- Moving the markets
The major indexes meandered around their respective unchanged lines for most of the morning, when news that the State Department had lifted its global travel advisory from 4 months ago hit the wires. That was like poring gasoline on a fire, and the indexes rocketed higher for the remainder of the session and never looked back.
The gains were solid across the board with the Nasdaq faring the best out of the 3 indexes, but the tech sector was not able to catch gold’s performance with the yellow metal closing +1.25% at $2,075, now having been up 14 out of the past 15 days.
The early update on initial/continuing jobless claims offered a “positive” surprise, as they fell slightly after having risen for two weeks in a row. I don’t see the optimism, because still 1.186 million new Americans signed up for jobless claims for the first time. Ouch!
That new layoffs are well under way, is further confirmed by this study summarizing it like this:
Of workers who were placed back on payrolls after being initially laid off/furloughed as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis, 31% report that they have been laid off a second time, and another 26% of those placed back on payrolls report being told by their employer that they may be laid off again.
Again, none of the above matters to the markets, until one day when it does. In the meantime, all eyes are on tomorrow’s jobs report, and it will be interesting to see how it will be spun in a positive light to keep the market levitation intact.
ZH summed up the insanity in the current market environment like this:
As Bloomberg notes, the pause in the leadership of the mega-cap technology stocks is over, as evidenced by their dominance today. Nearly all of the S&P 500’s 18-point gain can be explained by five stocks: Apple, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon and Alphabet. That’s how the index can rise even though 54% of its stocks are down at the moment. Among the group on pace for all-time closing highs: Apple, Amazon and Facebook.
However even AAPL’s stunning move pales in comparison to the 150% surge in silver from its March lows.
2. ETFs in the Spotlight
In case you missed the announcement and description of this section, you can read it here again.
It features some of the 10 broadly diversified domestic and sector ETFs from my HighVolume list as posted every Saturday. Furthermore, they are screened for the lowest MaxDD% number meaning they have been showing better resistance to temporary sell offs than all others over the past year.
The below table simply demonstrates the magnitude with which these ETFs are fluctuating above or below their respective individual trend lines (%+/-M/A). A break below, represented by a negative number, shows weakness, while a break above, represented by a positive percentage, shows strength.
For hundreds of ETF choices, be sure to reference Thursday’s StatSheet.
For this current domestic “Buy” cycle, here’s how some our candidates have fared:
Click image to enlarge
Again, the %+/-M/A column above shows the position of the various ETFs in relation to their respective long-term trend lines, while the trailing sell stops are being tracked in the “Off High” column. The “Action” column will signal a “Sell” once the -8% point has been taken out in the “Off High” column. For more volatile sector ETFs, the trigger point is -10%.
3. Trend Tracking Indexes (TTIs)
Our TTIs stayed just about even, as today ascent was focused primarily driven by tech stocks.
This is how we closed 08/06/2020:
Domestic TTI: +4.96% above its M/A (prior close +5.03%)—Buy signal effective 07/22/2020
International TTI: +2.96% above its M/A (prior close +3.01%)—Buy signal effective 07/22/2020
Disclosure: I am obliged to inform you that I, as well as my advisory clients, own some of the ETFs listed in the above table. Furthermore, they do not represent a specific investment recommendation for you, they merely show which ETFs from the universe I track are falling within the specified guidelines.
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