag.com/2013/11/25/correlated-opportunities-in-the-swiss-franc?ref=hp


Many of my readers have been asking me to spell out the rules of Market Correlation.  Recently Futures Magazine has elected to print a story on the subject matter and I must say I'm proud of the fact that they did  as I'm Author of that article.  I encourage all viewers to read that piece as it spells out the rules of market correlation and provides charts that show how it works in action. The article is entitled "How to Exploit and Profit from Market Correlation" and can be viewed at:


http://www.futuresmag.com/2013/08/01/how-to-exploit-and-profit-from-market-correlation

As a follow up to the first article on Market Correlation, I've produced a second segment on this subject matter and Futures Magazine has elected to publish it.  It can be viewed at:

http://www.futuresmag.com/2013/08/16/how-to-exploit-and-profit-from-market-correlation?ref=hp


 
As readers are probably aware I don't trade equities.   While we're on this discussion, let's define what is meant by a good earnings report.  A company must exceed their prior quarter's earnings per share and must provide excellent forward guidance.  Any falloff between earning per share or forward guidance will not bode well for the company's shares.  This is one of the reasons I don't trade equities but prefer futures.  There is no earnings reports with futures and we don't have to be concerned about lawsuits, scandals, malfeasance, etc.
 
Anytime the market isn't correlated it's giving you a clue that something isn't right and you should proceed with caution. Today our bias is neutral.  Could this change?  Of course.  In a volatile market anything can happen.  We'll have to monitor and see.
  


As I write this the crude markets are trading higher and the US Dollar is declining.  This is normal.  Think of it this way.  If the stock market is trading lower, it's safe to assume that the crude market will follow suit and vice versa.  Crude trades with the expectation that business activity is expanding.  The barometer of which is the equities or stock market.  If you view both the crude and index futures side by side you will notice this. Last Wednesday January crude dropped to a low of 96.30 a barrel and held.  We'll have to monitor and see if crude either goes lower or holds at the present level.   It would appear at the present time that crude has support at $96.93 a barrel and resistance at 97.82.  This could change.  All we need do is look at what happened last fall when crude was trading over $100.00 a barrel.  We'll have to monitor and see.  Remember that crude is the only commodity that is reflected immediately at the gas pump. 

Future Challenges:
- Budget Battle - Forthcoming.     
 


Crude oil is trading higher and the US Dollar is declining.  This is normal.  Crude typically makes 3 major moves (long or short) during the course of any trading day: around 9 AM EST, 11 AM EST and 2 PM EST when the crude market closes.  If crude makes major moves around those time frames, then this would suggest normal trending, if not it would suggest that something is not quite right.  If you feel compelled to trade consider doing so after 10 AM when the markets give us better direction.  As always watch and monitor your order flow as anything can happen in this market.  This is why monitoring order flow in today's market is crucial.  We as traders are faced with numerous challenges that we didn't have a few short years ago.  High Frequency Trading is one of them.   I'm not an advocate of scalping however in a market as volatile as this scalping is an alternative to trend trading.

Recently Published Articles:  
http://www.barchart.com/headlines/story/12650453/are-the-markets-rewarding-poor-performance


http://www.traderplanet.com/commentaries/view/164874-trader-tips-the-case-for-fundamental-analysis/



Remember that without knowledge of order flow we as traders are risking our hard earned capital and the Smart Money will have no issue taking it from us.  Regardless of whatever platform you use for trading purposes you need to make sure it's monitoring order flow.  Sceeto does an excellent job at this.  To fully capitalize on this newsletter it is important that the reader understand how the various market correlate.  More on this in subsequent editions.
 






Nick Mastrandrea is the author of Market Tea Leaves. Market Tea Leaves is a free, daily newsletter that discuses and teaches market correlation. Market Tea Leaves is published daily, pre-market in the United States and can be viewed at www.markettealeaves.com  Interested in Market Correlation?  Want to learn more?  Signup and receive Market Tea Leaves each day prior to market open.  As a subscriber, you’ll also receive our daily Market Bias video that is only available to subscribers.