Founder & Chief Market Strategist - SAV Markets, SAV Markets

Shyam Devani

Founder & Chief Market Strategist - SAV Markets

Technical Analysis

Short term price action on both the <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/s-p-500" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22886:1" rel="noopener">S&amp;P 500 (SPX INDEX)</a> and <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/entities/dow-jones-industrial-average" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="entities:22887:1" rel="noopener">Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU INDEX)</a> warn of a pullback this week.The S&amp;P 500 has completed ‘triple negative divergence’ which says the uptrend has run out of steam. Overnight the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a bearish daily reversal – the last time that happened it fell more than 900 pointsWhile that may be ‘unfriendly’ in the near term if it repeats, such a development would likely lead to buying opportunities. Price action and levels are highlighted below…

Short term price action on both the S&amp;P 500 (SPX INDEX) and Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU INDEX) warn of a pullback this week.The S&amp;P 500 has completed ‘triple negative divergence’ which says the uptrend has run out of steam. Overnight the Dow Jones Industrial Average posted a bearish daily reversal – the last time that happened it fell more than 900 pointsWhile that may be ‘unfriendly’ in the near term if it repeats, such a development would likely lead to buying opportunities. Price action and levels are highlighted below…

US Equities: Another Quick Pullback Before Higher?

Chief Economist & Political Strategist, CrossASEAN Research

Prasenjit K. Basu

Chief Economist & Political Strategist

CrossASEAN Research

At CrossASEAN Research we strive to produce unbiased and differentiated on the ground insights on companies across South East Asia. Our Research is produced for the most part after face to face meetings and conversations with company management to dig deep into the long term vision and strategy of the companies we cover. We seek to deliver investable and actionable themes on sectors and markets across SE Asia, often in collaboration with other Insight Providers across the region, pooling the vast experience of the analysts within the Smartkarma Ecosystem. We also offer bespoke work and tailor made trips for our clients. 

Insights across South East Asia

Macroeconomics

The US consumer price index (both headline and core) rose at an annualized pace of 10.8% MoM in June 2021. For 2Q (April-June) 2021, the core CPI increased at an annualized pace of 10%, while the headline CPI increased 9.2% (annualized) in 2Q 2021. We had predicted precisely this outcome on 12 June 2020 (13 months ago) in <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/labour-market-slack-remains-but-fomc-will-need-to-tighten-by-mid-2021" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:40185" rel="noopener">Labour Market Slack Remains but FOMC Will Need to Tighten by Mid-2021</a> because inflation would rise markedly. While the FOMC has insisted that inflation is transitory, it actually began a stealth tightening in May 2021, engineering a month-on-month decline in the monetary base that month. CPI inflation is currently being under-estimated, because the Housing component is properly updated only half-yearly after a complete national survey of rentals and owners' equivalent rents (OER, the implicit rent that would be paid by homeowners were they to rent rather than own their home). The Case-Shiller 20-city housing price index was up 14.9% YoY in April 2021 (the latest data, released at end-June 2021), and this is bound to enter the CPI and PCE price index in 2H 2021. (Housing is considered an investment, not consumption, so rents and OER are the consumption portion; housing prices are not directly relevant to CPI, the cost of using housing -- rents -- are). Having risen just 2.6% YoY in June 2021, Housing is likely to rise much more sharply in 2H 2021, pushing up headline and core CPI (and also PCE, but less because of its lower weight). The labour market retains some sectoral slack in the hospitality and tourism-related sectors, but appropriately skilled labour is increasingly in short supply elsewhere in the economy.  Despite a high base from June 2020 (5% YoY), average weekly earnings (wages) were up 3.6% YoY in June 2021. Wage inflation will likely exceed 4% YoY in 3Q 2021, contributing additionally to inflationary pressure. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard (a non-voting member of the FOMC this year) has already called for tapering to begin (as "substantial progress" has already been made on the Fed's inflation and unemployment goals). While Fed Chair Powell insisted in his House testimony this week that tapering remains "a ways off", he told the Senate on the following day, "...of course we're not comfortable with" the fact that the reopening of the economy had "driven inflation well above 2%". The 27-28 July FOMC meeting will likely see more intense discussion of tapering, and we think formal (not merely stealth) tapering will be begin no later than the September meeting. We remain cautious about equities, although the strong recovery makes cyclicals and consumer cyclicals attractive.

The US consumer price index (both headline and core) rose at an annualized pace of 10.8% MoM in June 2021. For 2Q (April-June) 2021, the core CPI increased at an annualized pace of 10%, while the headline CPI increased 9.2% (annualized) in 2Q 2021. We had predicted precisely this outcome on 12 June 2020 (13 months ago) in Labour Market Slack Remains but FOMC Will Need to Tighten by Mid-2021 because inflation would rise markedly. While the FOMC has insisted that inflation is transitory, it actually began a stealth tightening in May 2021, engineering a month-on-month decline in the monetary base that month. CPI inflation is currently being under-estimated, because the Housing component is properly updated only half-yearly after a complete national survey of rentals and owners' equivalent rents (OER, the implicit rent that would be paid by homeowners were they to rent rather than own their home). The Case-Shiller 20-city housing price index was up 14.9% YoY in April 2021 (the latest data, released at end-June 2021), and this is bound to enter the CPI and PCE price index in 2H 2021. (Housing is considered an investment, not consumption, so rents and OER are the consumption portion; housing prices are not directly relevant to CPI, the cost of using housing -- rents -- are). Having risen just 2.6% YoY in June 2021, Housing is likely to rise much more sharply in 2H 2021, pushing up headline and core CPI (and also PCE, but less because of its lower weight). The labour market retains some sectoral slack in the hospitality and tourism-related sectors, but appropriately skilled labour is increasingly in short supply elsewhere in the economy.  Despite a high base from June 2020 (5% YoY), average weekly earnings (wages) were up 3.6% YoY in June 2021. Wage inflation will likely exceed 4% YoY in 3Q 2021, contributing additionally to inflationary pressure. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard (a non-voting member of the FOMC this year) has already called for tapering to begin (as "substantial progress" has already been made on the Fed's inflation and unemployment goals). While Fed Chair Powell insisted in his House testimony this week that tapering remains "a ways off", he told the Senate on the following day, "...of course we're not comfortable with" the fact that the reopening of the economy had "driven inflation well above 2%". The 27-28 July FOMC meeting will likely see more intense discussion of tapering, and we think formal (not merely stealth) tapering will be begin no later than the September meeting. We remain cautious about equities, although the strong recovery makes cyclicals and consumer cyclicals attractive. 

US Wages Are Resurgent, Even if Markets Haven't Noticed; Keep Your Eye on Inflation

Chart based progressive global trading strategies, Chart Partners

Thomas Schroeder

Chart based progressive global trading strategies

Chart Partners

Chart Partners objective is to discover medium-term cycle turns and profit opportunities before they unfold, within structural trends while preserving capital with clear degrees of risk. We have real return ideas. 

Markets are dynamic and trading systems must reflect this. It is crucial to determine underlying correlations and lead-lag relationships within global markets and the impact on linked instruments. Our weekly Chartonics product gives you short-term trading strategies that can be applied within the medium and longer term macro trends that are mapped out in our strategy updates. 

Our methodology fuses global market variables and isolates drivers in trends. We specialize in FX, index trade in NY and Asia with a focus on Asian stocks. 

Dow Jones Industrial Average / Technical Analysis

Pay attention to rotation currents ahead of a key tactical peak in the US cycle into late July. Our cycle work calls for an SPX and NDX top late this week ahead of a pullback attempt to test pivotal trendline supports.NDX is expected to lose steam as the DJI attempts a breakout and the rotation to monitor that will lift breadth this week.The most important pivot for the global cycle is the NDX price trendline support that currently runs near 14,650 and rises into next week. A clear bull/bear pivot line.Cycle - SPX and NDX moving into a frothy tactical top zone. July 19 onwards favors a weaker seasonal cycle starting to unfold.

Pay attention to rotation currents ahead of a key tactical peak in the US cycle into late July. Our cycle work calls for an SPX and NDX top late this week ahead of a pullback attempt to test pivotal trendline supports.NDX is expected to lose steam as the DJI attempts a breakout and the rotation to monitor that will lift breadth this week.The most important pivot for the global cycle is the NDX price trendline support that currently runs near 14,650 and rises into next week. A clear bull/bear pivot line.Cycle - SPX and NDX moving into a frothy tactical top zone. July 19 onwards favors a weaker seasonal cycle starting to unfold.

Cross Asset Strategy

The FOMC's insistence that inflation is "transitory" looks increasingly delusional. Over the latest 3 months (March-May 2021), the core PCE price index has increased at an annualized pace of 6.4% -- and the core CPI has increased at an annualized 7.6% in those 3 months. While the Fed's median inflation forecast for 2021 rose by 1 percentage point between March and June (to 3.4% YoY), and real GDP growth is projected to be far above trend in 2021 and 2022 (which would normally trigger inflation), the FOMC remains sanguine about inflation in 2022, and hence promises to persist with US$120 billion of asset purchases monthly. 
In our view, the persistence of aggressive monetary expansion is the key cause of the spurt in inflation, and will boost inflation further in the months ahead. M2 money supply grew consistently more than 20% YoY in April 2020-March 2021 (more than double the pace in 2009-10), and was still up 14.5% YoY in April 2021 and 12.9% YoY in May 2021 on a very high base. However, despite the FOMC promising to purchase US$120 billion of bonds monthly, the monetary base declined marginally in May 2021 (admittedly after very rapid increases in the previous 3 months), suggesting that the FOMC is turning more pragmatic in its monetary expansion than its official statements suggest. 
Equity valuations are extremely stretched, as exemplified by a CAPE (cyclically-adjusted P/E) ratio of 38x -- levels only reached once in the past 140 years (in the run-up to the "dot com bubble" that peaked in March 2000). As the inflation prints continue to stay elevated, we expect the Fed to be obliged to incrementally withdraw its monetary accommodation -- first by "tapering" (reducing the size of asset purchases, arguably begun in May 2021), and then by raising the Fed Funds rate to 0.25% (up 12.5bp) by the 2-3 November 2021 FOMC meeting. Incremental tightening actions will cause the over-valued equity market to decline 10% over the next 3-6 months. We recommend being underweight equities and risk assets (including emerging markets). Cyclicals, consumer cyclicals and high-yielding defensive stocks will provide refuge from the storm.

The FOMC's insistence that inflation is "transitory" looks increasingly delusional. Over the latest 3 months (March-May 2021), the core PCE price index has increased at an annualized pace of 6.4% -- and the core CPI has increased at an annualized 7.6% in those 3 months. While the Fed's median inflation forecast for 2021 rose by 1 percentage point between March and June (to 3.4% YoY), and real GDP growth is projected to be far above trend in 2021 and 2022 (which would normally trigger inflation), the FOMC remains sanguine about inflation in 2022, and hence promises to persist with US$120 billion of asset purchases monthly. 
In our view, the persistence of aggressive monetary expansion is the key cause of the spurt in inflation, and will boost inflation further in the months ahead. M2 money supply grew consistently more than 20% YoY in April 2020-March 2021 (more than double the pace in 2009-10), and was still up 14.5% YoY in April 2021 and 12.9% YoY in May 2021 on a very high base. However, despite the FOMC promising to purchase US$120 billion of bonds monthly, the monetary base declined marginally in May 2021 (admittedly after very rapid increases in the previous 3 months), suggesting that the FOMC is turning more pragmatic in its monetary expansion than its official statements suggest. 
Equity valuations are extremely stretched, as exemplified by a CAPE (cyclically-adjusted P/E) ratio of 38x -- levels only reached once in the past 140 years (in the run-up to the "dot com bubble" that peaked in March 2000). As the inflation prints continue to stay elevated, we expect the Fed to be obliged to incrementally withdraw its monetary accommodation -- first by "tapering" (reducing the size of asset purchases, arguably begun in May 2021), and then by raising the Fed Funds rate to 0.25% (up 12.5bp) by the 2-3 November 2021 FOMC meeting. Incremental tightening actions will cause the over-valued equity market to decline 10% over the next 3-6 months. We recommend being underweight equities and risk assets (including emerging markets). Cyclicals, consumer cyclicals and high-yielding defensive stocks will provide refuge from the storm.  

3 Months of MoM Inflation Oblige Stealth Tightening; Overvalued Equities to Fall

Equity Derivatives

Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index / Equity Derivatives

Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index

Regular readers will know that a useful comparison has been made about the rally in the Dow Jones since last years low with the rally seen from March 2009 to May 2010.A similar comparison has been made between the S&amp;P 500 / Bonds Ratio over the same periods - see <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/us-equities-time-to-get-defensive" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:51332" rel="noopener">US Equities: Time to Get Defensive</a>These comparisons have so far given good guidance about turning defensive on equities over the past month and bullish on Bonds.In a similar fashion, the chart below compares the trends in the VIX Index with the aftermath of the last crisis 11-12 years ago.The similarities in the levels at work are striking and warn of possible complacency in the market place that could lead to much higher levels of volatility than seems to be generally expected.

Regular readers will know that a useful comparison has been made about the rally in the Dow Jones since last years low with the rally seen from March 2009 to May 2010.A similar comparison has been made between the S&amp;P 500 / Bonds Ratio over the same periods - see US Equities: Time to Get DefensiveThese comparisons have so far given good guidance about turning defensive on equities over the past month and bullish on Bonds.In a similar fashion, the chart below compares the trends in the VIX Index with the aftermath of the last crisis 11-12 years ago.The similarities in the levels at work are striking and warn of possible complacency in the market place that could lead to much higher levels of volatility than seems to be generally expected.

United States

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is a price-weighted average of 30 blue-chip stocks that are generally the leaders in their industry. It has been a widely followed indicator of the stock market since October 1, 1928.

Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU INDEX)

Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU INDEX)

US Equities: Another Quick Pullback Before Higher?

Price actions warns of a potentially quick pullback as the S&P 500 runs out of steam and the Dow posts a short term reversal

Shyam Devani

US Wages Are Resurgent, Even if Markets Haven't Noticed; Keep Your Eye on Inflation

Core CPI rose 10% annualized in 2Q2021; rentals will reflect surging house prices in 2H 2021. Wage inflation in June was 3.6%YoY on a high base....

Prasenjit K. Basu

DJI Rotation as Tech Tops

NDX is touted to lose steam as the DJI attempts a rotation breakout. Our cycle work warns of an SPX and NDX top late this week ahead of a pullback...

Thomas Schroeder

3 Months of MoM Inflation Oblige Stealth Tightening; Overvalued Equities to Fall

Core PCE rose 6.4% annualized in Mar-May 2021; despite FOMC promises to persist with large QE, base money contracted in May 2021, & more tightening...

Prasenjit K. Basu

VIX Index: How Concerned Should We Be?

The signs on the VIX Index not only show a historical similarity to the aftermath of the last crisis but also complement the bearish signs seen on...

Shyam Devani