Colin Twiggs, Author at the patient investor

September 10, 2012

Asia: Markets bouyed by stimulus measures

Markets jumped Friday on announcement by the ECB of government bond purchases and China unveiling further stimulus measures. The Shanghai Composite is testing the first line of resistance at 2150. Respect of 2250 would warn of another down-swing, while penetration of the (secondary) descending trendline would indicate the primary down-trend is weakening. 63-Day Twiggs Momentum, a long way below zero, continues to reflect a primary down-trend.

Shanghai Composite Index

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

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is again testing resistance at 20000. Upward breakout plus 63-day Twiggs Momentum recovery above zero would indicate an advance to 22000. Respect of resistance is unlikely, but would test primary support at 18000.

Hang Seng Index

India’s Sensex recovered above 17500, indicating an advance to 18500. A trough above zero on 13-week Twiggs Money Flow would indicate buying pressure.

Sensex Index

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

Singapore’s Straits Times Index found support at 3000. Respect would indicate a test of the upper trend channel, but the lower peak on 63-day Twiggs Momentum suggests a ranging market. Breach of support at 3000 would re-test the lower trend channel. Singapore Straits Times Index

The long tail on last week’s Nikkei 225 candle indicates short-term buying pressure and recovery above 9200 would signal an advance to 10200. 13-Week Twiggs Money Flow below zero, however, continues to indicate long-term selling pressure. Recovery above zero would reverse the signal, while failure of primary support at 8200 would confirm another down-swing.

Nikkei 225 Index

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.

September 7, 2012

S&P 500 breakout

The S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 broke through resistance to signal a primary advance. Dow Industrial Average has yet to confirm. Timing of the breakout is significant, with November elections looming and the Fed doing its best to prime the pump. September/October is a tentative time of the year, with risk of a “Spring sell-off” following the quarter end, as in 2007. Traders may ride the “election rally” but investors need be more cautious. The market is being driven by macro-economic signals (quantitative easing) rather than earnings.

All is not well: Europe is in recession, China headed for a sharp contraction, and some tough choices will have to be made in the US after the election euphoria is over. Balance sheet expansion (QE) by the Fed, ECB and PBOC is likely but inflation will be muted by private sector deleveraging. And QE will be scaled back as soon as credit contraction eases.

The S&P 500 broke through resistance at 1420 to signal an advance to 1570*. A 63-day Twiggs Momentum trough above zero reflects the primary up-trend. Retracement that respects support at 1400 would confirm the signal.

S&P 500 Index

* Target calculation: 1420 + ( 1420 – 1270 ) = 1570

Dow Jones Industrial Average is testing resistance at 13300. Breakout would strengthen the S&P 500 signal. Rising 13-week Twiggs Money Flow indicates buying pressure.

Dow Jones Industrial Average

Colin Twiggs

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.

September 7, 2012

Forex: Euro, Pound Sterling, Canadian Loonie, Australian Dollar and Japanese Yen

The Euro is headed for $1.275, unaffected so far by the announcement that the ECB will purchase government bonds in the secondary market. Expect strong resistance at $1.275, reversal below the lower trend channel would warn of a correction.

Euro/USD

Pound Sterling is weakening against the euro, with a descending triangle testing support at €1.255. Failure of support would indicate a test of €1.230. 63-Day Twiggs Momentum is falling, but continues to indicate a primary up-trend.

Pound Sterling/Euro

* Target calculation: 1.255 – ( 1.285 – 1.255 ) = 1.225

Canada’s Loonie is testing resistance against the greenback at $1.02. Breakout would indicate an advance to the 2011 highs at $1.06. Reversal below parity is unlikely, but would test primary support at $0.95/$0.96. Rising 63-day Twiggs Momentum suggests a primary up-trend.

Canadian Loonie/Aussie Dollar

The Aussie Dollar found support at $1.02 against the greenback. Expect a test of $1.04. Breakout would indicate $1.06, while respect would warn of a down-swing to parity. Recovery of 63-day Twiggs Momentum above zero suggests an up-trend.

Aussie Dollar/USD

The Australian Dollar found support against the yen at ¥79.50/¥80.00. Recovery above ¥83.50 would indicate a test of ¥88.00. Rising 63-day Twiggs Momentum suggests a primary up-trend. Reversal below ¥79.50 is unlikely, but would indicate another test of primary support at ¥74.

US Dollar/Japanese Yen

Colin Twiggs

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.

September 6, 2012

Pro-Growth and Pro-Wall Street is an Oxymoron | Beat the Press

Dean Baker responds to a NYT opinion that “Mr. Clinton is the president who made the sustained case to Democrats that they had to be pro-growth and pro-Wall Street, not just to get elected, but also to build a more modern economy.”

President Clinton’s policies set the country on a course of bubble driven growth. The prosperity of the last four years of his administration was driven by an unsustainable stock bubble. The collapse of the bubble was responsible for the recession of 2001 and the deficits that get the Washington establishment types so excited. It was difficult for the economy to recover from this downturn which led to, at the time, the longest period without job growth since the Great Depression. When the economy finally did recover from this downturn and start to create jobs it was on the back of the housing bubble.

via Pro-Growth and Pro-Wall Street is an Oxymoron | Beat the Press.

Colin Twiggs

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.

September 6, 2012

ECB Unveils Bond-Buying Program – WSJ.com

By GEOFFREY T. SMITH

The ECB will buy in the secondary market only government bonds with remaining maturities between one and three years without announcing any limits in advance, and as long as the government in question is under a program approved by the euro zone.

The measures will primarily benefit fiscally troubled countries like Spain and Italy, which are facing difficulties financing their budget deficits…

via ECB Unveils Bond-Buying Program – WSJ.com.

Colin Twiggs

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.

September 6, 2012

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.

* 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

Colin Twiggs

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.

September 6, 2012

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

Colin Twiggs

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.

September 5, 2012

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.

Colin Twiggs

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.

September 5, 2012

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.

Colin Twiggs

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.

September 4, 2012

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.

Colin Twiggs

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.