Did Someone Say, Volatility?

Let's see, on Tuesday, August 28, the DJIA was down 280 points or -2.1%. Then, the next day, Wednesday, August 29, the DJIA was up 247 points or +1.9%. Wow! Market schizophrenia rules the day.

This market is just waiting for Bernanke and friends to make of their minds on what to do about the Fed Funds rate. First, the discount rate was cut to 5.75%, which did calm the markets somewhat. However, you can not tell that by the past Tuesday and Wednesday. Second, the market is now anticipating that the Fed is going to cut the Fed Funds rate before its next scheduled meeting, which will be held on September 18. The cut in the discount rate was nothing but symbolic. The discount rate, a lagging rate, follows money market rates. So, if anything, it was probably a shrewed move by the Fed. I guess market participants should go back an revisit their Money and Banking course to get a quick refresher on Monetary Tools. If the Fed really wants to be serious about providing liquidity to the banking system, the recommended policy would be to reduce the reserve requirement ratio that depository institutions (banks) must hold on their deposits (liabilities). This action would immediately provide instant liquidity by way of excess reserves. These are the reserves that banks can loan out. May be the Fed could surprise us a cut these requirements, which would immediately tell me that the subprime and condo problem is a whole lot worse than most investors think it is.

If we get the cut in the Fed Funds rate or reserve requirement ratio, investors must watch the performance of the financial sector, consumer sector, and utility sector for clues of the overall strength to the economy. However, these three sectors need to start out performing the S&P 500 and penetrate their well defined resistance lines. So far, they have not outperformed the market. The following charts depict the performance of the three sectors relative to the S&P 500:

Stay tone. Things are going to get really interesting, very shortly.

Housing Prices: Steepest Drop in 20 Years

Standard & Poor reported today that U.S. home prices fell 3.2 percent in the second quarter. This is the steepest rate of decline in the housing index since 1987 when S&P first started tracking the index. The decline in home prices around the nation shows no evidence of a market recovery anytime soon.

Here is another sober thought to ponder that was stated in the recent issue of Barron's on August 27, "Up & Down Wall Street," There are over $1 trillion of securitized low-grade mortgages (subprime) outstanding and nearly three-quarters of a trillion dollars worth of mortgages whose adjustable rates are stated to rise over the next year."

The message from the above two reports assures us that the economy is about to experience an appreciably larger magnitude of pain in the months ahead. This is why I am now totally convinced that the Fed will not only cut the Fed Funds rate by 50 basis points but will provide sufficient liquidity (money) to save the entire banking system. When the Fed re-inflates, and they will, with a passion, the dilemma for them is the negative impact such a monetary policy has on the dollar.

Stay tone because all of this will come to the forefront in September. Oh, I forgot to mention that September will also bring earnings reports from banks and brokerages that will reveal the extent of their "losses" from subprime investments.

Markets at a Glance

For the week ended August 24, the DJIA advanced nearly 300 points. On Friday, August 24, the DJIA was up 142.99 points, NASDAQ was up 34.99, and Oil gained $1.26 to $71.09. It seems that the market has now fully priced in a 25 to 50 basis point cut in the Fed Funds rate by the Fed when they meet on September 18. If the Fed does not cut this key lending rate, the market will definitely go back and test the lows of August 16. Even if the Fed does cut the Fed Funds rate, there is a good chance the market will still decline; because of that Wall Street axiom that states, "buy the rumor, sell the news."

What about this week? The subprime real estate bubble will continue to dominate the market. Last week's infusion of $2 billion into Countrywide Financial by Bank of America still leaves more unanswered questions, especially in the funding area for Countrywide. Now, we are hearing that condominiums have their own set of defaults and foreclosures. Major markets across the country, especially in parts of Florida, California, and Washington, D.C., are seeing rising foreclosures and bankruptcies of entire condo projects.

Another concern, near term, is that the market has been rising on low volume, which equates to lack of conviction. Also, the months of September and October have not been kind to the markets.

Presidential Cycle: Third-Year Correction

The "Contrary Investor" provided the following data on the third-year corrections from market highs to market lows for Presidential Cycles; which is very informative, given the current market conditions and, of course, we are in that third-year cycle now.

The corrections during the third-year of the Presidential Cycle had a mean and median declines of 9.8% and 9.2%, respectively, for the S&P 500. If we look at the current declines from the market highs of July 19 to the current lows of August 16, we have the DJIA down 11.79%, S&P 500 down 11.87%, NASDAQ down 12.41%, and the Wilshire 5000 down 12.4%. These declines are all within the parameters for the third-year Presidential Cycle declines and the normal corrections within a bull market. Therefore, as long as the "critical-mass levels," which were mentioned in the previous post hold and the 17-week EMA holds above the 43-week EMA, the bull market remains as such.

Time for an Update: Bear Market, Yet?

From my posting of Friday, March 2, 2007 (please read the entire post), I said, "Tuesday’s (February 27) market plunge of over 400 Dow points has drawn a lot of attention from the media. However, on a relative basis the decline was 3.3%, which, in fact, was the first significant decline since this “bull” rally started approximately five years ago. Typically, corrections during bull markets are anywhere from 10% to 12%. This 3% decline is nowhere near other bull market corrections. Don’t let all the media hype about this correction lose site of the fact that we are still in a bull market."

I also said on Friday, March 2, 2007, "Now, at what levels on the DJIA and S&P 500 will negate or call into question this current bull market? For the DJIA, the level is 11,783, or 4.5% from the current level. For the S&P 500, the level is 1,358 or 3.2% from the current level. At these levels, I would definitely become concern."

Given the market's frenzy over the past two weeks, are we to those levels on the DJIA and S&P 500 that I mentioned back in March 2007 where I would get very concerned? The answer is "NO." The low on August 16 for the DJIA was 12, 455.92. For the S&P 500, the low on August 16 was 1370.60. Since August 16, the DJIA and S&P 500 are up 5% and 6%, respectively, from their lows. Keep-in-mind that corrections during bull markets are usually 10% to 12%. So far, the recent corrections from the July 19 high to the August low on the DJIA and S&P 500 have been 11.79% and 11.87%, respectively.

S&P 500: Long-Term Perspective

One of the important features of being a long-term trend follower is that it eliminates all the daily "market noise." From my perspective, an investor wants to be fully invested during the "Bull" phase and short, or in cash, during the "Bear" phase. This is nothing more than adhering to the Wall Street adage of buying low and selling high. However, investors usually have a very difficult time in implementing the adage. A key point for an investor to remember is that one is not going to be able to "buy" at the exact low and "sell" at the exact high. What is important to remember is to be fully invested for 80% of the "Bull" phase and be out of the market for 80% of the "Bear" phase.

How is this investment strategy implemented? The following chart gives the specifics. It illustrates the 17-week and 43-week moving averages of the S&P 500 over the past decade. When the 17-week moving average is above the 43-week moving average, the market is in a "Bull" phase; and an investor should be fully invested. When the 17-week is below the 43-week, the market is in a "Bear" phase; and an investor should either be short or in cash (money market fund). There you have it. This investment strategy is very simple but, yet, very profound. Just check it out. Its performance has been excellent. By the way, an investor would have been out of the market debacle during 2001 and 2002 and in since 2003 following this strategy.

One other feature of the above chart is the index on the bottom. It is the "Relative Strength Index (RSI)" of the S&P 500. Its significance is that the index remains consistently above 50 during the "Bull" phase and consistently below 50 during the "Bear" phase.

Seasonal Performance: Halloween Indicator Update

The S&P 500 is down 2% from May 2007. So far, the Halloween Indicator (Sell, end of April; and Buy, end of October) has been true to form.