In this classic interview with expert trader Jeff Cooper, you’ll get an inside look at: How Jeff started his trading career Some of the biggest lessons he learned along the way Jeff’s unique technical analysis methodology. Want to learn about how you can crush the market with Jeff Cooper? Click here.
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Why are so many traders terrified of forex? This afternoon, my buddy Kurt Capra is hosting a FREE webinar on how you can get started in the lucrative, exciting world of forex. Click here to learn more. 1) Hot Oil! Crude oil was weak in the early going, but shot up intraday after Reuters reported that Iran may support a production freeze at the September OPEC meeting. Oil has been seeing some minor profit-taking on speculation that OPEC may disappoint the market by keeping production unchanged. The push up in oil helped energy stocks outperform, and the S&P Energy ETF (XLE) rose 0.7%. Oil service stocks were also decent, with the Vaneck Vectors Oil Service ETF (OIH) up 0.5%. 2) 31 Days of Nothing We’ve now gone 31 days without 1% move in the S&P 500 as the index continued its slow upward grind with a 0.2% rally to 2186.90. Traders were encouraged by solid European economic data and the aforementioned oil rally. Housing stocks were up big on strong earnings from Toll Brothers (TOL) and impressive US New Home Sales, which are at a multi-year high. Biotechnology and pharmaceutical names also outperformed for the second straight day, and regional banks were up nicely as Treasury yields rose. Gold miners were in the decliners’ column on a slump in gold prices. 3) Second Term Parallels Today, my colleague Jeff Cooper pointed out that the market fell hard at the end of Presidents’ Bill Clinton and George W. Bush’s second terms: The market rallied into September 1, 2000 as Clinton’s second term was coming to a close, and then dropped 41.5% into its November low. The market topped on August 15, 2008 as Bush’s second term was ending, and lost 48.4% going into a November low. Continue reading… P.S. Click here to sign up for our forex event! Wednesday’s Trading Calendar US Economics (Time Zone: EDT) 07:00 MBA Mortgage Applications (8/19): prior -4.00% 09:00 House Price Purchase Index QoQ (2Q): prior 1.30% 09:00 FHFA House Price Index MoM (Jun): exp. 0.30%, prior 0.20% 10:00 Existing Home Sales (Jul): exp. 5.51m, prior 5.57m 10:00 Existing Home Sales MoM (Jul): exp. -1.20%, prior 1.10% 10:30 DOE U.S. Crude Oil Inventories (8/19): exp. -850k, prior -2508k 10:30 DOE Cushing OK Crude Inventory (8/19): exp. -300k, prior -724k 10:30 DOE U.S. Gasoline Inventories (8/19): exp. -1700k, prior -2724k 10:30 DOE U.S. Distillate Inventory (8/19): exp. 500k, prior 1939k 10:30 DOE U.S. Refinery Utilization (8/19): exp. -0.55%, prior 1.30% 10:30 DOE Crude Oil Implied Demand (8/19): prior 17148 10:30 DOE Gasoline Implied Demand (8/19): prior 10216.4 10:30 DOE Distillate Implied Demand (8/19): prior 4754 Global Economics 04:30 GBP BBA Mortgage Approvals Earnings Before Open: Express Inc (EXPR) After Close: GUESS? Inc (GES) HP Inc (HPQ) Williams-Sonoma (WSM) Workday Inc (WDAY)
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Did you miss Dave Green’s webinar last night? Click here to check out a replay. By Michael Comeau 1) Lousy, Lousy, Lousy Numbers US economic data missed across the board today: -Retail sales were flat in July vs. consensus of +0.4% -PPI was -0.4% vs. consensus of +0.1% -U. of Michigan Sentiment for August was 90.4 vs. 91.5 consensus Let’s dive in and look at the trend: The Citi US Economic Surprise Index has surged this year — especially after the June 24 Brexit. This indicates that economic data was beating expectations However, it started diving with the weak July 29 GDP report. So while one day of weak numbers isn’t worth getting excited over, the trend is indeed turning down and should be watched. 2) YAWN… US stocks put in yet another remarkably boring low-volatility day. The S&P 500 traded in a very tight 7-point range before finishing -0.1% at 2184.05. The Nasdaq and Russell 2000 also barely moved. The real action today was in crude oil, which rose 2.7% to $44.65 after Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said OPEC may act to prop up the oil market. We also saw a nice intra-day rebound in biotechnology and pharmaceutical stocks, which slumped yesterday. The VIX dropped again today to reflect the lackluster action, though not everyone thinks that condition will last… 3) Jeff Cooper’s Volatility Play This afternoon, T3 Live’s Jeff Cooper initiated a long trade in UVXY from $21.14: An hourly SPX from 8/8 shows a possible Megaphone Top pattern on the hourlies. The index is trying to stabilize at its 50 period on the hourlies here, but if it falters before the bell the Megaphone pattern will be triggered. While this is a very short-term pattern, bull markets in a Friday (particularly summer Fridays) like to close at/near session highs so a meaningful extension to the downside before the close could indicate a reaction is on the table next week. Let’s initiate a PILOT long in UVXY, which is a leveraged volatility play. Timed correctly, UVXY is very explosive. But keep in mind this is a very volatile vehicle and may not be for everyone. Last August it went from $130 to $450 in 9 trading days. Click here for more information on Jeff Cooper’s Daily Market Report Monday’s Trading Preview US Economics (Time Zone: EDT) 08:30 Empire Manufacturing (Aug): exp. 2, prior 0.55 10:00 NAHB Housing Market Index (Aug): exp. 60, prior 59 16:00 Total Net TIC Flows (Jun): prior -$11.0b 16:00 Net Long-term TIC Flows (Jun): prior $41.1b Global Economics Sunday 19:50 JPY GDP Monday 00:30 JPY Industrial Production 09:00 CAD Existing Home Sales 21:30 AUD RBA Aug. Meeting Minutes Earnings Before the Open: 500.com (WBAI) After the Close: Fabrinet (FN) Vipshop Holdings (VIPS) Sysco (SYY)
Continue Reading -->1) (Un)Lucky 13 Most would say thirteen is an unlucky number. Maybe this time around it will prove to be lucky. The S&P 500 was sideways for the thirteenth (13) straight session closing, down .11%. Most of the weight was caused by weakness in energy as the Energy Select Sector (XLE) was down just over 3%. Weakness in oil was the major reason for energy names being down. Read the Oil Update below, by Jeff Cooper for additional thoughts. We continued to see the Nasdaq outperform as it was able to ride the strength of theNasdaq Biotech. Index (IBB), which closed up 1.29%, to a .47% gain. Apple (AAPL) and Netflix (NFLX) were also up big today, gaining 1.80% and 3.56% respectively. 20 Year Treasury Bonds (TLT) were also down sharply, losing 1.49% 2) Oil Update Today, our friend Jeff Cooper is back to weigh in on oil: Oil bounced off its 200 day m.a. on Friday and judging by the outsized moves on many names in the sector such as CLR (flagged in this morning’s report as vulnerable) and CXO which left large range outside up days (to mention a few), it looks like many players suspected oil was going to make a V Bottom at its 200 day. However oil is right back down today despite a retreat in the dollar and it looks like our 38/39 square-out level is magnetizing oil lower—assuming this is part of a constructive pullback if that level holds. Today’s downdraft in many energy names following Friday’s sharp turnup puts the possibility of a Hook, Line & Sinker bearish pattern short term on the table. So we could see some fast, climactic action in coming sessions in the group especially if oil snaps 40 which was a key level on the way down early this year. 3) Who Says to Sell In May? The one and only Scott Redler lends his insight into how to navigate this market: Those who said, “sell in May and go away” didn’t do so well. Now a lot of people are saying to sell in August. Before we just go off following the crowd, let’s go step by step. The 8 day moving average is $216.54- if you are micro trader, you get out with a close below that. If you are more of a swing trader, use $215.30.Otherwise, stay the course. We have pivot resistance at $217.54. A trade and close above that, look for continuation towards $220, or a big Red Dog Reversal (RDR) with that pivot to give a clue. We’ll also want to see oil hold last week’s low.
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In today’s Morning Call Express, Jeffrey Cooper discusses his thoughts on the recent moves in names like AAPL and FB and the fact that the SPY remains in its 2-week range. He also questions if this range is going to play out similarly to late July of last year. Jeff also talks about the recent action in oil and how it may play into the next move for the market.
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Follow Jeff Cooper on Twitter: @JeffCooperLive Has anything really changed that justifies the extreme levels of bullish sentiment — other than stocks going up? Is the stock market discounting something favorable that bulls are chasing? I don’t think so. Rather, my sense is that after the Brexit vote, players were poised to pounce and short the Brexit Bounce — especially within the context of a tedious 18 month trading range punctuated by several sharp downdrafts. In other words, I think the way we got here was with an extraordinary level of players set to lay out shorts around a 50% retrace of the June trading range — to wit, SPX 2120 to 1992, which gives a mid-point of 2056. A funny thing happened on the way to collecting on those bets. The SPX rocketed through the 2056 like the proverbial knife through butter. In fact as the below daily SPX from June shows, the SPX closed at 2070 on day 2 off the Brexit low — above the monthly equilibrium pivot. The next session, the SPX cleared its 50 day line with authority. The bottom line: the perception that the impact of an exit vote could mean the breakup of the EU was prevalent, which caused an extraordinary level of bearish sentiment. In short, too many market participants were leaning to the short side of the ship; there was no shortage of players ready to short the Brexit Bounce which perpetuated a contrarian move. The Brexit Bounce morphed into the Brexit Bungee. Extreme bearish sentiment on the surprise vote has quickly shifted to extreme bullish sentiment. This is borne out by put/call ratios, the smart money/dumb money index and a decade high in the Greed/Fear Index. While some may chalk up this speedy shift from a selling panic to a buying panic to our modern era of twitterpated, computer driven information and hence this can only provide us with insight as to the short term, as in a few weeks, I am mindful of the market maxim that volatility precedes price. Be that as it may, assuming that the current upside spike in sentiment only speaks to a pullback over the next few weeks, I think the takeaway is that a picture perfect, pat pullback to the breakout pivot of 2110-2120 may be undercut leading to a push below the big psychological 2100 level. A decline below 2100 would raise red flags as to a failed breakout. If this plays out it would not surprise me to then see an contrarian bounce that tests current levels and perhaps nominally exceeds them. But if this scenario plays out, the damage will have been done. The damage I am referring to is the inherent structure of a blow-off. Blow-offs typically do not pullback for more than 3 days before resuming their runaway trajectory. So a meaningful pullback indicates the blow-off has culminated. Strategy. A 10 min SPX below shows a spike to 2170 on July 15 followed by a little decline to 2156. The index has been trading inside since. This morning’s the futures are indicating a push into yesterday’s gap window which if exceeded will likely satisfy our idealized 2174 level today, on the idealized July 20 turning point day. As a refresher, 2174 aligns/vibrates off this week on the Square of 9 Wheel and is opposite January 20, the primary low in 2016. So today sets up as a key day. Click here to read more about how Jeff is crushing the market with the Daily Market Report.
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