- Moving the markets
The major indexes continued their efforts to overcome a listless start to June, and they started this session by being stuck to their unchanged lines, until a last hour surge pushed them to a green close.
On the economic side, employment data from the Labor Department showed some 8 million job openings in April vs. expectations of 8.4 million, the lowest level in over 3 years. The “hard data” component dropped to its weakest since the start of 2024, causing rate cut expectations to rally.
Weak manufacturing data did nothing to spark bullish sentiment, as traders are observing whether growth can hold up, and if not, if that will weaken inflation enough for the Fed to then cut interest rates. At least, so goes the theory.
Bond yields have been slipping since the end of May, with especially the 10-year taking a dive. The dollar whipsawed over the past week, while gold gave back yesterday’s gains. Bitcoin caught fire and suddenly headed back up to its $71k level.
Oil prices continued to slide off their April highs, in the process dipping below the $74 level.
Market volatility has picked up and created some uncertainty among traders, who are trying to find a new catalyst to drive the indexes back into record territory.
On a day-to-day basis, bulls and bears appear to be locked in the usual tug-of-war contest—with no end in sight.
2. Current “Buy” Cycles (effective 11/21/2023)
Our Trend Tracking Indexes (TTIs) have both crossed their trend lines with enough strength to trigger new “Buy” signals. That means, Tuesday, 11/21/2023, was the official date for these signals.
If you want to follow our strategy, you should first decide how much you want to invest based on your risk tolerance (percentage of allocation). Then, you should check my Thursday StatSheet and Saturday’s “ETFs on the Cutline” report for suitable ETFs to buy.
3. Trend Tracking Indexes (TTIs)
After aimlessly meandering throughout the session, a last hour pump pushed the major indexes to a green close.
Our TTIs went the other way and slipped a tad.
This is how we closed 06/04/2024:
Domestic TTI: +6.44% above its M/A (prior close +6.78%)—Buy signal effective 11/21/2023.
International TTI: +8.65% above its M/A (prior close +9.00%)—Buy signal effective 11/21/2023.
All linked charts above are courtesy of Bloomberg via ZeroHedge.
———————————————————-
WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE YOUR INVESTMENTS PROFESSIONALLY MANAGED?
Do you have the time to follow our investment plans yourself? If you are a busy professional who would like to have his portfolio managed using our methodology, please contact me directly to get more details.
Contact Ulli