S&P 500 and Europe cause ASX 200 to hesitate

Mildly bearish sentiment in the US and Europe is causing hesitancy on the ASX 200, while China continues to consolidate above long-term support.

The S&P 500 retreated below resistance at 1700, indicating a test of support at 1675. Longish tails on the last two candles are indicative of buying.  Recovery above 1700 would signal continuation of the advance to 1800*. Bearish divergence on 21-day Twiggs Money Flow, however, reflects selling pressure and breach of 1675 is more likely, testing the stronger support level at 1650. Primary support is some way off at 1560.

S&P 500 Index

* Target calculation: 1680 + ( 1680 – 1560 ) = 1800

Recovery of Dow Jones Europe Index above 290 indicates an advance to 310*. Follow-through above 295 strengthens the signal, but divergence on 13-week Twiggs Momentum suggests that a top may be forming. Reversal of TMO below zero would strengthen the warning.

Dow Jones Europe Index

* Target calculation: 290+ ( 290 – 270 ) = 310

China’s Shanghai Index holds steady above long-term support at 1950. Breakout above 2100 would suggest a rally to the downward trendline, but declining 13-week Twiggs Money Flow warns of selling pressure and breach of support at 1950 would offer a target of 1750*.

Shanghai Index

* Target calculation: 1950 – ( 2150 – 1950 ) = 1750

Australia’s ASX 200 found support at 5000 after falling sharply on Wednesday. Recovery above 5100 would indicate another test of 5250. Oscillation of 21-day Twiggs Money Flow close to zero suggests hesitancy. Breach of 5000 is as likely, and would test the stronger support level of 4850, providing a more robust foundation for further advances.

ASX 200 Index

China exports

Shipping rates for container vessels remain at depressed levels, close to the lows of 2009, according to the The Harper Petersen Index from ship brokers Harper Petersen & Co. This reflects the depressed level of global trade in manufactured goods. Major exporters like China are the most severely affected.

Harper Petersen Index

Asia retreats but ASX 200 soldiers on

Japan opened sharply lower on Monday, with Dow Jones Japan Index testing its long-term rising trendline at 75. Failure of support at 69 would signal a primary down-trend.

Dow Jones Japan Index

The Nikkei 225 is similarly testing its rising trendline. Declining peaks on 13-week Twiggs Money Flow indicate selling pressure. Failure of support at 12500 would signal a primary down-trend. Recovery above 15000 is unlikely but would test 16000.

Nikkei 225 Index

China’s Shanghai Composite Index continues to test long-term support at 1950. Breakout would signal a primary decline, with a target of the 2008 low at 1660. Reversal of 13-week Twiggs Money Flow below zero warns of selling pressure. Respect of 1950 is unlikely, but would indicate a rally to 2150.

Shanghai Composite Index

India’s Sensex found resistance at 20200, retreating toward its rising trendline. Penetration of the trendline would warn the trend is weakening, while failure of support at 18500 would signal a primary down-trend. Rising troughs on 13-week Twiggs Money Flow, however, indicate moderate buying pressure. Respect of support at 19000 would suggest another primary advance; confirmed if resistance at 20200 is broken.

BSE Sensex Index

* Target calculation: 20000 + ( 20000 – 18000 ) = 22000

The ASX 200 is consolidating in a narrow flag above the new support level at 5000. Upward breakout is likely and would signal a test of the May peak at 5250. Oscillation of 21-day Twiggs Money Flow around zero indicates hesitancy. Reversal below 4850 is unlikely, but would warn of another test of primary support at 4650.

ASX 200 Index

* Target calculation: 5250 + ( 5250 – 4650 ) = 5850

The ASX 200 Volatility Index below 15 also indicates low market risk — a bullish sign.
ASX Volatility Index

How urban Chinese workers helped cause the great recession | Quartz

Hillary Rosner describes how the inflow of savings from China contributed to the US sub-prime crisis:

“The foreign reserve holdings of U.S. Dollars,” the researchers write, “which had been at less than 11% of U.S. GDP prior to 2000, grew rapidly after 2002; in fact they almost doubled over the 5-year period from 2002 to 2007.”

Read more at How urban Chinese workers helped cause the great recession – Quartz.

EconoMonitor » Beijing’s New Leaders Are Right to Hold Back

Michael Pettis argues that China cannot stimulate its economy out of trouble:

There are still bulls out there who insist that China is out of the woods and making a strong recovery, for example former Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Stephen Grenville, who argues in his article strangely titled China doomsayers run out of arguments:

“The missing element from the low growth narrative is that unemployment would rise, provoking a stimulatory policy response. China would extend the transition and put up with low-return investment recall that when unemployment was the issue, Keynes was prepared to put people to work digging holes and filling them in rather than have unemployment rise sharply. To be convincing, the low-growth scenario needs to explain why this policy response will not be effective.”

It seems to me that the reason why simply “provoking a stimulatory policy response” won’t help China has been explained many times, even recently by former China bulls. Of course more stimulus will indeed cause GDP growth to pick up, as Grenville notes, but it will do so by exacerbating the gap between the growth in debt and the growth in debt-servicing capacity. Because too much debt and a huge amount of overvalued assets is precisely the problem facing China, it is hard to believe that spending more borrowed money on increasing already excessive capacity can possibly be a useful resolution of slower Chinese growth.

Read more at EconoMonitor : EconoMonitor » Beijing’s New Leaders Are Right to Hold Back.

ASX 200 finds resistance, China tests support

China’s Shanghai Composite Index continues to test long-term support at 1950. Breakout would signal a primary decline, with a target of the 2008 low at 1660. Reversal of 13-week Twiggs Money Flow below zero warns of rising selling pressure. Respect of 1950 is unlikely, but would indicate a rally to 2150.

Shanghai Composite Index

Japan’s Nikkei 225 found resistance at 15000, but the primary trend is upward and retracement that respects the rising trendline would suggest another advance. Declining peaks on 13-week Twiggs Money Flow would indicate selling pressure.  Follow-through above 15000 would test the earlier high at 16000.

Nikkei 225 Index

India’s Sensex is testing resistance at 20200. Breakout would signal an advance to 22000*. Recovery of 13-week Twiggs Money Flow above its May peak indicates buying pressure. Respect of resistance at 20200 is unlikely, but would re-test the rising trendline.

BSE Sensex Index

* Target calculation: 20000 + ( 20000 – 18000 ) = 22000

The ASX 200 is consolidating in a narrow band below resistance at 5000 — a bullish sign suggesting a test of the May peak at 5250. Highs of 5000 in 2010 and 2011 give this level additional significance and breakout would indicate an advance to 5850*. Follow-through above 5250 would confirm. Reversal of 21-day Twiggs Money Flow below zero merely indicates short-term selling pressure. Reversal below 4850 is unlikely, but would warn of another test of primary support at 4650.

ASX 200 Index

* Target calculation: 5250 + ( 5250 – 4650 ) = 5850

ASX 200 consolidates while Asia rallies

China’s Shanghai Composite Index continued its rally on Monday, headed for a test of 2150. Last week’s tall shadow (or candlewick) indicates selling pressure. Respect of resistance is likely and reversal below 1950 would signal a primary decline, with a target of the 2008 low at 1700. Reversal of 13-week Twiggs Money Flow below zero would strengthen the bear signal.

Dow Jones Shanghai Index

Last week’s dragonfly doji on Japan’s Nikkei 225 also indicates selling pressure, but the higher close hints this may have been resolved. Monday’s open is flat and reversal below last week’s low would warn of another test of primary support at 12500. Penetration of the rising trendline or a lower peak on 13-week Twiggs Money Flow would warn of trend weakness, while breach of primary support at 12500 would signal reversal.  But that is some way off and follow-through above 15000 would suggest another advance; confirmed if resistance at 16000 is broken.

Nikkei 225 Index

India’s Sensex is headed for another test of resistance at 20200. Breakout would signal an advance to 22000*. Recovery of 13-week Twiggs Money Flow above its May peak would indicate healthy buying pressure. Respect of resistance at 20200 is unlikely, but would re-test the rising trendline.

BSE Sensex Index

* Target calculation: 20000 + ( 20000 – 18000 ) = 22000

The ASX 200 is consolidating below resistance at 5000. Narrow consolidation is a bullish sign, but reversal below 4850 would warn of another test of primary support at 4650. Breakout above 5000 remains likely and would indicate an advance to 5850* — confirmed if resistance at 5250 is broken. Breach of primary support is unlikely, but would signal a primary down-trend. Oscillation of 21-day Twiggs Money Flow above zero would indicate healthy buying pressure.

ASX 200 Index

* Target calculation: 5250 + ( 5250 – 4650 ) = 5850

ASX 200 rallies despite weakness in Asia

An outside day reversal on Japan’s Nikkei 225 warns of retracement to test support at 13500. Respect of support — or a trough above the zero line on 21-day Twiggs Money Flow would indicate a healthy up-trend. Breach of the rising trendline is unlikely, but would warn of a test of primary support at 12500.

Nikkei 225 Index

China’s Shanghai Composite Index is testing long-term support at 1950 — as shown on the monthly chart. Failure of support is likely and would warn of a test of the 2008 low at 1700. Reversal of 13-week Twiggs Money Flow below zero would strengthen the bear signal. Respect of support at 1950 is unlikely, but would indicate another test of 2400/2500.

Dow Jones Shanghai Index

India’s Sensex respected its rising trendline and is likely to test resistance at 20000. Breach of resistance would signal a primary advance, with a target of 22000*. Reversal below 18500 is unlikely, but would warn of reversal to a primary down-trend. Recovery of 13-week Twiggs Money Flow above zero would indicate buying pressure.

BSE Sensex Index

Singapore’s Straits Times Index remains weak after finding support at 3100. Reversal of 13-week Twiggs Money Flow below zero after bearish divergence would warn of a primary down-trend. Breach of support at 3100 would confirm. Recovery above 3300, while unlikely, would signal a fresh primary advance.

Straits Times Index

The ASX 200 broke resistance at 4860, indicating the correction is over. Follow-through above 4900 would strengthen the signal. Recovery of 21-day Twiggs Money Flow above zero indicates healthy medium-term buying pressure. Breach of resistance at 5000 would offer a long-term target of 5850*. Reversal below 4860 is unlikely, but would warn of another test of support at 4650.

ASX 200 Index

* Target calculation: 5250 + ( 5250 – 4650 ) = 5850

Rudd? Gillard? Australians have bigger problems | IOL Business

“Australia is a leveraged time bomb waiting to blow,” Albert Edwards, Société Générale’s London-based global strategist, said. “It is not just a CDO, but a CDO squared. All we have in Australia is, at its simplest, a credit bubble built upon a commodity boom dependent for its sustenance on an even greater credit bubble in China.”

From William Pesek at Rudd? Gillard? Australians have bigger problems – Columnists | IOL Business | IOL.co.za.

Asia rallies but ASX meets resistance

Japan’s Nikkei 225 broke resistance at 13500, indicating the correction is over. Expect a re-test of the May high at 16000. Reversal below 13500, however, would mean another test of 12500. A trough above the zero line on 21-day Twiggs Money Flow would indicate a healthy primary up-trend.

Nikkei 225 Index

Dow Jones Shanghai Index respected support at 250, the long tail on both the $DJSH and Shanghai Composite indicating strong buying pressure. Expect a rally to test resistance at 275 (2150 on the Shanghai Composite), but the primary trend remains downward and resistance at 275 (2150) is likely to hold.

Dow Jones Shanghai Index

India’s Sensex rallied off its rising trendline, suggesting that the primary up-trend will continue. Follow-through above 19500 would indicate a test of resistance at 20000/20200. Bearish divergence on 13-week Twiggs Money Flow continues to warn of a reversal and would only be refuted by a breakout above 20200 (or a rise above the May peak on TMF).

BSE Sensex Index

The ASX 200 respected its descending trendline at 4800 and is headed for another test of support at 4650. A peak below zero on 21-day Twiggs Money Flow would indicate a healthy down-trend. Breach of 4650 would test the key long-term support level of 4400, while respect would mean another test of 4900. In the longer term, respect of 4400 would be bullish, but failure of support would be a strong bear signal.

ASX 200 Index

The ASX Small Ordinaries, by contrast, exhibits a stronger bullish divergence on 21-day Twiggs Money Flow, indicating buying support. Breakout above 1960 would indicate the latest primary decline is over, while reversal below 1880 would offer a target of 1800. Small Caps have been badly mauled over the last two years and at some point will present an opportunity to value investors. Unfortunately that end is not yet in sight.
ASX Small Ordinaries Index