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The Dollar Index is retracing to test its new support level at 84.50. Respect would confirm a primary advance with a target of 89*. Rising 13-week Twiggs Momentum indicates a healthy primary up-trend. Failure of support is unlikely, but would warn of a correction to the primary trendline.
* Target calculation: 84 + ( 84 – 79 ) = 89.00
Dow Jones Industrial Average ran into resistance at 17000 signaling that the October clearance sales may not yet be over. 21-Day Twiggs Money Flow oscillating around zero suggests hesitancy despite the good job numbers. The primary trend is bullish, but reversal below 16700 would warn of a secondary correction.
* Target calculation: 16500 + ( 16500 – 15500 ) = 17500
The Nasdaq 100 found support at 3950/4000 on the weekly chart. Recovery above 4100 would indicate a further advance, while follow-through below 3950 would warn of a correction to the primary trendline at 3750/3850. Mild divergence on 13-week Twiggs Money Flow suggests further selling pressure.
* Target calculation: 4000 + ( 4000 – 3750 ) = 4250
Is the reserve currency status of the US Dollar a privilege or a burden? Michael Pettis suggests the latter and argues in favor of constraining unlimited purchases of US or other government bonds by international trading partners like China and Japan:
…it is actually quite easy to list the conditions under which reserve currency status encourages growth and the conditions under which it forces a rise either in debt or in unemployment. In advanced countries with deep and flexible financial markets, except in the case in which capital has become severely constrained by the need for money to be backed by gold, or real interest rates have been forced up to extremely high levels in order to break inflation as was the case in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the net inflows associated automatically with reserve currency status will not result in an increase in productive investment. They only result in an increase either in debt or in unemployment.
This is not an argument in favor of returning to gold, by the way. It is completely neutral on the issue. This argument simply restates the Keynesian insight that eliminating the discipline imposed by the gold standard is likely to become destabilizing unless there is another way to impose discipline…..
….the potentially destabilizing effect is no longer so distant. In a recent essay I tried to show that if we have not already reached the point at which the dominant reserve currency status of the US dollar is harmful to the US and potentially destabilizing to the world, logically we will inevitably reach that point, and probably soon….
I have frequently argued that capital account inflows into US Treasuries artificially inflate the dollar, give trading partners a competitive advantage, and cause the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs. Failure to address this issue is one of the major causes of low wage growth and rising inequality in the US.
Read more at Are we starting to see why its really the exorbitant “burden” | Michael Pettis' CHINA FINANCIAL MARKETS.
In emerging markets, Brazil’s stock market surged after the left-leaning President Dilma Rousseff was forced into a run-off race against Aecio Neves, a centre-right challenger, who only surged in the final week of the campaign. Ms Rousseff is promising to expand Brazil’s social programmes and continue strong state involvement in the economy, while Mr Neves says he will pursue more centrist economic approaches, such as central bank independence, more privatisations and the pursuit of trade deals with Europe and the United States.
Brazil’s benchmark Ibovespa index rose 4.7% to 57,115.
Read more at Stocks lower despite upbeat news « Express & Star.
Lawrence Lessig compares pre-selection in America’s “green primary” to Beijing’s 1200-strong “nominating committee” proposed for Hong Kong elections:
To run in any election, primary or general, candidates must raise extraordinary sums, privately. Yet they raise that money not from all of us. They raise it from a tiny, tiny few. In the last non-presidential election, only about .05 percent of America gave the maximum contribution to even one congressional candidate in either the primary or general election; .01 percent gave $10,000 or more; and in 2012, 132 Americans gave 60 percent of the superPAC money spent. This is the biased filter in the first stage of our American democracy….
America’s government is demonstrably responsive to the “economic elite and organized business interests,” Gilens and Page found, while “the preferences of the average American appear to have only a minuscule, near-zero, statistically non-significant impact upon public policy.”…..
There is no doubt that because of the way we fund campaigns, the “economic elite” — what conservatives call “the cronies” and progressives “corporate power” — have hijacked American democracy…..
Read more at We Should Be Protesting, Too | BillMoyers.com.
We are at the September quarter-end and stock weakness is likely to continue into October.
From the Wall Street Journal:
U.S. job growth rebounded in September and the jobless rate fell below 6% for the first time since mid-2008, suggesting the labor market is improving faster than previously thought. Nonfarm payrolls grew a seasonally adjusted 248,000 last month, the fastest pace since June, the Labor Department said Friday.
The S&P 500 broke downwards from its broadening wedge formation this week, warning of a correction to 1900. But Thursday’s long tail and Friday’s rally indicate buying support below 1950. Another test of 2000 is likely. Respect of resistance would warn of further weakness in October, while breakout would suggest a fresh advance; follow-through above 2020 would confirm.
* Target calculation: 2000 + ( 2000 – 1900 ) = 2100
CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) remains below 20, typical of a bull market.
Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 found support at 3100, but this is unlikely to hold. Expect another test of primary support at 3000. Breach would signal a down-trend. Fall of 13-week Twiggs Money Flow below zero would strengthen the bear signal.
* Target calculation: 3000 – ( 3300 – 3000 ) = 2700
Dow Jones Asia Index is headed for a test of 2800 on the weekly chart despite continued bullishness on the Shanghai Composite, reflecting strength in the US Dollar. Penetration of the rising trendline would strengthen the bear signal. Reversal of 13-week Twiggs Momentum below zero also signals a primary down-trend.
The ASX 200 found support at 5250. Recovery above 5350 and the descending trendline would suggest that the correction is over. But respect of resistance remains as likely and breach of 5250 would warn of a test of 5000/5050. Recovery of 21-day Twiggs Money Flow above zero would indicate short-term buying pressure.
* Target calculation: 5650 + ( 5650 – 5350 ) = 5950
The ASX 200 found resistance at 5350. Respect of the zero line (from below) by 21-day Twiggs Money Flow warns of continued selling pressure. Failure of support at 5250 would warn of a test of primary support at 5000/5050. Recovery above 5350 is less likely, but would suggest another rally.
* Target calculation: 5350 – ( 5700 – 5350 ) = 5000
The ASX 200 VIX is rising, but remains at levels typical of a bull market.
The S&P 500 broke through the lower border of the broadening wedge and the secondary trendline at 1965, indicating a correction. Expect support at 1900. Decline of 21-day Twiggs Money Flow below zero would strengthen the signal, while recovery above 25% (September high) would suggest that buyers are back in control.
* Target calculation: 2000 + ( 2000 – 1900 ) = 2100
CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) is close to 17%, but the low level continues to suggest a bull market.
The CCP is in a cleft stick over the protests in Hong Kong. Either they escalate and clear protestors with a massive show of force — which risks further escalation — or they wait patiently and let the protest run its course. Their problem is that there are more than 800 million Chinese citizens watching, who will take this as a precedent for future demonstrations in China. The shadow of Tiananmen Square will be replaced by the outcome of the current protests, whatever that is.
Perhaps most incredible photo of #HongKong you will ever see: protests last night via @hkdemonow pic.twitter.com/hSuYMXHTCF
— Jon Williams (@WilliamsJon) October 1, 2014
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index broke support at 24000, signaling a correction to 21000/22000. Reversal of 13-week Twiggs Money Flow below zero would warn of a bear market. Breach of support at 21000 would indicate a primary down-trend.
China’s Shanghai Composite Index, however, broke resistance at 2340/2350, indicating an advance to 2440/2450. Rising 13-week Twiggs Money Flow continues to indicate medium-term buying pressure. I would advocate caution, given the situation in Hong Kong and a negative outlook for the economy.
* Target calculation: 2250 + ( 2250 – 2000 ) = 2500
India’s Sensex is testing support at 26000. Bearish divergence on 13-week Twiggs Money Flow continues to warn of long-term selling pressure, but another trough above zero would suggest that buyers are regaining control. Failure of support would signal a correction to the primary trendline — around 25000 — while respect would indicate an advance to 28000*.
* Target calculation: 27000 + ( 27000 – 26000 ) = 28000
Japan’s Nikkei 225 index retraced to test support at 16000, but respect of this level would be a bullish sign, suggesting a breakout above its 2013 high of 16300 with a long-term target of 18000*. Reversal below 16000 is unlikely, but would warn of a correction. Another 13-week Twiggs Money Flow would signal long-term buying pressure.
* Target calculation: 16000 + ( 16000 – 14000 ) = 18000
Germany’s DAX is retracing for another test of support at 9300 and 13-week Twiggs Money Flow retreat below zero, after a bearish divergence, warns of long-term selling pressure. Failure of support would warn of a primary down-trend, while breach of primary support at 9000/8900 would confirm. Respect of support is unlikely, but recovery above 9800 would suggest another advance.
* Target calculation: 9000 – ( 10000 – 9000 ) = 8000
The Footsie is also likely to test primary support at 6400/6500. Divergence on 13-week Twiggs Money Flow, however, is nowhere near as bearish as the DAX and stronger support is likely.
* Target calculation: 6500 – ( 6900 – 6500 ) = 6100