Monday, July 22, 2013

Pre-Market Global Review - 7/22/13 - Motown is now "Notown"

Good Morning Traders,
 
As of this writing 5:20 AM EST, here’s what we see:
 
US Dollar –Down at 82.555, the Sept US Dollar is down 156 ticks and is trading at 82.555.             
Energies – August Oil is up at 108.30.        
Financials – The September 30 year bond is up 8 ticks and is trading at 135.24.      
Indices – The September S&P 500 emini ES contract is up at 1691.25  and is up 8 ticks.  
Gold – The August gold contract is trading up at 1315.10 and is up 222 ticks from its close.
 
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 up and the US dollar is trading lower which is correlated.  Gold is trading higher which is 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. 
 
All of Asia closed higher except the Aussie which closed 1 point lower.  As of this writing Europe is trading higher.
 
 
Possible challenges to traders today is the following            
1.  Existing Home Sales are out at 10 AM EST.  This is major.        
2.  Lack of any other Economic News.     

                 
On Friday we said our bias was to the downside as the markets weren't correlated, the Bonds indicated a bearish stance and we felt the Smart Money may be looking to take capital off the table as the markets had a week of gains.  The net result?  The Dow fell 5 points and the Nasdaq lost ground as well.  Tod ay we aren't dealing with a correlated market due to the Bonds however our bias is to the upside.  Why?  Asia closed mainly higher and Europe is trading higher.  Additionally the USD is lower and Gold is trading higher.   Could this change? Of Course.  Remember anything can happen in a volatile market.

 

On Friday we said our bias was to the downside as there was no economic news (major or otherwise) to propel the markets in any particular direction.  This plus Fridays in the summer months aren't conducive to major market moves.  Typically we find in summer traders are more likely to start the weekend off early.  Then we discover that Detroit has filed bankruptcy.  This was no surprise to anyone as Detroit has been suffering for a number of years now.  Population has declined from over 2 million to now 700,000, rows and rows of vacant houses and with that reduced property tax revenues has caused Detroit to be "upside down" in terms of debt obligations.  The same thing has occurred in other municipalities, to be sure but the difference between them and Detroit is they were able to refinance their debt and long term obligations.  What I find to be a travesty of justice is their Governor apparently has no problem with this.  This was the birthplace of the Auto Industry and should be the capital of Industrial America, yet apparently no one has a problem with this?  I live in New Jersey aka Chris Chistieland.  Now I'm not a fan of Chris Christie but I have to give him credit where it's due.  During Hurricane Sandy he went against party lines and did the right thing for the people of his state.  In January he bashed Speaker Boehner and the GOP in DC because they were too slow in providing aid.  Believe me we applauded the effort.  At the State level Governor Rich Snyder apparently wants Detroit to file bankruptcy so as to allow refinance of debt obligations or to seek Federal Aid.  I don't think he's going to get Federal Aid as his fellow GOP'ers in DC won't allow it; they don't seem to have an issue starving the masses.  Especially with the ongoing sequester; which will be a hotly debated subject next month during the Budget Battle.  In the meantime the Administration that championed  the Auto Bailout doesn't seem to be proactive in this regard.  I guess they're more concerned about the "affordable" care act...

 On Friday, June 7th I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Sal Spedele regarding ObamaCare.  Sal is a 20 year veteran of the Insurance Industry and we spoke at length regarding the ramifications of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act aka ObamaCare.  If you are at all concerned about the future of Health Insurance in the United States, then you need to listen to this interview and act on it.  Sal and his team is offering complimentary advisory services to inform you of your rights and ramifications of this Act.   As an update on this issue, last week the White House extended the employer's mandate to 2015 versus 2014 and currently the house will vote on a similar measure for individuals.  The question is can you trust the folks in DC to implement anything? To download the article on ObamaCare, go to: https://markettealeaves.sharefile.com/d/s978a806ae2e41569        
 
To view my discussion with Sal:  http://youtu.be/sR_ine0b5Ro




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 to the upside.  Could this change?  Of course.  In a volatile market anything can happen.  We'll have to monitor and see.
  
In May, I spoke with John Karnas, CEO of Trend Following Trades.  John has an interesting background as he was a trader for a number of years prior to buying Trend Following Trades.  John is a believer in Trading Plans and has a very precise method of developing aspiring traders.  To download the article I've written,  go to:
https://markettealeaves.sharefile.com/d/sdf8f77f6e2c4347a
 

My discussion with John can be viewed at: http://youtu.be/uVwHpMq1604

Please note the video is about a half hour in length and we plan on producing more in the near future.  Also note that in the near future we will have other videos where we will interview various trading leaders.



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. On Friday August crude dropped to a low of 106.91 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 $106 a barrel and resistance at 109.  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 - ongoing.
- Debt Ceiling in the August time frame.      
- Asian Contagion - happening now 


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 7 AM EST, 9 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/10598425/when-perception-becomes-reality
http://www.forexcrunch.com/good-jobs-report/ 
http://www.forexcrunch.com/the-taper-caper/
http://www.traderslog.com/john-karnas/



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.