Author Archive for InvestMacro – Page 590

Correction Coming?

By www.ActiveTradingPartners.com

The correction in the markets is coming.  The markets will correct in the short term, which will allow them to move much higher in 2017. The short-term indicators of market momentum are overbought. The trend indicators are clearly still BULLISH!

President Trump’s cuts and his pro-business attitude have been sending U.S. stocks into new record high territory.  This is a clear indication that investors are looking to the White House for inspiration. The SPX Index, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite Index are trading at all-time highs. They are extending the rally that began when President Trump was elected.

 “Buy The Dip”?

My version of Elliott Wave Analysis points to a short-term market correction ensuing. The details have been posted to members of our TMTF service.

After it has completed WAVE 5, the SPX will commence its’ short-term correction. The correction comes in the form of a move in the opposite direction of its’ impulse primary move. It is a counter-trend that is made up of 3 corrective waves“A-B-C”.

Sentiment Indicators:

Mr. Michael Hartnett, Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Chief Investment Strategies, is bullish on risk assets based on the banks’ forecasting model. As the stock market continues to climb, in the face of political uncertainty, it is “not dangerously euphoric yet, this situation has not played itself out yet,” he concludes in a February 7th, 2017 report titled “Are we there yet? No.”

Mr. Hartnett and his team believe that current conditions are perfectly situated for a “10% melt-up” in stock prices. They see the “stock market continuing to plow ahead, but by most of its’ measures the runway is not unlimited in length”.   The extremes observed in the market are not extreme enough. The Bull & Bear Indicator, (BAML), the broadest measure of investor sentiment, is currently at a 6.1 reading on a scale of 10. This is significantly off the 2.0 reading during Brexit and the anomaly 0.0 reading during the February 2016 stock market lows. It still is not above the 8.0 reading which indicates investors are too emotional to the upside.

 

correction2

 

 

correction1

 

The SPX Marches To 2550!

The SPX Technology Sector, XLK rose to a new record high last Friday, February 17th, 2017. This sector is on a winning streak. The last time that technology stocks enjoyed a massive winning streak, it led to much higher gain in the markets. This sector will make the NDX-100 the strongest index and the SPX the second strongest.  My next measured target for this move is at $60.00.

chart3

 

With the accommodating Federal Reserve saying: “Yellen To Congress: We’ll do Something Someday”. We should prepare for never before seen new highs in all U.S. markets, especially the technology heavy Nasdaq (https://www.wsj.com/articles/yellen-says-fed-will-consider-raising-rates-at-coming-meetings-1487084405). Chairwoman Yellen’s has this unique ability to say “absolutely nothing while pretending that she’s got everything under control. There was no further information on the overrated Fed Funds rate hike issue — overrated because it is both meaningless and a distraction to the real problems at hand”. Her testimony is best summed up as: “I’m not sure, we’ll just have to see.” The Federal Reserve has elected to keep “kicking the can down the road”, even further!

chart4

 

President Trump said that he would add another $5 trillion to the $19.9 trillion public debt: (http://www.usdebtclock.org/).  In the meantime, he is devoted to balancing the budget within ten years, not cutting Social Security or Medicare, ramping up defense spending and passing a tax cut.  President Trump’s New Economy Challenge is to create 25 million new jobs over the next decade. Additionally, President Trump’s proposed tax and eliminating costly red tape will provide a welcome relief to small business owners who employ 78% of Americans and which will create 74% of all net new jobs within a decade.

Quantitative Easing, (QE) has bought time, since “The Great Recession of 2008” for our financial/monetary wizards to keep the can on the road, thereby perpetually kicking it further into the abyss through QE. Solutions are being discussed amongst policy makers, behind closed doors (http://www.un.org/press/en/2014/gaef3417.doc.htm).  A part of the U.N. resolution states that, “Recognizing the need to create a legal framework that facilitates the orderly restructuring of sovereign debts, allows the re-establishment of viability and growth without creating incentives that inadvertently increase the risk of non-compliance and acts as a deterrent to disruptive litigation that creditors could engage in during negotiations to restructure sovereign debts.”

Our current fragile financial global monetary system does not allow public debate regarding significant changes or it would risk implosion. Capitalism will survive!

The New Era of Trading:

Trade for a living; win like the Professionals! This is a very exciting time to be a trader and follow my core strategy which allows me to perform in true form! The markets will extend its’ rally into 2017.  Every week, there are new actionable trade ideas. Avoid what I refer to as “Herd Mentality”, which is always putting you on the losing side of the trades.

The next BIG TRADE is setting up. You should take advantage of my hard work and expertise to make you short term profitable trades. Protect your financial future by getting my market and trade alert reports every week. Your portfolio should involve a proven strategy which I provide.

We have just entered a new commodity trade (UGAZ) Feb 21 as its forming a bottoming pattern. We have locked in 10% in 36 hours and hold the remaining for much larger gains. Do you want to be in the next trade of the Next Hot Stock setup?  My subscribers banked a 112% in a swing trade with NUGT (Dec 16 – Feb 8th). All the trades are based on my Momentum Reversal Method (MRM) trading system.

Another trade this month was ERX, in which we took a nice profit of 7.7% in less than 24 hours after entry.  All risks are well contained.

Follow my lead and start making money every month with www.ActiveTradingPartners.com

John Winston
Co-Author: Chris Vermeulen

 

Trump’s joint address: Investors should look over lack of detail

By George Prior – March 1 2017

The markets might not have been given the details they wanted, but investors should react positively to Trump’s address, affirms the founder and CEO of one of the world’s largest independent financial advisory organizations.

deVere Group’s Nigel Green comments come immediately after Donald Trump delivered his first address to both houses of Congress Tuesday night.

Mr Green comments: “President Trump’s joint address had, in general terms, a Reagan-esque optimistic tone.  It was by far his best and most presidential speech to date.  It was almost as if tonight Trump became the President of the United States.

“Overall, there was a positive, pro-business and pro-growth message that will please the markets.

“However, there was a marked lack of detail on tax reforms, deregulation and infrastructure – three key areas for investors – and this could dampen the markets’ mood somewhat.

“The markets were hoping for a laundry list of facts on tax reform, deregulation and on stimulus. This didn’t happen and this will be a disappointment. Such cold, hard facts would have certainly maintained the post-election stock rally and expectations that the economy will get a further boost.”

He continues: “Although Trump didn’t use the joint address to get into the details, it does not mean that the details are not coming imminently. Indeed, he said that his economic team is working on a ‘historic tax reform.’  The Trump administration has also previously said it is their goal to pass tax reform legislation by August.

“The lack of detail craved by the markets should not represent a major, longer-term obstacle to investors.

“The financial markets like Trump and his economic pledges – we’ve seen this in how they have reacted so far to his stated policies – and a broadstrokes speech such as this is unlikely to alter that in any meaningful way.

“Whilst some will, no doubt, bemoan the lack of specifics in Trump’s address, for many savvy investors it is precisely this lack of specifics that has been the cause of so much enthusiasm.”

Mr Green concludes: “The markets might not have been given the details they wanted, but investors should react positively to Trump’s address.

“He seems determined to fulfil his election promise of shaking up the status quo.  From this shift there will be winners and losers, of course.

“For instance should Trump hold true to his election pledges, the banking sector is likely to do well due to the lifting of regulations, and mining and oil will get a boost the repeal of some the Obama-era environmental laws.

“In this new era, investors will need good fund managers who select investments that aim at the winning sectors, taking care to be diversified in their overall structures.”

deVere Group is one of the world’s largest independent advisors of specialist global financial solutions to international, local mass affluent, and high-net-worth clients.  It has a network of more than 70 offices across the world, over 80,000 clients and $12bn under advisement.

www.devere-group.com

 

 

 

EUR/USD: Monday against Friday

By Gabriel Ojimadu, Alpari

Previous:

On Friday, trading on the dollar closed down. The euro fell against the dollar as traders closed their long positions in anticipation of the long weekend. Euro-bulls didn’t even react to the fall in US bond yields. By the end of the day, 10-year bonds had fallen by 1.22%, to 2.420%. By the end of the session, the euro had fallen to 1.0604.

Market expectations:

The US has a national holiday today, so the debt market is closed. This means that following US bond yields today isn’t an option. Given that today is Monday, and that the euro closed down on Friday, my prediction for the day is that the euro will grow – Monday against Friday. I’m not paying attention to the news today.

Day’s news (GMT+3):

  • 10:00 Germany: Producer Price Index (Jan);
  • 14:00 Germany: German Buba monthly report, UK: CBI Industrial Trends Survey – orders (Feb);
  • 16:30 Canada: wholesale sales (Dec);
  • 18:00 Eurozone: consumer confidence (Feb);
  • USA: President’s Day;
  • Eurozone: ECOFIN meeting.

EURUSD rate on the hourly. Source: TradingView

Intraday forecast: low: 1.0603 (current in Asia), high: 1.0655, close: 1.0635.

The 1.0640 – 1.0650 zone could not hold. As traders closed their long positions, the euro fell to the 67thdegree. This degree is significant for the euro. Considering that today is Monday, my forecast is looking up the chart for movement against Friday’s. The target around the 45th degree is 1.0655. The rate might make it as far as 1.0666, but this remains to be seen due to today’s national holiday in the US.

Positives for the euro (+):

Fundamental:

(+) US president Donald Trump favours a weaker dollar;

(+) CME Group FedWatch Tool has downgraded the probability of a rate hike in March from 31% to 17.7%;

Technical (short-term):

(+) On the hourly timeframe, the euro rate has corrected to the 67th degree;

(+) On Friday, US 10-year bond yields fell by 1.22%;

(+) The daily Stochastic indicator is in the buy zone and trying to create a bullish signal.

Negatives for the euro (-):

Fundamental:

(-) The ECB isn’t planning to curtail their QE program. According to the minutes of the ECB’s meeting, most members of the Governing Council don’t consider it essential to reduce the current stimulus (long-term impact);

(-) The probability of a rate hike in June by the US Fed has increased (relevant for March);

(-) Political risks in Europe (French elections and Brexit);

(-) Greece can’t reach a deal for financial assistance with its creditors;

(-) The recent release of statistics favours the US.

Technical factors (short-term):

(-) Net short positions from speculators big and small have increased on the Chicago exchange. For large speculators, it has grown at the expense of long positions by 2079 contracts. For small speculators, the number of short positions has increased by 6632 contracts.

COT Report: USD bets lower for 6th week while WTI Crude bets make new high, Silver rise 7th week

By CountingPips.com – Get our weekly COT Reports by Email

Here is a short summary and this week’s links (below) to the latest Commitment of Traders changes.

This week’s COT results showed that Speculators reduced positions in the US dollar for a 6th straight week and to the lowest level since October.

WTI Crude speculators continued to be hugely bullish and pushed their bets to a new multi-year high (over +500,000 net contracts!) while 10-year note speculators resumed adding to their net bearish positions last week.

In metals, gold and copper speculators cut back on their bullish bets for a second straight week while silver speculators kept pushing their net bullish bets higher for the 7th straight week.

Finally, one week after S&P500 speculators turned bearish for the first time since September, the speculators increased their bets in S&P500 futures and net positions went back over to the bullish side.


FX Speculators cut US Dollar bullish positions for 6th straight week

US Dollar net speculator positions fell to $14.99 billion last week

The latest data for the weekly Commitment of Traders (COT) report, released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday, showed that large traders and currency speculators continued to decrease their bullish bets for the US dollar last week.

See full article


WTI Crude Oil Speculators sharply boosted net bullish positions last week

The non-commercial contracts of WTI crude futures totaled a net position of 508456 contracts, according to data from last week. This was a change of 31466 contracts from the previous weekly total.

See full article


Gold Speculators pulled back on bullish net positions for 2nd week

The large speculator contracts of gold futures declined to a total net position of 109752 contracts. This was a weekly change of -7397 contracts from the previous week.

See full article


10 Year Treasury Note Speculators pushed net bearish positions higher last week

The large speculator contracts of 10-year treasury note futures totaled a net position of -341524 contracts. This was a weekly change of -36947 contracts from the previous week.

See full article


S&P500 Speculators raised bullish bets to a long net position last week

The large speculator contracts of S&P 500 futures totaled a net position of 1289 contracts. This was a change of 2977 contracts from the reported data of the previous week.

See full article


Silver Speculators raise net bullish positions for 7th straight week

The non-commercial contracts of silver futures totaled a net position of 84812 contracts, according to data from last week. This was a weekly change of 6535 contracts from the previous totals.

See full article


Copper Speculators reduced bullish net positions for 2nd week

The large speculator contracts of copper futures totaled a net position of 45243 contracts. This was a weekly change of -6316 contracts from the data of the previous week.

See full article


Article by CountingPips.com

The Commitment of Traders report data is published in raw form every Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and shows the futures positions of market participants as of the previous Tuesday (data is reported 3 days behind).

To learn more about this data please visit the CFTC website at http://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/CommitmentsofTraders/index.htm

 

 

 

FX Speculators cut US Dollar bullish positions for 6th straight week

By CountingPips.comGet our weekly COT Reports by Email

US Dollar net speculator positions leveled at $14.99 billion last week

The latest data for the weekly Commitment of Traders (COT) report, released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday, showed that large traders and currency speculators continued to decrease their bullish bets for the US dollar last week.

Non-commercial large futures traders, including hedge funds and large speculators, had an overall US dollar long position totaling $14.99 billion as of Tuesday February 14th, according to the latest data from the CFTC and dollar amount calculations by Reuters. This was a weekly decline of $-2.08 billion from the $17.07 billion total long position that was registered the previous week, according to the Reuters calculation (totals of the US dollar contracts against the combined contracts of the euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar and the Swiss franc).

Speculators have now reduced their US dollar bullish positions for a sixth consecutive week and to the lowest level since October 11th when the net position equaled $14.72 billion. The dollar position is now under the +$20 billion threshold for a third week in a row after previously remaining above this level for thirteen straight weeks through January 24th.

Weekly Speculator Individual Currency Contract Changes:

The major currencies that improved against the US dollar last week were the Japanese yen (3,776 weekly change in contracts), Swiss franc (3,137 contracts), Canadian dollar (10,790 contracts), Australian dollar (7,470 contracts) and the New Zealand dollar (1,031 contracts).

The currencies whose speculative bets declined last week versus the dollar were the euro (-1,813 weekly change in contracts), British pound sterling (-989 contracts) and the Mexican peso (-1,725 contracts).

Table of Weekly Commercial Traders and Speculators Levels & Changes:

CurrencyNet CommercialsComms Weekly ChgNet SpeculatorsSpecs Weekly Chg
EuroFx574398584-46764-1813
GBP73627-1452-65528-989
JPY75506-3516-512843776
CHF19572-691-114843137
CAD-28193-92551934010790
AUD-32507-7072242187470
NZD-5058-139728761031
MXN603361053-60213-1725

 

This latest COT data is through Tuesday and shows a quick view of how large speculators or non-commercials (for-profit traders) as well as the commercial traders (hedgers & traders for business purposes) were positioned in the futures markets. All currency positions are in direct relation to the US dollar where, for example, a bet for the euro is a bet that the euro will rise versus the dollar while a bet against the euro will be a bet that the dollar will gain versus the euro.

 

Weekly Charts: Large Trader Weekly Positions vs Price

EuroFX:

 

British Pound Sterling:

 

Japanese Yen:

 

Swiss Franc:

 

Canadian Dollar:

 

Australian Dollar:

 

New Zealand Dollar:

 

Mexican Peso:

*COT Report: The weekly commitment of traders report summarizes the total trader positions for open contracts in the futures trading markets. The CFTC categorizes trader positions according to commercial hedgers (traders who use futures contracts for hedging as part of the business), non-commercials (large traders who speculate to realize trading profits) and nonreportable traders (usually small traders/speculators). Find CFTC criteria here: (http://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/CommitmentsofTraders/ExplanatoryNotes/index.htm).

The Commitment of Traders report is published every Friday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and shows futures positions data that was reported as of the previous Tuesday (3 days behind).

Each currency contract is a quote for that currency directly against the U.S. dollar, a net short amount of contracts means that more speculators are betting that currency to fall against the dollar and a net long position expect that currency to rise versus the dollar.

(The charts overlay the forex closing price of each Tuesday when COT trader positions are reported for each corresponding spot currency pair.) See more information and explanation on the weekly COT report from the CFTC website.

Article by CountingPips.com

 

 

WTI Crude Oil Speculators sharply boosted net bullish positions last week

By CountingPips.comGet our weekly COT Reports by Email

WTI Crude Oil Non-Commercial Positions:

Large speculators and traders continued to push their bullish net positions higher in the WTI crude oil futures markets last week, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.

The non-commercial contracts of WTI crude futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 508,456 contracts in the data reported through February 14th. This was a weekly gain of 31,466 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 476,990 net contracts.

Speculators have now increased their net bullish position for the fourth week out of the last five and gone from slightly under +300,000 net bullish contracts in late November to above +500,000 contracts in February.

WTI Crude Oil Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, categorized by the CFTC as hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, raised their bearish net position to -526,417 contracts last week. This was a weekly change of -21,934 contracts from the total net of -504,483 contracts reported the previous week.

USO Crude Oil ETF:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the USO Crude Oil ETF, which tracks the price of WTI crude oil, closed at approximately $11.38 which was a rise of $0.19 from the previous close of $11.19, according to ETF market data.

*COT Report: The COT data, released weekly to the public each Friday, is updated through the previous Tuesday (data is 3 days old) and shows a quick view of how large speculators or non-commercials (for-profit traders) as well as the commercial traders (hedgers & traders for business purposes) were positioned in the futures markets. The CFTC categorizes trader positions according to commercial hedgers (traders who use futures contracts for hedging as part of the business), non-commercials (large traders who speculate to realize trading profits) and nonreportable traders (usually small traders/speculators). Find CFTC criteria here: (http://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/CommitmentsofTraders/ExplanatoryNotes/index.htm).

Article by CountingPips.com

 

 

 

Gold Speculators pulled back on bullish net positions for 2nd week

By CountingPips.comGet our weekly COT Reports by Email

Gold Non-Commercial Positions:

Large speculators and traders reduced their bullish net positions in the gold futures markets last week for a second consecutive week, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.

The non-commercial futures contracts of Comex gold futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 109,752 contracts in the data reported through February 14th. This was a weekly change of -7,397 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 117,149 net contracts.

Gold speculative positions, despite two weekly declines, remain above the +100,000 net bullish level for the sixth consecutive week after falling below this threshold for two weeks in late December and early January.

Gold Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, categorized by the CFTC as hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -127,788 contracts last week. This is a weekly increase of 6,358 contracts from the total net of -134,146 contracts reported the previous week.

Gold ETF:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the GLD ETF, which tracks the price of gold, closed at approximately $116.93 which was a shortfall of $-0.53 from the previous close of $117.46, according to ETF financial market data.

*COT Report: The COT data, released weekly to the public each Friday, is updated through the previous Tuesday (data is 3 days old) and shows a quick view of how large speculators or non-commercials (for-profit traders) as well as the commercial traders (hedgers & traders for business purposes) were positioned in the futures markets. The CFTC categorizes trader positions according to commercial hedgers (traders who use futures contracts for hedging as part of the business), non-commercials (large traders who speculate to realize trading profits) and nonreportable traders (usually small traders/speculators). Find CFTC criteria here: (http://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/CommitmentsofTraders/ExplanatoryNotes/index.htm).

Article by CountingPips.com

 

 

 

10 Year Treasury Note Speculators pushed net bearish positions higher last week

By CountingPips.comGet our weekly COT Reports by Email

10 Year Treasury Note Non-Commercial Positions:

Large speculators and traders increased their bearish net positions in the 10-year treasury note futures markets last week for the second time in three weeks, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.

The non-commercial futures contracts of 10-year treasury note futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of -341,524 contracts in the data reported through February 14th. This was a weekly change of -36,947 contracts from the previous week which had a total of -304,577 net contracts.

Speculators continue to be strongly bearish on 10-year note futures with net positions above the -300,000 level for the third straight week. Spec positions had reached an all-time high in bearish bets on January 10th with a net position of -394,689 contracts.

10 Year Treasury Note Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, categorized by the CFTC as hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of 562,700 contracts last week. This is a weekly increase of 38,578 contracts from the total net of 524,122 contracts reported the previous week.

IEF 7-10 Year Bond ETF:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) closed at approximately $104.69 which slid by $-0.81 from the previous close of $105.50, according to ETF market data.

*COT Report: The COT data, released weekly to the public each Friday, is updated through the previous Tuesday (data is 3 days old) and shows a quick view of how large speculators or non-commercials (for-profit traders) as well as the commercial traders (hedgers & traders for business purposes) were positioned in the futures markets. The CFTC categorizes trader positions according to commercial hedgers (traders who use futures contracts for hedging as part of the business), non-commercials (large traders who speculate to realize trading profits) and nonreportable traders (usually small traders/speculators). Find CFTC criteria here: (http://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/CommitmentsofTraders/ExplanatoryNotes/index.htm).

Article by CountingPips.com

 

 

Silver Speculators raise net bullish positions for 7th straight week

By CountingPips.comGet our weekly COT Reports by Email

Silver Non-Commercial Positions:

Large speculators and traders continued to raise their net bullish positions in the silver futures markets last week, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.

The non-commercial futures contracts of Comex silver futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 84,812 contracts in the data reported through February 14th. This was a weekly rise of 6,535 contracts from the previous week which had a total of 78,277 net contracts.

Speculators have now boosted their bets in silver futures for the seventh consecutive week and to the highest net position since September 6th when net positions totaled +88,028 contracts.

Silver Commercial Positions:

The commercial traders position, categorized by the CFTC as hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -99,027 contracts last week. This is a weekly change of -6,315 contracts from the total net of -92,712 contracts reported the previous week.

Silver ETF:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the SLV ishares ETF, which tracks the price of silver, closed at approximately $17.01 which was a gain of $0.22 from the previous close of $16.79, according to ETF financial market data.

*COT Report: The weekly commitment of traders report summarizes the total trader positions for open contracts in the futures trading markets. The CFTC categorizes trader positions according to commercial hedgers (traders who use futures contracts for hedging as part of the business), non-commercials (large traders who speculate to realize trading profits) and nonreportable traders (usually small traders/speculators). Find CFTC criteria here: (http://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/CommitmentsofTraders/ExplanatoryNotes/index.htm).

Article by CountingPips.com

 

 

S&P500 Speculators raised bullish bets to a long net position last week

By CountingPips.comGet our weekly COT Reports by Email

S&P500 Non-Commercial Positions:

Large speculators and traders increased their bets for the S&P500 stock futures markets last week and turned net bullish after registering the first bearish net position since September the previous week, according to the latest Commitment of Traders (COT) data released by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Friday.

The non-commercial futures contracts of S&P500 futures, traded by large speculators and hedge funds, totaled a net position of 1,289 contracts in the data reported through February 14th. This was a weekly gain of 2,977 contracts from the previous week which had a total of -1,688 net contracts.

Speculators had cut their bets for the S&P500 futures for the previous eight weeks in a row and into net bearish territory for the first time since September 13th before last week’s turnaround.

S&P500 Commercial Positions:

Meanwhile, the commercial traders position, categorized by the CFTC as hedgers or traders engaged in buying and selling for business purposes, totaled a net position of -3,708 contracts last week. This was a weekly gain of 1,191 contracts from the total net of -4,899 contracts reported the previous week.

S&P500 Stock Market Index:

Over the same weekly reporting time-frame, from Tuesday to Tuesday, the S&P500 index closed at approximately 2,337.58 which was a change of 44.50 from the previous close of 2,293.08, according to market data.

*COT Report: The COT data, released weekly to the public each Friday, is updated through the previous Tuesday (data is 3 days old) and shows a quick view of how large speculators or non-commercials (for-profit traders) as well as the commercial traders (hedgers & traders for business purposes) were positioned in the futures markets. The CFTC categorizes trader positions according to commercial hedgers (traders who use futures contracts for hedging as part of the business), non-commercials (large traders who speculate to realize trading profits) and nonreportable traders (usually small traders/speculators). Find CFTC criteria here: (http://www.cftc.gov/MarketReports/CommitmentsofTraders/ExplanatoryNotes/index.htm).

Article by CountingPips.com