{"id":41565,"date":"2013-09-01T22:49:30","date_gmt":"2013-09-02T02:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/forex-news\/?p=41565"},"modified":"2013-09-01T22:49:30","modified_gmt":"2013-09-02T02:49:30","slug":"a-chart-that-reveals-a-lot-about-the-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/2013\/09\/01\/a-chart-that-reveals-a-lot-about-the-market\/","title":{"rendered":"A Chart That Reveals a lot About The Market"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By <a href=\"http:\/\/www.MoneyMorning.com.au\" target=\"_blank\"><u>MoneyMorning.com.au<\/u><\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Will <strong>the market<\/strong> go higher?<\/p>\n<p>Or will it go  lower?<\/p>\n<p>What&#8217;s your bet?<\/p>\n<p>Go on. If you had  to bet a meaningful amount of money on the market &#8211; an amount that would cause  you a mild amount of distress if you got the bet wrong &#8211; which way would you  go?<\/p>\n<p>Whatever your  answer, you probably don&#8217;t realise it, but you <em>already<\/em> make this bet each and every day.<\/p>\n<p>And if you bet  wrong on a consistent basis, it could result in <em>more<\/em> than just mild distress&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>It was a great  close for <a href=\"http:\/\/www.moneymorning.com.au\/category\/stock-market\/australian-share-market-stocks\" title=\"more on the Australian share market\">the Australian market <\/a>on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>During a week  that started off with fears of a new Middle East war, the market closed down  just 30 points compared to the previous Friday.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s just over  a 0.5% fall.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s another  example of the market looking for an excuse to go up, rather than an excuse to  fall.<\/p>\n<p>You can see that  on the following chart&#8230;<\/p>\n<h2>A Spring Waiting to Uncoil<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve shown you a  version of this chart before. You can see the range between the highs and the  lows narrowing over time:<\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/portphillippublishing.com.au\/images\/MPR20130902a.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/portphillippublishing.com.au\/images\/MPR20130902a.jpg\" width=\"392\" height=\"165\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Source: Google Finance<\/strong><\/div>\n<p>When the market  behaves this way it&#8217;s like a coiled spring. It&#8217;s compressing as much as  possible, just waiting for a reason to uncoil.<\/p>\n<p>And when it does,  the market does what you&#8217;d expect from a coiled spring; it unravels in a hurry.  If the market does as we expect and it truly is looking for an excuse to go  higher then our bet is it will be a quick move when the spring uncoils.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s why we&#8217;re  so keen to ensure you <a href=\"http:\/\/www.moneymorning.com.au\/category\/investments\/how-to-invest\" title=\"how to invest\">invest in stocks<\/a>. Because when this market moves it will  move fast.<\/p>\n<p>However, by now  you should also know that your editor isn&#8217;t a cheerleader for the market. We  know there are some big risks, and if you don&#8217;t know that you&#8217;re setting  yourself up for a bunch of trouble&#8230;<\/p>\n<h2>Low Interest Rates Forces Investors to  Buy Dividend Stocks<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>The newest member  of the <em>Money Morning<\/em> team, Vern  Gowdie, says it&#8217;s <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/pro1.portphillippublishing.com.au\/143983\" target=\"_blank\">an extremely  risky time to buy stocks<\/a>.  Why? He rightly points out that the huge expansion of credit is a major reason  for the 40-year rally in stocks.<\/p>\n<p>But now the  credit boom is over (or nearing its end) the next move for the market should be  down as we enter what Vern calls &#8216;the Great Contraction&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Vern warns that  unprepared investors will suffer greatly. He&#8217;s especially worried about those  who have bought <strong>dividend stocks<\/strong> to earn an extra couple of percent in income.<\/p>\n<p>We take a  slightly different view to Vern. We say that investors can&#8217;t afford <em>not<\/em> to invest in dividend stocks due to  low interest rates. But it is a risk.<\/p>\n<p>In some cases the  upside for dividend stocks may only be the extra 2-3% you can earn from  dividends compared to cash. On the flipside, the downside could be 20%, 30% or  50% if <a href=\"http:\/\/www.moneymorning.com.au\/20130831\/is-the-great-dividend-rally-over.html\" title=\"Is the Great Dividend Rally Over?\">the dividend rally ends<\/a> and stocks fall.<\/p>\n<p>This is what we  alluded to at the top of this letter.<\/p>\n<p>But let&#8217;s get to  our point. If we asked you today to bet $50,000 on the market&#8217;s direction,  you&#8217;d probably tell us to take a hike. You&#8217;d probably even say you don&#8217;t gamble  apart from the Melbourne Cup.<\/p>\n<p>But if you&#8217;ve got  a $50,000 share portfolio, gambling is exactly what you&#8217;re doing.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;ve got a  $10,000 share portfolio, then you&#8217;re making a $10,000 bet on the <strong>stock market<\/strong>.  If you&#8217;ve got a $1 million share portfolio, then you&#8217;re making a $1 million bet  on the stock market.<\/p>\n<p>Sure, it&#8217;s not  like betting on the nags or the dogs where you&#8217;ll lose your entire stake if you  lose the bet. But make no mistake, it&#8217;s still a bet.<\/p>\n<h2>You Could Make or Save Thousands Every  Day<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>In <em>Money Morning<\/em> throughout this week we&#8217;ll  focus on the risks of betting on a market that&#8217;s trading around a key level.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ll look at  ways to minimise your risks from an adverse market move.<\/p>\n<p>The most obvious  strategy is to not own stocks at all. Although that strategy itself involves  risks. That is, the opportunity cost of not owning stocks.<\/p>\n<p>If the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.moneymorning.com.au\/stock-market\" title=\"more on the stock market\">stock market <\/a>takes off and you&#8217;re still holding cash there&#8217;s a chance you won&#8217;t have  grown your wealth enough to allow you to live a comfortable retirement.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, on the  other hand if you&#8217;ve got too much in stocks and the market falls, then likewise  you could find yourself with much less in retirement than you need.<\/p>\n<p>That&#8217;s the view  Vern Gowdie takes right now. He says the market is just in a short-term bull  rally that&#8217;s part of a secular bear market&#8230;<a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/pro1.portphillippublishing.com.au\/143983\" target=\"_blank\">a market that  could see stocks fall 90% in the coming years<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s no doubt  it&#8217;s a confronting and bold call. But it&#8217;s one that every investor should take  note of. As we say, our view is that stocks will soon take off (perhaps this  weekend&#8217;s election will be the event to uncoil the spring), but it&#8217;s also  important to make sure you know all the potential risks.<\/p>\n<p>After all, when  you&#8217;re making a big bet on the stock market every day, like betting on the  horses, you&#8217;ve got to know the market&#8217;s form. It could be the difference  between making or saving hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars every day.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cheers,<br \/>\n  Kris<a href=\"https:\/\/plus.google.com\/u\/1\/102832084048340347143\/about\">+<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/plus.google.com\/106516983215198267222\/about\" title=\"Join Money Morning on Google Plus -- and read about the things we can't always fit into our regular essays\"><u>Join Money Morning on Google+ <\/u><\/a><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>Special Report: <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/pro1.portphillippublishing.com.au\/143983\" target=\"_blank\">GET OUT &amp;  STAY OUT<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Australian Small-Cap Investigator<\/em>:<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.australiansmall-capinvestigator.com.au\">How to Make Big Money from Small-Cap Stocks<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/MoneyMorningAustralia?a=82dHCqgSeS4:YVvUuMxUhqI:yIl2AUoC8zA\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/MoneyMorningAustralia?d=yIl2AUoC8zA\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/MoneyMorningAustralia?a=82dHCqgSeS4:YVvUuMxUhqI:V_sGLiPBpWU\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/MoneyMorningAustralia?i=82dHCqgSeS4:YVvUuMxUhqI:V_sGLiPBpWU\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/MoneyMorningAustralia?a=82dHCqgSeS4:YVvUuMxUhqI:gIN9vFwOqvQ\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~ff\/MoneyMorningAustralia?i=82dHCqgSeS4:YVvUuMxUhqI:gIN9vFwOqvQ\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/feeds.feedburner.com\/~r\/MoneyMorningAustralia\/~4\/82dHCqgSeS4\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By MoneyMorning.com.au Will the market go higher? Or will it go lower? What&#8217;s your bet? Go on. If you had to bet a meaningful amount of money on the market &#8211; an amount that would cause you a mild amount of distress if you got the bet wrong &#8211; which way would you go? Whatever &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/2013\/09\/01\/a-chart-that-reveals-a-lot-about-the-market\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;A Chart That Reveals a lot About The Market&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41565\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}