What Gives? Feb 13, 2013

It was worth watching the SOTU last night just to see Boehner’s contortions, trying to scowl in a dignified, statesman-like way.  Nothing much new in the speech or the response. More interesting was Mitch McConnell’s comment on CNBC last night that the sequester will go into effect. I don’t know any reputable economist who believes … continue reading →

Is It or Isn’t It a Recession?

ECRI’s Weekly Leading Indicator (WLI) came out Friday at 130.2 — up from 129.6 the week before.  Further, they reported that the index’s annualized growth rate increased from 8.2 the previous week to 8.9% — the highest since May 2010.  I wondered: are they retracting their Sep 2011 recession forecast?  Are things really getting better? … continue reading →

Charts I’m Watching: Feb 7, 2013

Nice little intra-day sell-off again yesterday, culminating in a last minute positive close — another shake-and-bake by your friendly neighborhood market makers to separate you from your hard-earned money. Look for more of the same today. Today’s news is all about currencies.  Draghi’s comments are successfully taking some of the bloom off euro’s today.  The … continue reading →

Charts I’m Watching: Feb 1, 2013

ORIGINAL POST:  9:15 AM E-mini futures are up big overnight, but have yet to exceed Wednesday’s high. A positive revision in BLS’s Nov and Dec employment numbers makes 2012 look better than it did, but I’m not sure how it helps today’s 12.3 million unemployed or 8 million underemployed or 2.4 million marginally attached…   … continue reading →

Charts I’m Watching: Jan 29, 2013

Currencies are relatively quiet this morning in the midst of a slew of earnings and economic data. The dollar looks like it could hit our downside target of 79.50 – 79.59 from Jan 25 [see: Update on DX] this morning if the yellow channel holds, but note that its midline intersects with the bottom of … continue reading →

Trading with Harmonics

The first of a two-part article on harmonics trading strategies. Part 1.  January 28, 2013 Harmonics are a great source of information about the market, but they don’t tell you how or when to trade any more than do MACD crosses or breadth indicators.  So, how do you use them?  This discussion of the basic … continue reading →

New Charts: 10-yr Notes

First, an important caveat:  I’m not a bond guy.  Never have been, never will be — at least with long bonds under 8%.  I find the idea of sinking even one dollar into a security (on credit watch, mind you) that guarantees less than 2% for 10 years ridiculous. But, different strokes and all that.  … continue reading →