Right now we think it highly likely that going forward we see an increase in the rate of economic deterioration.  Europe is already in a mess but the economy in the United States is now showing signs of its last gasp of growth.  One indicator that we track is the Citi Economic Surprise Index.  In the chart below you can see that economic numbers have been coming in very strong for the past few months.  Based upon previous history it is safe to say that we have peaked or are very near peaking and that economic numbers going forward should start to turn lower.

Citi Economic Surprise Index USD and G-10

Not only are economic numbers expected to turn lower but we are also seeing several signs that inflation is dropping.  One relationship that we follow closely is that of the CRB Raw Industrials Index against the SP500.  As you can see in the chart below the two are usually very correlated.  When the industrials are moving higher stocks usually follow and when they turn down stocks tend to do the same.  Right now there is a disconnect, one that we expect to be resolved with the SP500 moving lower.

CRB Raw Industrials Index and SP500

This relationship matters because if inflation moves lower the stock market will as well.  We can see this very clearly in the next chart where we have overlaid the weekly SP500 with the 10-Yr TIPS breakeven rate.  As you can see these have a very tight relationship.  What you can’t see is that this relationship goes back long before the crisis.  When inflation expectations rise the stock market rises and when they fall the market falls.

SP500 and 10-Yr Breakeven Rate

Other signs that inflation is not upon are that government bond yields are hovering around historic lows.  As you can see in the next chart the 2-Year Treasury yield has been low and headed lower.  Despite all the hype regarding hyperinflation we have not seen any of it, and based upon the messages from the bond market we are not seeing it anytime soon.  In case you are wondering we are seeing the same thing farther out on the curve with 10 and 30 year yields also near their lows.

2-Yr US Treasury Yield

Another sign that we have been following is this chart of the Shanghai composite and the CRB index.  As you can see the two indexes peaked within two weeks of each other and have been steadily working their way lower for the past eight months.  As the nation of commodity stockpiling has slowed down so have their stockpiles.  As this huge underlying commodity bid has vanished it has allowed industrial commodities to drop.

Shanghai Composite and CRB Index

Whether it becomes an all out crash, ala 2008, or not is not known but we are confident that the global slowdown will continue.  So what have we done with this view?  In our model portfolio we are short the AUD/USD as we expect the Australian Dollar to move lower as commodity prices and Asian demand continues to falter.  We are short the EUR/USD via options in a trade we placed back in August.  Recently we bought the USD/CHF as we expect the Swiss Franc to weaken considerably from here.  We are also short the SP500 via options and long the Lehman/Barclays Aggregate index which is highly weighted with US Treasuries and investment grade credits.

Happy Trading,

Dave@TheMacroTrader.com

http://TheMacroTrader.com

Take a $1 trial of The Macro Trader to receive unbiased actionable research.

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We saw this headline-

August is another cruel month for hedge funds-(Reuters) – Most hedge funds lost money again in August as hundreds of managers, including some of the industry’s best-known names, stumbled when stock markets swooned anew.

-and then we laughed.

Hedge Funds are no more an asset class than mutual funds are.  There are several “general” classes of funds investing in anything from stocks to bonds to art.  Long, short, long and short, arbitrage, levered, etc.  There are a gazillion different strategies that are employed so headlines like the above are not helpful for much more then a useless sound bite.  But onto the part that we actually liked.

One line mentioned how Global Macro was up 2.16% for the month of August which would indicate something less then cruelty for hedge funds, including some of the industry’s best-known names, but hey that’s just us.  Anyways how is Global Macro actually doing?  Well depending upon which macro index you use the numbers will be a bit different but for the most part this specific corner of the market is flat give or take a percent or so.  While we, we being our newsletter The Macro Trader, do not try and hug our benchmark it would appear as though this year we have.  In the table and chart below we show how our newsletter had done against the HFRXM and SP500 indexes.  The table has the raw numbers and the chart has the performance of $1,000 year to date. (Click on charts and tables to enlarge)

Performance

$1,000 Invested Year To Date

How do we explain our relatively high correlation to the HFRXM Macro Index?  Well we think that the next chart probably does a good job of answering this question.  But in case the chart is not clear enough the answer is risk management.  Global macro as an asset class has long held up well in any market with a penchant for bad markets.  In other words we tend to outperform in bad markets and do decent in good markets.  In the chart below you can see how our drawdowns compare to the SP500. (Click on chart to enlarge)

Drawdowns Year To Date

A few other observations that may or may not have anything at all to do with the initial subject of this post-

-We have seen few opportunities this year that have warranted an oversize allocation

-The SP500 is way to risky for the returns that it generates

-If markets are efficient how was the SP500 above 1250 for almost a year and then at 1100 a few weeks later

-There is no reason that you need to do what everyone else is doing

-Bill Gross is smart but he too can be wrong

-Warren B is also smart and can also be wrong

-95% of news is noise but we read it all in hopes of recognizing the 5%

-Anyone with the nickname Helicopter Ben is just looking for reasons to drop money from the sky

-If you aren’t at least semi-comfortable in Excel there is a high likelihood that you do not even know what due diligence is

-It is clean looking but so far Google+ is not Facebook

-More Money Than God is a great book

-The New Market Wizard interview of Stanley Druckenmiller is read by this author at least once every month or two

-Major bottoms and tops take more then a few days to form

-Yellowstone is awesome and everyone in America should go at least once every five years

Have a great Labor Day Weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Trading,

Dave@TheMacroTrader.com

http://TheMacroTrader.com

Disclaimer-We are long Friday both the day and the excellent song by Rebecca Black .

Take a $1 trial of The Macro Trader to receive unbiased actionable research.

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The following was sent to subscribers Tuesday night but is still entirely relevant to the current market.

In a paper entitled “An Exploration Of The Nature Of Bull Market Tops” by Lowrys Research written in 2006 we learned that in previous stock market tops the day of the top saw only a few stocks in the major indexes hitting new highs.  Most of the constituents were down and many were down more than 20% from their highs.  Contrast that to major bottom when almost all the stocks are at or near their lows.

That brings us to Tuesday the 26th when the NASDAQ 100 hit a new high.  How many stocks closed at new highs?  If you answered three you are right.  How many are at least -10% off their highs?  If you said 51 then you are once again a winner.  And what about stocks that are at least -20% off their highs?  That answer is 19.  So almost 20% of the index is at least -20% off their highs, 51% of the index is at least -10% off their highs, and only 3% of the index is at new highs.  The average stock in the NASDAQ 100 is off -12.76% from its 52-Week High.  Is that the sign of strength that you were looking for?

Lets look at another index that should be a harbinger of things to come in the economy the SP100.  Also known as the OEX the SP100 is the mega-cap index that looks at 100 of the largest companies in the SP500.

With the SP100 trading just -2.3% off its cycle highs how is the breadth here?  Is the NASDAQ 100 just experiencing a tech sell off or is it more widespread?  Well 39% of the SP100 is off at least -10% and 9% is off at least -20%.  A better showing than the NASDAQ 100 but not exactly New Highs R Us either.  How many of the stocks hit new highs Tuesday?  Only Apple.  The average stock of the SP100 is off   -9.35%  from its 52-Week High.

In the following table you can see the NASDAQ100 and the SP100 side by side.  In the 52 Wk High column you will see the 52 week high on a close basis as of Monday the 25th.  In the % From 52-High column you see how far off the 52-week high the stock is.  In the case of AAPL and a few others they are blue and have positive reading denoting a new 52-week high made on Tuesday the 26^th.  Finally at the bottom is simply the max and the min for each index.

SP100 and NASDAQ100 52-Week High Table

Happy Trading,

Dave@TheMacroTrader.com

http://TheMacroTrader.com

Disclaimer-We have very light long exposure to equity markets right now.

Take a $1 trial of The Macro Trader to receive unbiased actionable research.

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Yesterday in our post Myths Surrounding The US Dollar we discussed how contrary to the medias perception the US Dollar is not tanking.  Today we will look at another common misconception regarding the US Dollar.  That is that if the monetary base goes up the US Dollar goes down.  While this has definitely worked several times in the past it has also not worked several times in the past.  Right now the idea of researching before you speak is even more important than normal because the numbers are far larger than normal.  if you thought that an increase in the money supply drove the USD lower then you would think that an almost tripling of the monetary base inside of three years would force the USD to drop like rock.  In fact most people with whose experience with trading and economics is via their television set would say that the US Dollar would be worth less than their toilet paper.

If you are one of these people who only listen to pundits, politicians, and other putzes and you believe this then please stop reading, scroll down to the bottom of the page, find my e-mail, and let me know how many squares of toilet paper you need.  I am running a special of two triple ply Charmin squares for each dollar you send me.  Seriously I will trade toilet paper for US Dollars all day long.  Why you may ask?  Well if you look at the evidence you will see that while the monetary base has exploded to almost triple the size of three years ago and yet the US Dollar is essentially in the same place that is was three years ago.  Look at the chart below and you will see that while some rises in the monetary base led to a fall in the USD others led to a rise in the USD.  Over the past three years it has obviously let to nothing at all in the USD as the price is virtually unchanged.  With the runaway inflation, runaway deficit, and collossal rise in the monetary base the USD by conventional wisdom should be trading at 0, instead it is holding up quite well. (Click on chart to enlarge)

US Dollar Spot Index and US Monetary Base

Please don’t listen blindly to so called experts on TV.  Everyone is always talking their book and in the case of people that aren’t running money their “book” is called hype and they want as much as possible.  Instead of watching the TV, and that includes CNBC, or reading Newsweek to help guide your investment decisions try doing your own research.  If you want to save time, or just supplement your research then consider services such as The Macro Trader (I just talked my book) or others who market their goods not by ridiculous hype but by sharing their research backed by something other then an ill-informed sound bytes.   No one will ever be perfect but we can all at least live in reality and not in lala land where the USD is toilet paper, all bonds have defaulted, and Armageddon reigns on earth.

Happy Trading,

Dave@TheMacroTrader.com

http://TheMacroTrader.com

Disclaimer-In our model portfolio we are currently short the EUR/USD which means we are long the USD and at home we are long several bundles of toilet paper from Costco.

Take a $1 trial of The Macro Trader to receive unbiased actionable research.

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I wish I was great at writing ad copy so that this post could be a long sales letter with outlandish and baseless claims that make it sound as if we were releasing the holy grail and that you could make eight gazillion dollars off of our next great trading idea.  Instead we are a lot less hypey  (not sure if that is actually a word) and will instead just explain some of the new things that we are doing here at The Macro Trader.

Macro Trading 101- We are doing a re-launch of our free e-mail course on Macro 101.  Starting Thursday anyone who is signed up will be receiving at least one e-mail every three days with a 1-5 page covering some aspect of global macro trading, what it is, the benefits of it, etc.  While these e-mails will likely not make you the next Bruce Kovner or George Soros, we do hope that you find them informational and useful in how you view the markets.  If you would like to receive these e-mails simply put your e-mail in the box in the top right of this page.  Right now we have 20 planned lessons but will add more as time goes on.

Videos-We are starting to make some videos.  Over the weekend we will be uploading some short 5-15 minute videos that explain some of the charts and indicators that are proprietary to our newsletter and members area.  We will be going over the basic structure of the letter, risk indexes, industry group rankings, etc.  Starting next week we will also be doing a question and answer video once a week where we will go over questions from our newsletter subscribers and answering them.

Daily Updates-A few months ago we started to post a daily indicator update to our members area.  At first it changed a lot from day to day but we have it close to where we want it.  There will be a video describing what each indicator means and some of the ways that to use them.  Some are very simple like overbought/oversold levels of SP sectors while others very effective short term timing models for different asset classes.

Newsletter-Our primary product is our weekly newsletter The Macro Trader.  Published since November of 2007 each week we send out a letter with our analysis of what is happening in stocks, bonds, commodities, and currencies.  In addition to our research we go over specific trading ideas that we follow in our model portfolio.  If you are interested in global macro we would of course encourage you to take a one month 4-issue trial of our service.  The cost for the trial is a whopping $1.  If you find that you enjoy our research and insights do nothing and you will be charged monthly, quarterly, or annually depending upon what you choose.   If on the other hand you find that we are not a good mix then jut log in via Paypal and unsubscribe.  To take a trial click on here.

Happy Trading,

Dave@TheMacroTrader.com

Take a $1 trial of The Macro Trader to receive unbiased actionable research.

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Since launching The Macro Trader in November of 2007 our subscribers were able to avoid the crash of 2008 and while we were not as short as we would have liked we were profitable, all this in a year wen the SP500 was down -38.5%.  Recently we publicly called the downturn in the Euro in our blog post entitled “Is It Finally Time To Short The Euro“  as well as calling the correction in the stock market with our post “It’s Time For A Pullback In Stocks.”  While we definitely do not get everything right we do strive to provide some of the best and most actionable research available.

If you have been a blog reader and enjoy what you read then take a $1 trial to our weekly newsletter The Macro Trader.  Simply click on subscribe, pick your subscription and you will be given the first month for $1 and then either be billed monthly, quarterly, or annually depending upon what you choose.

In our weekly newsletter we cover stocks, bonds, commodities, and currencies.  We run a model portfolio using ETF’s so that our research is accessible to both retail and institutional investors alike.  Every other week you will receive an extensive letter with tons of in depth research and on the other weeks you will receive a shorter version with summarized versions of our views and any new actionable trade ideas.  In addition to the weekly letter we also send out regular mid-week updates with trade ideas, research, commentary, etc.  If you want great research and actionable trade ideas spend the $1 for a one month trial, it is likely the lowest risk trade out there.

Happy Trading,

Dave@TheMacroTrader.com

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After a 72% move higher in the SP500 a lot of bears are saying that the market has gone far enough and that we are due for a new crash that will take us back to and in some cases past the lows of 2008.  While a crash is possible and probably justified we are instead looking for something along the lines of a modest pullback to maybe a 10% correction.

One of our favorite sentiment indicators is that of put/call ratios.  We use the 5-day equity only put call ratio to warn of high risk areas and to point our low risk areas.  As you can see in the chart below we are currently at a reading of .51 which is not only below out “high risk” threshold but is also the lowest reading in over a year.  While the signal could be wrong it is hard to argue that options traders are not overly one sided right now.

5-Day Equity Put/Call Ratio and SP500

In case you want to see more bearish sentiment look no further than the 10-day total put/call ratio.  Anything below .75 is typically considered very bearish and right now we have a reading of .68 which is the lowest reading in two years.  Needless to say this indicator is also showing that option traders are too bullish.

10-Day Total Put/Call Ratio and SP500

One price based indicator that we use at The Macro Trader fairly extensively is what we call a reversion to the mean chart.  Basically it takes a long term reading of the market, normalizes it, and then gives an overbought/oversold reading.  We then plot one and two standard deviation lines above and below the mean.  As you an see in the chart below we are about 1.5 standard deviations above the mean which is significantly higher than we saw for most of the 2002-2007 bull market suggesting that things are a bit overdone.

SP500 RTM Chart

Add to all of this a TD Sequential sell signal a few day ago and how near we are to a 50% retracement of the crash and things look less like a buying opportunity and more like a selling/shorting opportunity.  Again we are not calling for a new low, just a pullback/correction.

Happy Trading,

Dave@TheMacroTrader.com

Disclaimer-The Macro Trader is short the SPY-Sp500 ETF

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Since the start of our newsletter we have been using a relative strength table that looked at Fidelity Select Sector Funds to show what industry groups are leading and which groups are lagging.  The relative strength calculation is similar to the style used by Bill Oneil and IBD but is slightly shorter term in nature. We used the Fido Funds due the their price history and breadth of different groups.  Now that there are not only enough different industry group ETF’s, but also the needed price history we have revamped the model to use ETF’s instead.

We publish one list for United States industry groups and one that is focused on global ETF’s with several country and a few sector specific ETF’s.  These tables are valuable in a few ways.  One is that we have developed a trading model based upon them that uses the rankings along with buy, sell, and money management rules.  Over time this model has beaten the market with far less risk.  The other way that these tables are useful is that they show you what is strong and what is weak.

While this concept is not rocket science we are consistently surprised how little attention it is given by other traders.  By using relative strength we can see what is really working and where investors are going.  Many times the supposed “hot sector” is not really that hot.  By looking at the tables we can see what is really working and what is not.  For instance looking at the Global RS Ranking table below you can see the leaders and the laggards.  While it is no surprise that Brazil is at the top when was the last time you saw someone on CNBC telling you to buy Indonesia or Turkey?  Yeah we missed that segment as well. (click on table twice to enlarge)

Global RS Rankings

Right now this table is confirming to us that for the most part developed nations are weak and should be sold and that emerging markets are strong and should be bought.  No, this is not the first or the only tool that told us this same thing but it is one way in which we can systematically be long the best areas of the world and short the worst areas of the world.  It also gives us a road map of where investors are putting their money and where they are withdrawing it.

Another point worth noting is that while we are starting to run this as a “standalone system,” the system represents only a part of our portfolio.  In our trading and our newsletter model portfolio we use several different methods in order to build a less correlated portfolio trading across asset classes.

Happy Trading,

Dave@TheMacroTrader.com

Disclaimer-We are long EWZ-Brazil, EWT-Taiwan, and EWM-Malaysia

If you’re getting value out of our posts, you can do us a favor by linking to us and mentioning The Macro Trader to friends and co-workers. Here’s the link information for this article:
Title: Macro Trading Using Relative Stength
URL: http://www.themacrotrader.com/2009/11/10/macro-trading-relative-strength/

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In our last post we discussed how we at The Macro Trader think that risk is vastly under-priced.  We looked at several different volatility indexes as well as Bill Luby and VixandMore.com’s JunkDEX.  The JunkDEX shows how well stocks like AIG, FNM, C, CIT, and BAC are doing.  As you can see in our previous post “Volatility Indexes, Risk Appetite, Mispriced Risk, And Where We Think We Are Headed” the JunkDEX  has had a monster rally.  Usually this would signal at least a short term top as speculative fever burns out.   Obviously the rally was not done and we are up since then.

To more quantitatively show the huge run up in risky assets we went looking for some factor based indexes that would show the performance of “good” and “bad” companies.  In our search we came across some custom stock baskets from Goldman Sachs that use Edward Altman’s famous Z-score to separate stocks into strong and weak balance sheet indexes.

The Altman Z-score uses 5 financial ratios.  Altman took the 5 ratios and using statistical techniques was able to build the Z-score which predicts a companies probability of failure.  The higher the score the safer the business is and the lower the score the more danger there is of insolvency.

As was to be expected the performance between the weak and the strong balance sheet stocks has been drastic over the last 6-months.  As you can see in the chart below the low Z-score basket has vastly outperformed the high Z-score basket.  In fact the weak balance sheet basket has done almost twice as good as the strong balance sheet basket of stocks. (click on chart to enlarge)

Goldman Sachs SP500 Strong and Weak Balance Sheet Baskets 6-Months

While the result is not too surprising it is an example of bad investor behavior.  Academics as well as practitioners have found time and time again that safe low volatility stocks outperform risky volatile stocks over a full market cycle.  In fact if you look at the chart below you can see how the roles between the strong and the weak balance sheet baskets are totally reversed.  The strong balance sheet stocks are positive for the last five years while the weak balance sheet stocks are still very negative.  Another thing to notice is that the junk stocks went down a lot faster and more consistently then the quality stocks when the market tanked over the last two years. (click on chart to enlarge)

Goldman Sachs SP500 Strong and Weak Balance Sheet Baskets 5-Years

So what are we to take from all of this?  We think that the market is far too speculative given the current economic backdrop.  Earnings while “better then expected” are at record lows, unemployment is at highs not seen since the depression, we are experiencing deflation for the first time in several decades, the consumer is retrenching and not consuming, and really the only true “green shoot” was that it is not yet the end of the world.

Yes, we can go higher from here but the odds do not favor being heavily long right now.  Our basic forecast at The Macro Trader is that in the not too distant future we will have a correction if not worse and we will be able to buy stocks at a better price then where they are currently sitting.

Happy Trading,

Dave@TheMacroTrader.com

Disclaimer-In The Macro Trader newsletter we are short some QQQQ-NASDAQ 100 ETF

If you’re getting value out of our posts, you can do us a favor by linking to us and mentioning The Macro Trader to friends and co-workers. Here’s the link information for this article:
Title: Is Risk Dead? Or Is This A Bear Market Junk Rally?
URL: http://www.themacrotrader.com/2009/09/11/is-risk-dead-global-macro-trader/

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If over the past six months or so it has seemed as if you were partying like it was 1999 it might be time to reevaluate your stance.  One thing that we have been taking a closer look at lately is the pricing of risk.  Obviously when investors think that risks are low they will demonstrate risk seeking behavior.  We have seen this as the SP500 has climbed 56.6% from the March lows to the highs on 8/28/09.  With a rise like that you would think that 2008 never happened, of course if you believe that then you also believe  in a land of make believe with money trees, the fountain of youth, and SI models for all of us.

Of course some investors counter saying that while things could be better we are seeing the beginning of a recovery.  They then say that while the market will likely climb slower, that it will still climb higher.

While the above scenario is possible, anything is possible.  The more important question is to decide if the rewards outweigh the risk involved in being long equities right now.  Or even if at this point the better risk reward trade is to the downside.

Lets look at a few “risk gauges” or “fear indexes” as the press likes to call volatility indexes.  The first is of course the VIX.  After spiking to all time highs in October and November of 2008 we are already well on our way towards what was considered a “normal” level back in early 2008 before Bear Stearns.  The potential risks were obviously very mispriced at the beginning of 2008, are they mispriced again?  While likely not as off as they were at the beginning of 2008 we still think that there are a lot more real and potential risks then the market is currently pricing in. (Click on chart to enlarge)

SP500 VIX

What about foreign markets?  How do investors perceive the potential risks abroad?  Well if the VDAX is any gauge then investors see a rosy future in Europe as well.  Again maybe there are no big risks and maybe the EU is rock solid.  Then again maybe not.  With the complete lack of liquidity that businesses have had over the past several months in the EU it is really surprising that the VDAX is back to pre-crisis levels. (Click on chart to enlarge)

German DAX VIX

What about other asset classes?  What are investors saying about potential risks?  Using the MOVE Index which measures the range in which Treasury yields are expected to move over the next 12-months we can see that even here investors are becoming increasingly complacent.  What happened to the runaway inflation that we keep hearing is right around the corner?  Right now the market is saying that we will be in a 130 basis point range for the next 12-months. In The Macro Trader weekly newsletter we are long the TLT 20+ Year Treasury ETF and are expecting a bigger move then is currently implied via the MOVE index. (Click on chart to enlarge)

MOVE Index

Even in the currency markets we are seeing extreme complacency.  Apparently investors the world over are back to selling dollars in exchange for anything.  While the USD has its issues other currencies do to.  Right now the currency markets are not participating in the Keynes beauty pageant where you are trying to pick the girl that you think the judges will think is the beautiful.  No, with the current state of the global economy we are in the least ugly pig contest where we are only trying to find the least ugly.  That being said investors do not appear to see a lot of volatility any time soon. (Click on chart to enlarge)

JPM G-7 VIX

Even the emerging market currency volatility index is showing complacency. What happened to the banking issues in Eastern Europe? Apparently they vanished, or at least that is what it seems as though the market is telling us.  (Click on chart to enlarge)

JPM Emerging Market FX VIX

Even commodities markets are pricing in realtively low risk. While the price history of the Crude Oil and Gold volatility indexes does not go back as far as we would like, you can get a feel for what is happening as both indexes are dropping at a very steady rate.  Do investors really think that volatility will stay that low?  What happened to the oil spike if demand comes back?  And what happens if gold breaks $1000 on fears of hyper inflation?  (Click on charts to enlarge)

Crude Oil VIX

Gold VIX

Another excellent tool to evaluate the blind risk taking happening right now in the stock market is the JunkDEX invented by Bill Luby over at VIX and More.  By taking an equal weighting of junk stocks AIG, FNM, C, CIT, and BAC you can see how crazy or composed investors are acting. While we have seen, and actually use, an index of high momentum stocks we had never thought of making an index that tracks junk stocks to gauge investors risk appetite.

As you can see in the chart of the JunkDEX below the junk led the market off the bottom and then lagged until the last month when the index shot up +157.36% in a little over a month.  While it has pulled back over the last two days we are still in awe that investors are dumb enough to buy this junk at these prices. (Click on chart to enlarge)

VIX and More JunkDEX* vs SP500

After looking at all of this we need to ask ourselves if the rewards outweigh the risk to stay long?  Or if we should be flat or short.  In case you have not guessed we currently think that the risk reward is pointing to the downside.

Looking at the QQQQ we have a setup with a solid risk to reward situation. As you can see in the chart below the QQQQ has rallied back to its 50% retracement level, its 200-week moving average, and its downtrend line extending from October 2007.  While it could of course rally higher we like the risk reward enough to have put on a modest short position in our weekly Macro Trader newsletter. (Click on chart to enlarge)

QQQQ-NASDAQ 100 ETF

While not quite as nice of a setup as the NASDAQ 100, the SP500 also looks like a solid risk reward trade to the short side.  As you can see in the chart below of the SPY-SP500 ETF it has rallied up to the upper Bollinger Band and has already started to come back in.  We are looking for a move back to at least the $95-96 area. (Click on chart to enlarge)

SPY SP500 ETF

Obviously anything can happen.  The market could go up every day for the next year, or it could go down every day, but our job as traders is to look for the best risk to reward scenarios that we can find and place trades on probable scenarios and right now we think the most likely scenario is for the market to at least have a pullback if not a correction back towards its 200-day moving average.  Of course if this happens we will see the volatility indexes tick upwards to more realistic levels given our current economic environment.

*Our JunkDEX differs a bit from the one you can see at VIX and More.  After looking into it we found that  we built the index by simulating a $1000 investment in the index and in the SPY and Bill built it by normalizing the index starting value so we have slightly different values.  But don’t worry as the chart looks essentially the same and shows the same investor insanity.

Happy Trading,

Dave@TheMacroTrader.com

Disclaimer-In The Macro Trader newsletter as well as our accounts we are currently short some QQQQ-NASDAQ 100 ETF and long some TLT 20+ Year Treasury ETF.

If you’re getting value out of our posts, you can do us a favor by linking to us and mentioning The Macro Trader to friends and co-workers. Here’s the link information for this article:
Title: Volatility Indexes, Risk Appetite, Mispriced Risk, And Where We Think We Are Headed
URL: http://www.themacrotrader.com/2009/09/02/mispriced-risk-macro-trader

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