Category: Countries & Regions

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S&P 500 tests 2007 high

Dow Jones Industrial Average has broken through its previous high at 14,000. Long-term (13-week) Twiggs Money Flow oscillating above zero indicates strong buying pressure.
S&P 500 Index
Bellwether transport stock Fedex breakout above $100 signals rising economic activity.
Fedex

The S&P 500 is testing its 2007 high at 1550. Rising 13-week Twiggs Money Flow indicates strong buying pressure. Reversal below the latest trendline is unlikely at present but would warn of a correction. Target for the current advance is 1600*.

S&P 500 Index

* Target calculation: 1475 + ( 1475 – 1350 ) = 1600

VIX Volatility Index is headed for its 2005 lows at 0.10. While this coincided with the start of a ($SPX) bull market in 1995, it also occurred just before the peak in 2007; so does not offer much reassurance. Breakout above the quarterly high at 0.20 would be a warning sign.
VIX Index
The Nasdaq 100 broke resistance at 2800 despite bearish divergences on both 13-week Twiggs Momentum and 13-week Twiggs Money Flow. Reversal below the latest rising trendline would warn of a correction, while follow-through above 2900 would signal an advance to 3300*. Only breach of primary support at 2500 would signal a reversal.
Nasdaq 100 Index

* Target calculation: 2900 + ( 2900 – 2500 ) = 3300

Rising debt indicates consumers are once again spending. While there are still structural flaws in the US economy, the market is gaining momentum and the current advance shows no signs of ending.

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Investing: Growth and the markets | The Economist

Buttonwood of The Economist quotes Elroy Dimson, Paul Marsh and Mike Staunton of the London Business School:

….take the records of 83 countries from 1972 to 2009 (the most comprehensive set available) and rank them by GDP growth over the previous five years. Investing each year in the countries with the highest economic growth over the preceding five years earned an annual return of 18.4%, but investing in the lowest-growth countries returned 25.1%.

Read more at Investing: Growth and the markets | The Economist.

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Australia: SMSF – a matter of self-interest

Reece Agland, senior policy adviser at the Institute of Public Accountants, compares the performance of self-managed super funds to retail and industry funds:

Let’s look at the facts. For the three most recent years where performance has been measured SMSFs out performed both retail and industry funds. The average operating cost of an SMSF fell from 0.72% of assets in 2007 down to 0.57% in 2009 – less than average costs for either industry or retail funds1. With average assets of over $888,000 in 2009/10 (up from $475,000 in 2003/4) they exceed the average assets per member compared to other types of funds. Their rate of non-compliance at 2% is at around the same for other superannuation funds and the number of funds that fail in any one year is very small.

Read more at Publicaccountant: SMSF – a matter of self-interest

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Forex: Aussie consolidates above primary support while Euro weakens

The euro is testing medium-term support at $1.30. Breach of the rising trendline against the greenback already warns of trend weakness; failure of $1.30 would test primary support at $1.25. Reversal of 63-day Twiggs Momentum below zero would warn of a primary down-trend, while a trough above zero would suggest another advance, with a target of $1.42*.
Aussie Dollar/USD

* Target calculation: 1.36 + ( 1.36 – 1.30 ) = 1.42

Pound sterling broke long-term support at $1.53 against the greenback, offering a target of $1.43*. Fall of 63-day Twiggs Momentum below 2011 lows strengthens the signal.
Aussie Dollar/USD

* Target calculation: 1.53 – ( 1.63 – 1.53 ) = 1.43

The Aussie Dollar is consolidating between $1.02 and $1.03 after respecting primary support at $1.015. Breakout above $1.03 and the declining trendline would suggest a rally to $1.06. Reversal below $1.02 would warn that primary support is again under threat. Narrow fluctuation of 63-day Twiggs Momentum around zero suggests a ranging market.

Aussie Dollar/USD

The Canadian Loonie is headed for a test of primary support at $0.96. Breach of support would offer a long-term target of $0.90*, but respect is just as likely and would signal a rally to $1.06.
Aussie Dollar/USD

* Target calculation: 0.96 – ( 1.02 – 0.96 ) = 0.90

The US dollar has broken its long-term declining trendline against the Japanese Yen, suggesting that the 30-year decline is over and the greenback likely to appreciate for some time. Advance to ¥100 is likely to be followed by a correction to test new support at ¥90 before breakout to test the 2007 high around ¥120*.
Aussie Dollar/USD

* Target calculation: 100 – ( 100 – 80 ) = 120

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Far from being a disaster, the results of the Italian election could be a turning point for Italy and the Eurozone. | EUROPP

Jonathan Hopkin argues that austerity has failed to produce results in Southern Europe and calls for European leaders to reconsider their approach:

…..perhaps the most important result of the election is that it will likely prove to be a turning point in the way in which the European Union deals with the debt crisis in the South. As was the case in Greece, the attempt to impose technocratic rule on a debtor nation to implement austerity and reform has been a political and economic disaster…… The Monti experiment produced no clear economic gains and has been decisively rejected at the polls. It would be reckless in the extreme of Europe’s leaders not to reconsider their approach.

via Far from being a disaster, the results of the Italian election could be a turning point for Italy and the Eurozone. | EUROPP.

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Australia: Highest cost of living

Purchasing power parities (PPPs), exchange rates, and relative prices, by country, 2011

At 1.61, Australia has higher relative prices than Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Japan (listed in descending order). 61% higher than the US and 48% higher than the UK.

Index

Source: BLS

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Non-mining Australia “in recession” last quarter | MacroBusiness

Leith van Onselen considers that Australia’s non-mining economy may be in recession based on two consecutive quarters of negative growth in state final demand:

The blanket statement that Australia grew close to trend in 2012 not only obfuscates the fact that the current growth rate is well below trend and declining even further but also hides the fact that the majority of the population are living in regions which are in recession. That paints a totally different picture than the political spin coming from the Government.

Read more at Non-mining Australia “in recession” last quarter | | MacroBusiness.

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CIC President Warns Japan on Currency Devaluation – WSJ.com

LINGLING WEI writes from Beijing:

The president of China’s giant sovereign-wealth fund warned Japan against using its neighbors as a “garbage bin” by deliberately devaluing the yen, joining a growing number of Chinese officials sounding alarms about a potential currency war.

Read more at CIC President Warns Japan on Currency Devaluation – WSJ.com.

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Volcker: Wall Street Kills Regs By Running Out the Clock

Josh Boak at Fiscal Times writes:

…..So when Volcker declared on Monday that the financial regulation system is broken, it’s time to sound the alarm. The gist of his complaint is that Dodd-Frank was passed in the middle of 2010, yet many of its biggest regulations have not been finalized and there is no end in sight.

“I know it’s a complicated bill. I know the markets are complicated,” Volcker said at a conference for the National Association for Business Economics. “Two-and-a-half years later you can’t have a regulatory apparatus that’s devised by the most important piece of legislation in recent years? That suggests something is rather wrong. Something is dysfunctional.”

Read more at Volcker: Wall Street Kills Regs By Running Out the Clock.

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