Author: ColinTwiggs

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ASX 200 advance slows as iron ore falls

Iron ore found support at $60.

Iron ore

The ASX 300 Metals & Mining Index has taken some encouragement from the rally, with support at 2850. But bear rallies are normally short in duration and reverse sharply.

ASX 300 Metals & Mining

The ASX 200 advance has slowed after the recent sell-off in the resources sector. But rising Twiggs Money Flow still signals buying pressure and another attempt at 6000 seems likely.

ASX 200

* Target medium-term: 5800 + ( 5800 – 5600 ) = 6000

ASX 300 Banks, the largest sector in the broad index, is consolidating above its new support level at 9000. Declining Twiggs Money Flow warns of medium-term selling pressure. Reversal below 8900 is unlikely but would warn of a correction.

ASX 300 Banks

Bank exposure to residential mortgages is the Achilles heel of the Australian economy and APRA is likely to keep the pressure on banks to raise lending standards and increase capital reserves, which would lower return on equity.

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Gold advance likely

The Dollar Index continues to test support at 100 despite strengthening interest rates. China’s sell-off of foreign reserves to support the Yuan may be contributing to this weakness.

Dollar Index

Spot Gold is consolidating below resistance at $1300/ounce. A more confrontational US foreign policy is contributing to global uncertainty and demand for precious metals.

Spot Gold

Breakout above $1300 is likely and would signal a test of the 2016 high at $1375.

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China dips while India strengthens

Shanghai’s Composite Index is experiencing selling pressure, with Twiggs Money Flow crossing below zero for the first time since 2014. Reversal below 3100 would warn of a primary down-trend.

Shanghai Composite Index

* Target medium-term: May 2016 low of 2800

India’s Sensex is consolidating in a bullish narrow band below major resistance at 30000. Rising Twiggs Money Flow indicates medium-term buying pressure. Breakout is likely and would offer a target of 32000*.

Sensex Index

* Target medium-term: 29000 + ( 29000 – 26000 ) = 32000

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Television networks resist gambling ad ban

From Lucy Battersby at the Sydney Morning Herald:

Communications Minister Mitch Fifield is reportedly considering a ban on gambling ads screening from the start to finish of sporting events.

Television networks are increasingly reliant on revenue from the gambling industry, which spent nearly $150 million on wagering and lottery advertisements in 2016, an increase of 19 per cent on 2015.

Networks have been screaming for cuts to their licence fees in the May federal budget, to make up for declining ad revenue….

Threats by networks to shut down free-to-air sports should be taken with a pinch of salt. Gambling has recently been a major advertiser but the networks survived for many years without them.

Buy out of advertising — as in the 1987 replacement of tobacco advertising with health messages — seems a good option compared to cutting license fees. Positive health and related (especially alcohol and gambling) messages can help shape better attitudes in society, with long-term benefits from lower medical and welfare costs.

Source: Television networks warn gambling ad ban may shut down free-to-air sports

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Federal budget 2017: The next boom is under way – before another bust

From Michael Pascoe:

A Caterpillar and Komatsu cavalry is arriving just in time to save the next two federal budgets from the effects of slowing residential building approvals, solving one of Treasurer Scott Morrison’s fiscal dilemmas. National spending on transport infrastructure is in the process of soaring 73 per cent from last financial year to 2018-19, according to industry research company Macromonitor.

Spending on road and rail hit a cyclical low of about $19 billion in 2015-16. In constant dollars, the cycle is expected to peak at $33 billion in 2018-19. That spending would more than cover a 10 per cent decline from last year’s $63 billion worth of new residential building….

Increased infrastructure spending is welcome but former RBA governor’s comments on setting up a proper process of infrastructure planning and selection [see link below] highlight the negative boom-bust mentality of government focused on the election cycle.

Source: Federal budget 2017: The next boom is under way – before another bust

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IMF predicts Australian GDP rise but iron ore drops

From Latika Bourke at Sydney Morning Herald:

Australian economy to boom as unemployment drops, IMF

…The IMF predicts Australia’s economy will grow by 3.1 per cent in 2017 and 3 per cent in 2018. This is better than the most recent forecast by the Australian Treasury and released by the Australian government in December last year, which predicted GDP would “pick up to 2¾ per cent in 2017-18 as the detraction from mining investment eases.”

Broad projections like those of the IMF offer little comfort. The very next headline warns of falling iron ore prices:

From Timothy Moore at The Age:

Spot iron ore extends retreat, sliding another 4.6pc

The spot price of iron ore now has fallen one-third from its February peak, as the slide into a bear market turns into an accelerating rout.

At its Tuesday fix, ore with 62 per cent iron content slid $US3.05, or 4.6 per cent, to $US63.20 a tonne, according to Metal Bulletin. The price has tumbled more than 20 per cent so far this month….

Breach of the rising trendline warns that spot iron ore is likely to test primary support at 50. Reversal of 13-week Twiggs Momentum below zero warns of a primary down-trend.

Iron Ore Spot Price

Falling resources stocks are dragging the ASX 200 lower. The up-trend is still intact but expect strong resistance at 6000. Reversal below 5680 would signal reversal to a down-trend.

ASX 200

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European advance continues

Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50, reflecting the top 50 stocks in the Euro monetary area, is consolidating in a narrow band below 3500. Rising Twiggs Money Flow indicates strong buying pressure. Breakout above 3500 is likely and would signal another advance.

Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50

The FTSE 100 is consolidating in a narrow range below 7400. Rising troughs on Twiggs Money Flow indicate strong buying pressure. Breakout above 7400 is likely and would offer a long-term target of 8000*.

FTSE 100

* Target: 7400 + ( 7400 – 6700 ) = 8100

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Falling iron ore weighs on Resources stocks

Iron ore broke support at 70. Follow-through below the rising trendline would warn that the up-trend is weakening.

Iron Ore

Australian resources stocks, represented here by the ASX 300 Metals & Mining Index [$XMM], reflect strong selling pressure with a bearish divergence on Twiggs Money Flow. Follow-through below 2850 would warn of a (primary) reversal.

ASX 300 Metals & Mining Index

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Gold surges on North Korea fears

The Dollar Index is testing support at 100 on fears of further escalation in the stand-off with North Korea.

Dollar Index

Spot Gold broke resistance at $1260/ounce, offering an immediate target of $1300. Recovery of 13-week Twiggs Momentum above zero signals resumption of the primary up-trend.

Spot Gold

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No Plan? No Strategy? No Problem! Syria and Trump’s Russia Policy

Michael Kofman is an Analyst at CNA Corporation and a Fellow at the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute:

….Past American attempts at coercive diplomacy with Russia have typically lacked actual coercion, and a theory of how to gain leverage over Moscow. It will be rather startling if 59 cruise missiles turn out to be the answer to this problem. Thankfully, the previous administration tested a lot of theories that didn’t work, from empty threats at the United Nations, to disproven assumptions on what influences Russian behavior, to narratives about quagmires. It would be best for Trump’s White House not to set us on this journey, mounted on that very same broken wheel (or one just as broken in a different way).

In a contest of wills, Trump needs a plan to establish coercive credibility rather than hoping to scare the Russians with expensive fireworks. The number one mistake previous administrations made with Moscow is that, rather than deal with the Russia that is, they all imagined a Russia that suited them more, and then tried to have relations with that imaginary country.

The reality is, this administration’s only current leverage with Russia is the notion inside the Kremlin that a cooperative agenda with the United States is still possible. That’s a dubious proposition which offers the U.S. some advantages. Russia still hopes that there are carrots the United States might offer, or at the least it could get respite in the current confrontation and consolidate gains. If the administration is able to drag out this perception, rather than demonstrating that the White House is rapidly reverting to classical archetypes that Moscow anticipates, then there is an opportunity to obtain concessions.

Given that a cooperative agenda between the United States and Russia is well-nigh impossible, where does that leave us?

Source: No Plan? No Strategy? No Problem! Syria and Why Trump’s Russia Policy Is Off to a Rough Start

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