Tag Archives for " election "
Trump Made Traders Like the Market Again
Permabulls always say everyone’s bearish. And permabears always say everyone’s bullish. Neither side provides evidence for their views. So I like regularly run through a wide variety of sentiment measures to get an accurate reflection of the market’s mood. According to 5 sentiment measures I track, traders hated the market ahead of the November 8 US Presidential election. As you’ll see, that’s clearly changed. Let’s Dive In: 1) AAII Sentiment – Bullish The latest AAII Sentiment Survey shows that 46.7% of individual investors are bullish, which is well above the long-term average of 38.5%. This is the highest level seen since February 2015. 2) CNN Fear & Greed Index – Bullish The Fear & Greed Index is at 62. F&G operates on a 1-100 scale, and 50 is neutral. This 62 reading indicates moderate bullishness. 3) VIX Spread – Bullish The 3-month VIX spread is at +4.69, which indicates traders are pricing in very low near-term volatility. This means traders are bullish. 4) CBOE Equity Put-Call – Neutral The CBOE Equity-Put Call ratio is at 0.65, with a 3-day moving average of 0.62. This indicates slightly higher-than-average bullishness, but nothing extreme, so I’ll leave it in the neutral category. 5) ISE Sentiment – Bearish The ISE Sentiment Index is at just 79 (79 calls for every 100 puts) this morning — which is a bearish reading. And the 10-day moving average is 82.9. That also indicates bearish sentiment. ******* Pre-election, 5 of 5 sentiment indicators were reading bearish. Now we have 3 bullish indicators, 1 neutral, and 1 bearish. So Trump not only changed the minds of a lot of voters, he’s changed traders too. And if the S&P 500 makes new all-time highs again, we could easily see the bulls go 5 for 5 in our next sentiment check.
Continue Reading -->14.4% of Traders Say Trump Slays the Bull
Over the weekend, we sent a survey to the T3 Live community to get their thoughts on pressing market issues like the Fed, gold, and what they think could take this market down. If you’d like to participate in our next trader survey, sign up for this week’s forex webinar via this link: https://t3campaigns.clickfunnels.com/optin10668137 Before I get started, let me point out the obvious: these survey results only represent a portion of the T3 Live trading community — NOT traders or investors as a whole. Still, I think you’ll find them interesting… especially when it comes to what traders think will destroy the bull market. So let’s go through our questions one by one: 1 ) The S&P 500 closed at 2164 on Friday. Will it make a new all-time high above 2193 before 2017? 81.3% of survey participants said the S&P will make new all-time highs before year-end. This was a pretty big surprise to me, given that broader market sentiment is fairly bearish. Then again, we’re less than 2% from a new record above 2193. 2) Gold fell 3.3% to $1225 on Friday. What will it hit first – $1200 or $1250? 58.7% said that Gold would hit $1,200 first, and so far they’re right. Gold is ticking lower today, and the downtrend isn’t showing signs of stopping. 3) Will the Fed raise interest rates in December? 74.3% of surveyed traders believe the Fed will hike in December. The CME’s FedWatch Tool currently shows an 85.8% probability of a December rate hike. That’s not terribly far off. 4) Are traders too bullish or too bearish right now? 34.3% of respondents believe traders are too bullish. 19.3% believe traders are too bearish. And 46.4% think trader sentiment is just about right. Next time around, I’ll simplify this with just two choices — too bullish or too bearish. 5) Which sectors will perform best into year-end? The banks and biotechs have been ripping since Donald Trump’s US Presidental election victory, and our survey indicates that traders expect more of the same. A whopping 51.4% believe financials will lead into-year end. In second place was health care & biotechnology at 26.1%. Technology has been lagging, and just 5.8% of traders think it will lead into year-end. 6) Which area of the market will perform worst into year-end? On the flip side, traders expect bonds to lead the decliners’ column. 31.2% of respondents said bonds will perform worst into year-end with gold in second place at 16.7% 7) What single factor is most likely to break the bull market? Please be as detailed as you’d like. This question was an open-ended question designed to determine whether traders believe Donald Trump will disrupt the bull market. I wanted to see how many traders would offer up Trump without being prompted first. 14.4% of traders cited Trump as the single factor most likely to break the bull market. Meanwhile 15.6% of traders believe the Fed or monetary policy will be the culprit. 13.3% cited terror attacks or other negative geopolitical events. Here are some of the more interesting responses to this question: (I made minor edits for clarity) “The alt right and rising nationalism around the world.” “Too much too fast based on nothing new. The market is overbought and tech is selling off based on assumptions that Trump will go after them. If they really think he will and put taxes on imports, the companies will get ready for bad times which result in high unemployment.” “Interest rates going too high too fast because President-elect Trump has huge fiscal package that will require massive debt via bonds.” “Negative world event such as significant terror attack on or around inauguration.” “Debt will be a big drag on companies bottom line and government debt is unsustainable. So governments and Central Banks should continue to print and go nuclear on interest rates to try and finance that debt. Banks will then put that money to work by sticking most of it in the stock markets. There will be a big tug of war between inflation and deflation over the next couple years. Want to participate in our next trader survey? If so, sign up for this week’s forex webinar via this link: https://t3campaigns.clickfunnels.com/optin10668137 We’ll add you to the list!
Continue Reading -->The Morning Hammer: The Trump Bump Continues!
The State of the Markets, Straight from Scott Redler Download Scott’s FREE presentation now by clicking this link: https://t3campaigns.clickfunnels.com/optin10692005 Yesterday, markets staged a big rally following an overnight session that was so bad that SPX futures went limit down. Traders were disappointed with Donald Trump’s historic victory over Hillary Clinton, The Trump Bump continues this morning, with SPX and NDX futures well into positive territory, and the Euro Stoxx 50 up 1.1%. One big story in the news today is that following the Brexit and Donald Trump’s US Presidential election victory, we could see even more major political upheavals. Now many folks think that Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s far-right National Front party, could become President of that nation next year. And Italy has a major reform referendum vote coming up on December 4 aimed at limiting the powers of regional governments in order to streamline legislation. But that could get rejected since Italian PM Renzi supported Hillary Clinton, which does not fit with the growing wave of global populism. All across the globel, the establishment is becoming less established. Maybe THAT is the big trading/investing theme we need to focus on. We could even look at Germany. PM Merkel has been considering running for a 4th term. Polls have indicated that about half of Germans oppose that. If she does run, I suspect she would get destroyed. The tide is just too strong. Anyway… The VIX is still falling and is under 14 this morning. So all those put buyers that were scrambling to buy election protection are getting decimated once again. The ISE Sentiment Index was just 68 yesterday even with the rally, pushing the 10 day moving average down to 67.4. That implies very, very negative sentiment. The 10 day moving average of the CBOE equity put call is 0.735, which is slightly above the YTD average. So we have a lot of hedges that probably need to be unwound, and that could propel the S&P 500 to record highs. Good luck out there!
Continue Reading -->The Morning Hammer: Trump Wins, Trump Wins
Want to Join the Exciting, Lucrative World of Prop Trading? Join Amber Capra for our next special information session: https://t3campaigns.clickfunnels.com/optin10627329 May you live in interesting times… -English expression of what may be a Chinese curse I’ve been saying that we couldn’t count out Donald Trump until the final vote was tallied, and lo and behold, he pulled it off. If you’re interested in learning why Trump won, I recommend watching this video — there is a good case to be made that Trump’s persuasion skills put him over the top. But let’s focus on the market. First things first… what’s going on with the Mexican Peso? Well, it’s down -9% — making a far bigger move than it did on the Brexit. The iShares Mexico ETF (EWW) is down -11%. The Euro Stoxx 50 is down -1.9%. The yen is up 1.7% vs. USD. The Nikkei is down -5.4%. SPX futures are down -2.1% with NDX futures off -2.4%. Meanwhile, biotech is flying! IBB is up a quick $15. Clinton has been critical of drug company pricing practices, and Trump’s victory means the pressure is off. It was pricing in a $10 move, so that’s a pretty spectacular rally. The VIX is up 7.3%. Gold is up 2.4%. You get the point… The big question now is whether this is a repeat of the Brexit action, meaning a massive volatility spike that looks like blip on the radar in a few months. I suspect we’re going to see a very interesting open. A lot of individual investors may look to dump quickly, and odds are we’re going to see a huge put option demand. I’d watch the ISE Sentiment Index. The first reading will be out at 10:10 a.m. ET. The 10 day moving average was at 72 (72 calls for every 100 puts), which is actually lower than what we saw at the February lows. I suspect we’ll get a sub-30 open, good enough to push the 10 dma under 70, which means serious, serious bearishness. Good luck out there.
Continue Reading -->Morning Call Express: America Speaks
In today’s Morning Call Express, Scott Redler talks about the impact of Donald Trump being elected the next President of the United States of America. Scott talks about where the markets were at the lowest point, overnight, and where it is looking to open. He helps put things in perspective and provides a roadmap to navigate today’s open. Scott also discusses the reaction in biotech land and gold.
Continue Reading -->The Morning Hammer: Happy Election Day?
How to Thrive in the Future of Trading Want to go Quant without a PhD? Check out our latest live event here: https://t3campaigns.clickfunnels.com/optin10626572 I’d say Happy Election Day but there’s doesn’t seem to be much happiness out there today. So I added a question mark. If there’s one sign of the times… it’s the lack of signs. I’ve lived in Brooklyn, NY my whole life, and every election, I’ve seen tons of signs for Presidential candidates in front of people’s homes. This time around… nada. Anecdotes aren’t evidence, but I think this says something about the state of affairs. It seems like the market wants Hillary Clinton to win to avoid the Trump wild card. I guess folks will decide the ramifications of a Clinton Presidency after the fact. However, what’s most important is resolution. The market wants a clean Clinton victory without Trump disputing the results and extending the spectacle. That said, I wouldn’t count Donald out until the final vote is tallied. Reuters is saying it sees a 90% chance of Clinton winning. But Trump was never supposed to even be in this race. Yet here he is at the homestretch. The Brexit was not supposed to happen. Yet it did. Futures are down slightly this morning, which feels like run-of-the-mill profit-taking after yesterday’s big surge. One interesting story I caught yesterday was Reuters’ report of Wall Street banks prepping for Brexit-like turmoil tomorrow. That may reduce the chances of a massively negative reaction to a Trump win or a sell-the-news reaction to a Clinton victory. In recent years, investors have generally overhedged, in the process throwing away untold billions of dollars on put options. Look at the chart below of the ISE Sentiment Index since inception in 2002.: As you can see, it’s slowly drifted lower, which means that put option demand has grown relative to call option demand. We’ll soon see if the recent spate of put buying was just another big waste of investor cash. Good luck out there.
Continue Reading -->Morning Call Express: Election Day
In today’s Morning Call Express, Scott Redler talks about how today’s election may impact the markets both today and tomorrow. Scott reviews the technical picture over the last week to week and half and what it suggests for price moving forward. He also shows the support and resistance levels to be watching. How to Thrive in the Future of Trading Want to go Quant without a PhD? Check out our latest live event here: https://t3campaigns.clickfunnels.com/optin10626572
Continue Reading -->Clinton Victory Means a Peso Victory
1) Mexican Peso Jumps The big post-election meme on Wall Street today is the jump in the Mexican peso. It’s up 1.2% against the US dollar today on Hillary Clinton’s strong showing in last night’s debate. Donald Trump is not viewed as peso-friendly, to say the least. But keep in mind that over the past few months, broader equity markets haven’t shown a tendency to favor one candidate over the other. That may change as we get closer to the finish line, especially around the second debate on Sunday, October 9. 2) Biotech Is Fine Biotech (IBB) is doing well this morning. In recent history, biotech has done better when Trump was favored, so this is an interesting development — especially since Gilead (GILD) was downgraded. 3) Gold Sinks Gold is taking a big hit this morning, and some of that is attributed to Clinton’s win. Trump’s wild-card nature is seen as more favorable for gold, even though gold’s status as a safety asset is in question. Chinese gold imports from Hong Kong also hit a 7-month low. However, keep in mind that the junior miners (GDXJ) are actually slightly outperforming the metal. GDXJ is essentially a high-octane way to play the metal, so I’m surprised it’s not doing worse. Stay on the lookout for a possible bounce higher in gold. 4) Crude Games It seems like oil bulls keep getting carried away on chatter about production freezes/cuts, and they always end up getting burned. I’m starting to think we should ignore all oil headlines until we get official word on the outcome of the meeting in Algiers. For now, the chances of a production freeze or cut look pretty slim. 5) Economic Data Today, we saw in-line S&P home data, a Markit Services PMI beat, a consumer confidence beat, and a miss on the Richond Fed. Overall, the economic data trend is still down. As you can see in this chart of the Citi US Economic Surprise Index, economic data strength relative to expectations is right around Brexit levels. The difference between now and then is that the market had more or less price rate hikes out. Now it’s pretty much 50-50 as to whether the Fed will move in Deceember. If the data trend continues to weaken, we could very well see the dollar dip and gold rip. We have Durable Goods on Wednesday, GDP on Thursday, and Personal Income/Spending plus the PCE Deflator Friday. So we could see some real fireworks!
Continue Reading -->