Author: ColinTwiggs

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Australia: ASX 200 weak but support for banks

The ASX 200 penetrated its lower trend channel, indicating that the up-trend is slowing. This week’s long tail indicates short-term buying pressure but not necessarily a reversal. Breach of primary support at 5100 would warn of another decline (4700). Bearish divergence on Twiggs Money Flow indicates long-term selling pressure.

ASX 200

The ASX 300 Banks Index is consolidating between 7200 and 8000. Declining Twiggs Money Flow peaks warn of long-term selling pressure but this week’s blue candle suggests short-term support. A test of primary support at 7200 remains more likely but a failed swing that recovers to 8000 would be a bullish sign. Breakout above 8000 (still unlikely) would signal a primary up-trend.

ASX 300 Banks Index

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India: SENSEX trend channel

India’s Sensex respected support at the lower channel of a linear regression channel from March 2016. Short candlesticks for the last two weeks indicate some hesitancy, but breakout above 29000 is likely and would indicate a test of long-term resistance at 30000. Rising Twiggs Money Flow, with troughs above zero, indicates long-term buying pressure.

SENSEX

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China: Hang Seng retreats

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index (monthly) broke resistance at 24000 after a strong up-trend, but this week retreated below the new support level. Expect a test of the rising trendline around 22000. A Twiggs Money Flow trough above zero would confirm long-term buying pressure.

Hang Seng Index

The Shanghai Composite Index (monthly chart) continues to range below resistance at 3100.

Shanghai Composite Index

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UK: Footsie buying pressure

Footsie retracement continues to look promising. Twiggs Money Flow high above zero suggests long-term buying pressure. Respect of support at 6400/6500 would establish a solid base for another attempt at 7000/7100*.

FTSE 100

* Target calculation: 6500 + ( 6500 – 5900 ) = 7100

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DAX disappoints

Germany’s DAX retreated below its new support level at 10500, suggesting another test of the long-term rising trend line. A Twiggs Money Flow trough above zero would indicate long-term buying pressure. But expect a slower, more gradual primary up-trend.

DAX

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S&P500 consolidation suggests another downward leg

The S&P 500 is consolidating between 2120 and 2150 after a rounding top. Short-term consolidation (I would hesitate to call this a pennant) suggests another downward leg is likely, with a target of 2080. Respect of primary support at 2000 remains likely. Recovery above 2200 would complete a bullish rounded top (an inverted “U”) or a stronger inverted scallop pattern (resembling an inverted fishing hook) depending on the length of the right-hand leg. Twiggs Money Flow high above zero continues to indicate long-term buying pressure. Breach of primary support at 2000 is unlikely but would warn of another test of 1800.

S&P 500 Index

* Target calculation: 2200 + ( 2200 – 2000 ) = 2400

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Gold approaches a watershed

Expectations of interest rate rises are growing, with 10-year Treasury yields advancing towards 2.0 percent after breaking out above 1.60.

10-Year Treasury Yields

The Chinese Yuan is easing against the US Dollar, in a managed process from the PBOC which will use up foreign reserves more slowly than a direct peg. It is also likely to minimize selling pressure on the Yuan, both from capital flight and from Chinese borrowers covering on Dollar-denominated loans.

USDCNY

Spot gold is easing, in a falling wedge formation, towards a test of medium-term support at $1300/ounce. This is a watershed moment. Breach of $1300 would warn of a test of primary support at $1200. But respect of support would suggest another test of the July high at $1375.

Spot Gold

* Target calculation: 1375 + ( 1375 – 1300 ) = 1450

Rising interest rates and low inflation increase downward pressure on gold but uncertainty over US elections, Europe/Brexit, and the path of the Chinese economy contribute to buying support. Gold stocks serve as a useful counter-balance to growth stocks in a portfolio. If there are positive outcomes and a return to economic stability, then growth stocks will do well and gold is likely to underperform. If things goes wrong and growth stocks do poorly, gold stocks are likely to outperform.

In Australia the All Ordinaries Gold Index ($XGD) continues to test support at 4500. Respect (recovery above 5000) would signal another test of the recent highs at 5600. A weakening Australian Dollar/US Dollar would tend to mitigate the impact of a fed rate hike. Breach of 4500 is less likely but would confirm a primary down-trend.

All Ordinaries Gold Index $XGD

* Target calculation: 4500 – ( 5000 – 4500 ) = 4000

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Niall Ferguson: The West and the Rest – The Changing Global Balance of Power

Niall Ferguson is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University.

I would love to see Ferguson re-visit this 2011 talk every five years. One certainty about the future: it isn’t what we think it’s going to be. China’s economic rise seems to be slowing far more rapidly than was expected. Foreign reserves have declined by $800 billion in the last two years (from a peak of $4 trillion) through PBOC efforts to prevent the collapse of the Yuan in the face of rising interest rates from the Fed. China’s growth-through-infrastructure-investment model seems to have run its course and is now facing diminishing returns. Transition to a consumer society is not going to be easy. And China’s property bubble has created an extremely fragile banking system with massive bad debts.

On the plus side, Ferguson seems to have been right about rising Chinese nationalism — to deflect the population’s attention from enormous inequality in the distribution of wealth — and the CCP’s ability to maintain tight political control. Let’s hope that he is also right about China’s inability to suppress personal and political freedom in the long-term if it wants to maintain stable growth.

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Did the RBA just signal the end of rate cuts?

From Jens Meyer:

Did the RBA just signal the end of rate cuts and no-one noticed?

Well, not exactly no-one. Goldman Sachs chief economist Tim Toohey reckons the speech RBA assistant governor Chris Kent delivered on Tuesday amounts to an explicit shift to a neutral policy stance.

Dr Kent spoke about how the economy has been doing since the mining boom, and in particular how its performance matched the RBA’s expectations.

Reflecting on the RBA’s forecasts of recent years, Dr Kent essentially framed the RBA’s earlier rate cut logic around an initial larger than expected decline in mining capital expenditure and subsequent larger than expected decline in the terms of trade, Mr Toohey said.

Having so closely linked the RBA’s easing cycle to the weakness in the terms of trade (and earlier decline in mining investment), Dr Kent’s key remark was to flag “the abatement of those two substantial headwinds” and highlight that this “would be a marked change from recent years”….

Source: Did the RBA just signal the end of rate cuts and no-one noticed?

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