Author: Colin Twiggs

Colin Twiggs is a former investment banker with almost 40 years of experience in financial markets. He co-founded Incredible Charts and writes the popular Trading Diary and Patient Investor newsletters. Using a top-down approach, Colin identifies key macro trends in the global economy before evaluating selected opportunities using a combination of fundamental and technical analysis. Focusing on interest rates and financial market liquidity as primary drivers of the economic cycle, he warned of the 2008/2009 and 2020 bear markets well ahead of actual events. He founded PVT Capital (AFSL No. 546090) in May 2023, which offers investment strategy and advice to wholesale clients.
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Dollar weak, Gold Bugs double bottom

The Dollar Index is testing primary support at 81.00. Downward breakout would warn of reversal to a primary down-trend. Fall of 63-day Twiggs Momentum below zero would strengthen the warning, while respect of zero would continue the primary up-trend.

US Dollar Index

* Target calculation: 82 + ( 82 – 78 ) = 86

The Gold Bugs Index, representing un-hedged gold stocks, responded by forming a double-bottom. Breakout above 460 would signal primary advance to 530*. Recovery of 63-day Twiggs Momentum above zero would strengthen the signal.
Gold Bugs Index

* Target calculation: 460 + ( 460 – 390 ) = 530

Spot Gold respected its new support level at $1640 and is advancing toward $1800 per ounce*. Recovery of 63-day Twiggs Momentum above zero indicates a primary up-trend. Expect some resistance at $1700 but reversal below $1640 is unlikely.

Spot Gold

* Target calculation: 1650 + ( 1650 – 1500 ) = 1800

The CRB Non-Energy Commodities Index shows commodities responding to the weaker dollar. Short retracement followed by breakout above 296 indicates a test of primary resistance at 305. Recovery of 63-Day Twiggs Momentum above zero suggests a primary up-trend. Breakout from the trend channel indicates the primary down-trend is over, but no clear (primary) up-trend has yet formed.

CRB Non-Energy Commodities Index

Brent Crude is consolidating between $112 and $116 per barrel. Narrow consolidation suggests an upward breakout and test of $126. 63-Day Twiggs Momentum recovery above zero strengthens the bull signal. Reversal below $112 is unlikely, but would signal another test of support at $100.

ICE Brent Crude Afternoon Markers

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China’s overinvestment: the problem of having too much

By Zarathustra:

How is it that an economy grows at 7.6% yoy is squeezing corporate profitability so hard? How is it that an economy growing at 7.6% yoy feel like there is not enough demand for all the goods and services being produced?…..The answer, to our mind, is quite simply that China has been investing in too much productive capacity…… The return on investments might be good before the financial crisis, yet the collapse of external demand after the financial crisis and more recently in the persistent Euro Crisis have cut external demand significantly. Meanwhile, domestic demand is not growing quite enough to pick up the slack created by collapse of external demand. Worse still, it is rather clear that domestic demand has been sustained by none other than investment itself. Thus, it should come as very little surprise that IMF’s estimate put China’s capacity utilisation at just about 60%.

via China’s overinvestment: the problem of having too much.

Hat tip to Macrobusiness.com.au

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The work of John Maynard Keynes shows us that counter-cyclical fiscal policy and an easing of austerity may offer a way out of the Eurozone crisis. | EUROPP

Simon Wren-Lewis, professor at Oxford University and a Fellow of Merton College, says the ECB failed to undertake quantitative easing at the appropriate time because of mis-diagnosis of the problem:

The story told by many is that the Eurozone crisis is a result of fiscal profligacy in some countries, and the need to put that right quickly because of market pressure. This account misses two essential underlying causes of the crisis, which have to be recognised if a solution is to be found. The first missing element ….. private sector demand was too strong, encouraged by large capital inflows from abroad and real estate bubbles…..The second key feature of the current crisis is also a result of excess private sector demand in periphery countries, and that is a banking crisis.

……There is an underlying pattern behind Eurozone policy errors. They reflect a view that macroeconomic difficulties are primary due to bad government decisions, while private sector decisions within a free market environment do not create problems. Whatever label we want to give this view (Ordoliberal or Anti-Keynesian), it is the fundamental cause of the current Eurozone crisis. Its persistence despite all the contrary evidence allows the crisis to continue and threatens the integrity of the Eurozone itself.

via The work of John Maynard Keynes shows us that counter-cyclical fiscal policy and an easing of austerity may offer a way out of the Eurozone crisis. | EUROPP.

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Simon Johnson: Why Are the Big Banks Suddenly Afraid? – NYTimes.com

The threat of too-big-to-fail banks has not diminished. The combined assets of the 6 largest US banks is bigger now than in 2008. Simon Johnson, Professor of Entrepreneurship at M.I.T. Sloan School of Management, writes:

A growing number of serious-minded politicians are starting to support the point made by Jon Huntsman, the former governor of Utah and a Republican presidential candidate in the recent primaries: global megabanks have become government-sponsored enterprises; their scale does not result from any kind of market process, but is rather the result of a vast state subsidy scheme.

…..Serious people on the right and on the left are reassessing if we really need our largest banks to be so large and so highly leveraged (i.e., with so much debt relative to their equity). The arguments in favor of keeping the global megabanks and allowing them to grow are very weak or nonexistent.

The big banks will vigorously defend any attempt to break them up and they have deep pockets. It would be far more effective and politically achievable to raise reserve requirements, lifting capital ratios and reducing leverage to the point that large and small institutions alike are no longer a threat to the economy. Even if we adopt a two-tier approach, with higher ratios for institutions above a certain size.

We need to remember that a fractional-reserve banking system is not an essential requirement of the capitalist system. All that is needed is an efficient intermediary between investors and borrowers. Equity-funded banks proved effective in funding Germany’s industrialization prior to WW1. Islamic banks today follow similar principles. Over-dependence on deposits is the primary cause of our current instability.

via Simon Johnson: Why Are the Big Banks Suddenly Afraid? – NYTimes.com.

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Don't Expect Consumer Spending To Be the Engine of Economic Growth It Once Was

By William R. Emmons:

The recession itself could be described as a period in which consumer spending contracted sharply, while other sources of private demand were unable to offset the shortfall. The subsequent recovery, such as it is, largely has been the result of massive government interventions in the form of financial rescues, unprecedented monetary stimulus and record-breaking government budget deficits. We’re left with extremely low short-term and long-term interest rates, as well as historically large budget deficits—all of which must reverse at some point.
…..To assure strong, sustainable growth in the long term, the U.S. economy needs to include a larger role for business investment and exports than has been the case in recent decades.

via Don’t Expect Consumer Spending To Be the Engine of Economic Growth It Once Was.

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FedEx First-Quarter Earnings View Citing Weak Global Economy – WSJ.com

FedEx Corp. FDX -0.10% on Tuesday said a sharp decline in manufacturing activity would harm its profits this year, a sign of how declining Chinese output is ricocheting across economies around the world.

The world’s largest air-cargo shipper by revenue said earnings in the August-ended quarter came in below its already reduced expectations.

via FedEx First-Quarter Earnings View Citing Weak Global Economy – WSJ.com.

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China’s steel mills braced for slowdown – FT.com

Wang Qinghai, chief executive of Shougang, one of China’s biggest state-owned mills, says one reason for slowing steel demand is that China is changing its economic development model. “The investment-led mode of economic development isn’t sustainable, so the government is actively lowering the growth rate . . . in order to create space for economic structural adjustment,” he said at a conference in Beijing on Saturday. That adjustment is a painful process, however, and Mr Wang summarises the outlook for the steel industry as “huge production capacity, a bleak market, and meagre profit”.

via China’s steel mills braced for slowdown – FT.com.

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Australia: Housing market weakens

Housing credit growth is at its lowest level in over 30 years: lower than the dip of the early 1980s and the crash of 1987. The current rate of growth is barely sufficient to match already depressed construction rates for new homes*. The decline should see a gradual softening of housing prices, accelerating if there are any further falls in housing credit growth.

RBA Housing Credit Growth

*Housing finance, for both owner-occupied and investor housing, totaled $59.8 billion for the year ended June 2012 according to the RBA, while residential construction — excluding land — was $44.2 billion according to ABS estimates.

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ASX 200: Australian miners hurt by falling iron ore prices

The ASX is feeling the effect of slowing manufacturing in China, with falling iron ore prices causing weakness in RIO, FMG and BHP. Rio Tinto is testing support at $50, while steeply falling 13-week Twiggs Money Flow warns of strong selling pressure.

Rio Tinto Weekly

Impact on the ASX 200 index is more diluted but 13-week Twiggs Money Flow below zero again warns of selling pressure. Breakout above 4400 is unlikely in the present climate.

ASX 200 Index Weekly

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Asia: China & Japan bearish, India hesitant

China’s official manufacturing PMI fell to a nine-month low in August, below 50 at 49.2; steel prices are at their lowest level since 2009 and rail cargo volumes have experienced their sharpest fall since 2008. In the circumstances, stocks have held up surprisingly well, with a gradual rather than vertical descent. The Shenzhen Composite index is headed for a test of support at 800 and declining 63-day Twiggs Momentum below zero indicates a primary down-trend, but the index is still a long way above its 2008 low of 450.

Shanghai Composite Index

* Target calculation: 800 – ( 1000 – 800 ) = 600

The Shanghai Composite is a lot closer to its 2008 low of 1660. 13-Week Twiggs Money Flow below zero indicates selling pressure and follow-through below 2100 offers a target of 1800*.

Shanghai Composite Index

* Target calculation: 2150 – ( 2500 – 2150 ) = 1800

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is drifting sideways, approaching the apex of its large triangle, but failure of 63-day Twiggs Momentum to cross above zero warns of downside risk. Breach of primary support at 18000 would signal a decline to 16000*.

Hang Seng Index

* Target calculation: 18 – ( 20 – 18 ) = 16

India’s Sensex retreated below its new support level at 17500, warning of a false break. Penetration of the rising trendline would suggest a bull trap, while respect would test 18500*. Reversal of 13-week Twiggs Money Flow below zero would indicate selling pressure.

Sensex Index

* Target calculation: 17.5 + ( 17.5 – 16.5 ) = 18.5

The NSE Nifty Index also retreated below its new support level and 63-day Twiggs Momentum is above zero. Respect of the rising trendline would indicate a test of 5600, while penetration would warn of a bull trap.

Sensex Index

Singapore’s Straits Times Index is retracing to test support at 3000. The up-trend appears weak and failure of support would signal a test of the lower trend channel. It is unclear whether 63-day Twiggs Momentum will oscillate around zero, indicating a ranging market, or above zero, indicating a healthy up-trend. The next trough should clarify this: respect of zero indicating a primary up-trend.

Singapore Straits Times Index

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index retreated below 9000, indicating a false breakout. Matching peaks below zero on 63-day Twiggs Momentum and 13-Week Twiggs Money Flow warn of a strong down-trend. Failure of primary support at 8200 would confirm.

Nikkei 225 Index

South Korea’s Seoul Composite index retraced to test support after breakout above 1900. Declining peaks on 13-Week Twiggs Money Flow depict rising selling pressure. Failure of support at 1900 would suggest another test of primary support at 1750.

Seoul Composite Index

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