Tops and Bottoms
Posted on Saturday, August 5th, 2017
More signs of top and bottoms. Andy Hall, legendary oil trader, otherwise known as “God” in the oil pits has finally thrown in the towel. According to Bloomberg, the long time oil bull was forced to liquidate his main hedge fund this week. The slump in oil has worn his investor’s patience thin as his main fund was down 30% in the first half of 2017. His latest letter stated that OPEC had lost control of the market and oil is stuck at $50 a barrel.
Tesla has had a similar effect on short sellers. According to S3 Partners Research short sellers have lost over $3.5 billion in the last 18 months trying to pick the top in Elon Musk’s Tesla. The massively overvalued stock has short sellers running for cover after its latest earnings release. A short squeeze has helped Tesla’s shares reach new heights. Short sellers are investors looking to profit from the fall of a security. They borrow stock and sell it hoping to see the stock fall in price when they can then buy it back at a lower level and profit from its fall. Tesla’s release of its latest earnings has short sellers competing with each other to cover their short and cut their losses.
Each of the above is noteworthy, in that, they show that moves have become extreme. The closing of funds show market bottoms. The closing of short positions show market tops. Keep an eye on oil and high valuation stocks.
We received word from different sources this week that cash allocations for investors are at historically low levels. The American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) reported in its latest survey that individuals are holding their lowest cash levels since 2000 and the end of the Internet Bubble. Bank of America reported in a survey of its High Net Worth clients that they too are at all time low levels of cash not seen since 2007. 2007 is another year that conjures up rather poor images for investors. We have high cash allocations in our clients’ accounts due to high valuation levels but from a statistical point of view we are stashing more of it into MM funds and short term bond funds as yields rise and cash savings rates come off of zero interest rates. This could be an indicator of a frothy market or just a statistical anomaly.
Based on Thursday night’s close the S&P 500 11 day closing range is the lowest in its 90 year history. 90 years! That’s a long time. Even with the news of North Korean missile launches and a Grand jury investigation of the sitting US President’s campaign the stock market has grown stagnant. The market has grown increasingly narrow in its ascent. The Dow Jones Industrials are up 2000 points so far in 2017. Over half of those gains have been provided by just 3 stocks – Bowing, McDonalds and Apple. While another Dow component, GE, is down 20% from its highs and entering its own bear market.
You may start to hear more about Dow Theory in the coming days. Dow Theory says that the Industrials and Transports need to move in concert. Transports are down 5% from their highs and trying to hold its 200 Day Moving Average while Industrials are hitting new all time highs. There is also a divergence between the Dow and the broader market as exemplified by the Russell 2000’s struggle to hold its 50 DMA while the Dow hits new highs. The signs of a top are showing but the trading algorithms will not let the market down. Algos flaw is that they promote virtuous and vicious cycles. The higher the market goes the more algos buy. The more the market goes down the more they need to sell and the fewer bids there are.
Yet Two More Cautions – Jason Goepfert of SentimenTrader noted yet two more cautionary precedents. Wednesday marked the 7th straight daily gain for the Dow, and of course, a multi-year high. Remarkably, this is the 4th time in the past 200 days that the Dow has managed a streak like this, the most in its history. The last time it managed even three such streaks was in the summer of 1987, which led to a bit of trouble a couple of months later
8/3/17 Cashin’s Comments
Hat tip to Arthur Cashin for the above research from the very insightful Jason Goepfert. We couldn’t resist mentioning 1987 again. Sorry for the length of the blog this week. Things are starting to get interesting. We are dropping our oldest off at college this weekend. Wish us luck. Time flies. For now, the market refuses to break through resistance at 2475 on the S&P 500. We still see support at 2400. If they break through resistance then we are off to a new range of 2475-2550. The path of least resistance is higher for now but September/October loom.
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Disclosure: This blog is informational and is not a recommendation to buy or sell anything. If you are thinking about investing consider the risk. Everyone’s financial situation is different. Consult your financial advisor.