Tuesday 3 March 2009

A medium-term bottom in Equities?

The following is a chart of a basket of major EU stock market indices (FTSE100; CAC40; DAX30; IBEX; MIB/SP). It seems to me that the move lower that began at the beginning of February 2009 is approaching or may have hit its end. There are a number of reasons for my bullishness:
  • The two impulsive moves lower in 2009 - one that began in January and one in February are equal in size, and internally subdivide into impulses. This suggests a bounce.
  • 85% of all stocks in the US are trading at least 1 standard deviation below their 40 day moving average. There have only been 6 other periods when this was the case: 1) 19-29 Oct 1987; 2) 31 Aug 1998; 3) 21 Sept 2001; 4) 23 Jul 2002; 5) 2-17 Oct 2008 and 6) 20 Nov 2008). All of these have marked significant market bottoms.
  • 65% of stocks are trading below 2 standard deviations below their 40 day moving averages, a condition only achieved on three other occasions: 1) 19-29 Oct 1987; 2) 21 Sept 2001 and 3) 6-10 Oct 2008.
  • Finally, the US Dollar looks set to WEAKEN from these levels. The two currency pairs that I track and believe are set to fall are USD/CHF & USD/CZK. With the USD playing a "safe haven" role when risk appetite falls, imminent USD weakness suggests that risk appetite will return soon.


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