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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Australia: ASX 200

The ASX 200 is consolidating above primary support — between 4000 and 4150 — while the sharp fall of 13-week Twiggs Money Flow below zero warns of strong selling pressure. Failure of primary support would indicate a decline to 3600*. Recovery above 4150 is unlikely but would suggest another test of 4450.

ASX 200 Index

* Target calculation: 4000 – ( 4400 – 4000 ) = 3600

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China: Double top

Shanghai Composite Index threatens to complete a double top reversal with breakout below the neckline at 2250. Failure of support would offer a target of 2000*. Respect of the zero line by 63-day Twiggs Momentum warns of a continuing primary down-trend. Respect of support is less likely, but would indicate that a bottom is forming.

Shanghai Composite Index

* Target calculation: 2250 – ( 2500 – 2250 ) = 2000

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index found medium-term support at 18000. A rally that respects resistance at 20000 would confirm the primary down-trend signaled by 63-day Twiggs Momentum below zero. Breach of primary support at 17500/18000 would offer a target of 16000*.

Hong Kong Hang Seng Index

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

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India & Singapore

India’s Sensex is testing medium-term resistance at 17000. Breakout would suggest another test of 18000, while reversal below 16000 would test primary support at 15000/15200.
A peak below zero on 63-day Twiggs Momentum would strengthen the bear signal.

BSE Sensex Index

* Target calculation: 16 – ( 17 – 16 ) = 15

Singapore’s Straits Times Index found medium-term support at 2700. 63-Day Twiggs Momentum below zero warns of a primary down-trend. A rally that respects resistance at 2900 would strengthen the signal.

Singapore Straits Times Index

* Target calculation: 2700 – ( 2900 – 2700 ) = 2500

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UK & Europe

Dow Jones Europe Index is testing long-term support at 210. Failure would signal a decline to the 2009 low of 150*. Declining 63-day Twiggs Momentum (below zero) already warns of a primary down-trend, while 13-week Twiggs Money Flow indicates strong selling pressure.

Dow Jones Europe Index
Dow Jones Europe Index

* Target calculation: 210 – ( 270 – 210 ) = 150

The FTSE 100 index is retracing to test resistance at 5600. Respect would indicate another primary decline — to test 5000 — while breach of medium-term support at 5250 would confirm. 63-Day Twiggs Momentum below zero already warns of a primary down-trend. A peak below the zero line would further strengthen the signal.

FTSE 100 Index

* Target calculation: 5300 – ( 5600 – 5300 ) = 5000

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Australia: GDP growth is not real

Mark Graph: Table 5 of the national accounts includes the implicit price deflators (IPD) for each term in the expenditure equation for GDP….the big deflationary item was exports….

So we get to the heart of the anomaly: largely because we exported a touch less in volume terms (in Q1 2012 compared with Q4 2011) but at significantly reduced prices, this contributed significantly to an outcome where real GDP grew significantly while nominal GDP stagnated.

via Understanding our price deflationary boom | Mark Graph.

Comment:~ So real GDP growth is not really real. The major difference between nominal GDP growth (1.2% annualized) and real GDP growth (a far more impressive 5.2% annualized) is a fall in the price of exports!

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Fedex threatens support

Bellwether transport stock Fedex completed a double top reversal, with a break of the neckline at $88, and is now consolidating between $85 and $90. Retreat of 63-day Twiggs Momentum below zero warns of a primary down-trend. Failure of support at $85 would confirm, suggesting that economic activity is slowing.

Fedex

* Target calculation: 85 – ( 95 – 85 ) = 75

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S&P 500 engulfing candle

Monday’s engulfing candle [R] on the S&P 500 warns of reversal to re-test support at 1270. Respect of the zero line (from below) by 21-day Twiggs Money Flow would indicate strong medium-term selling pressure. Failure of support would offer a target of 1200*.

S&P 500 Index

* Target calculation: 1270 – ( 1340 – 1270 ) = 1200

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Authoritarian Rulers Get Subtler: Putin, Chavez, China's Chiefs – WSJ.com

WILLIAM J. DOBSON: A handful of retrograde, old-school dictatorships have managed to limp into the 21st century. They are the North Koreas, Turkmenistans and Equatorial Guineas of the world. But they represent dictatorship’s past….

Today’s smarter dictators, by contrast, understand that in a globalized world, the more brutal forms of intimidation—mass arrests, firing squads, violent crackdowns—are best replaced with more subtle forms of coercion.

Rather than arrest members of human-rights groups, Russia’s Vladimir Putin deploys tax collectors or health inspectors to shut down dissident groups. In Venezuela, Hugo Chávez ensures that laws are written broadly and then uses them like a scalpel to target groups that he deems a threat….

via Authoritarian Rulers Get Subtler: Putin, Chavez, China's Chiefs – WSJ.com.

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Berlin is ignoring the lessons of the 1930s – FT.com

Germans must understand that bank recapitalisation, European deposit insurance and debt mutualisation are not optional; they are essential to avoid an irreversible disintegration of Europe’s monetary union. If they are still not convinced, they must understand that the costs of a eurozone break-up would be astronomically high – for themselves as much as anyone.

After all, Germany’s prosperity is in large measure a consequence of monetary union. The euro has given German exporters a far more competitive exchange rate than the old Deutschmark would have. And the rest of the eurozone remains the destination for 42 per cent of German exports. Plunging half of that market into a new Depression can hardly be good for Germany.

via Berlin is ignoring the lessons of the 1930s – FT.com.

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S&P 500: It's all on the price chart

All indicators do is highlight information that is already visible on the price chart. That is why you need to be careful making decisions based solely on an indicator — because when you summarize (information) you sacrifice. 63-Day Twiggs Momentum displays a bearish divergence, with declining peaks over the last two years while the index has been rising. Careful study of the price chart reveals the same information: a healthy trend should display symmetrical, equally-weighted corrections and advances, you can tell momentum is slowing when advances are weaker and corrections stronger. A trend reversal would only be clear on the monthly chart if the S&P 500 crossed below support at 1100, but declining momentum should warn well in advance that it is forming a top. Recovery above 1400 is unlikely, but would signal that the trend has regained momentum — especially if the Fed introduces QE3.

S&P 500 Index

The Nasdaq 100 is also losing momentum, but slightly. Respect of support at 2400 would indicate a healthy up-trend.  Likewise a trough above zero on 63-day Twiggs Momentum.

Nasdaq 100 Index

* Target calculation: 2800 + ( 2800 – 2400 ) = 3200

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