A Long and Short-Term Bond Market Perspective, Part II

commodities, educational newsletters, jay kaeppel

In Part I here I laid out my main thoughts regarding the bond market.  The final point mentioned that two trading models for bonds that I follow are presently bullish.  So in Part II let’s bring those up-to-date.

#1. Japanese Stocks (EWJ) vs. Long-Term Treasuries (TLT)

I have written about this model on several occasions in the past (here, here and here).  But in a nutshell:

*The Japanese stock market (using ETF ticker EWJ as a proxy) and long-term U.S. treasury bonds (using ETF ticker TLT as a proxy) tend to have an inverse relationship over time.

Therefore:

*A bearish trend for EWJ (5-week moving average below 30-week moving average) tends to be bullish for bonds.

*A bullish trend for EWJ (5-week moving average above 30-week moving average) tends to be bearish for bonds.

Figure 1 displays the EWJ on top with TLT on the bottom.  Note the general inverse correlation in price movement.

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Figure 1 – T-Bonds (ticker TLT in bottom clip) tend to move inversely to Japanese stocks (ticker EWJ with 5-weel and 30-week moving averages in top clip) (Courtesy AIQ TradingExpert)

#2. Gold/Copper Ratio versus Bonds

I have written about this before here.  In a nutshell:

*The gold/copper ratio has a relatively high correlation to the price of t-bonds (current correlation coefficient = 0.73; a reading of 1.00 means they mirror each other, a reading of -1 means there are trade exactly inversely).

Figure 2 displays treasury bond futures prices (blue) versus the Gold/Copper Ratio (x10) since 2001.  The correlation is fairly obvious to the naked eye.

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Figure 2 – T-bond futures price (blue) versus Gold/Copper ratio (x10); 12/31/01-1/11/2019

*When the gold/copper ratio is in an uptrend (see here for how that designation is made) this indicator is considered bullish for bonds

*When the gold/copper ratio is in a downtrend this indicator is considered bearish for bonds

Putting the Two Together

*If either of the models is bullish that is considered bullish for bonds

*If both models are bearish that is considered very bearish for bonds

Figure 3 displays the gain or loss from holding a long position in a treasury bond futures contract depending on whether, a) neither model is bullish (red), or, b) one or more of the models is bullish (blue)

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Figure 3 – Cumulative $ gain (loss) from holding long t-bond futures if 1 or more model is bullish (blue) versus if neither model is bullish (red); 7/22/96-1/11/19

As you can see, a bullish reading in no way guarantees higher bond price and a bearish reading in no way guarantees lower bond price.  Still, given the stark differences between the performance of the blue line and the red line, that would seem to be the way to bet.

For what it is worth, both models detailed above are bullish at the moment.

Summary

*In Part I, I basically inferred a preference for short to intermediate term bonds for people who buy and hold bonds (or bond funds) as part of a longer-term investment strategy (if rates rise 1 percentage point, a 30-year bond paying 4% a year, will lose -15% in principal – too much risk from my perspective).

*At the same time, as highlighted here in Part II, long-term bonds can still offer outstanding trading opportunities both on the long side and the short side – for those inclined to play.

Jay Kaeppel

Disclaimer:  The data presented herein were obtained from various third-party sources.  While I believe the data to be reliable, no representation is made as to, and no responsibility, warranty or liability is accepted for the accuracy or completeness of such information.  The information, opinions and ideas expressed herein are for informational and educational purposes only and do not constitute and should not be construed as investment advice, an advertisement or offering of investment advisory services, or an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security.

All Eyes on Key Bellwether Support Levels

chart patterns, educational newsletters, jay kaeppel, Stock trading

First the reality.  Nobody knows what the market is going to do.  Yes, I am aware that there are roughly a bazillion people out there “prognosticating” (myself included) about the stock market.  And yes, if one makes enough “predictions”, the law of averages dictates that one will be correct a certain percentage of the time.

Still, the market does offer clues.  Sometimes those clues turn out to be false leads.  But sometimes they do offer important information.  For example, Figure 1 displays four major market indexes.  As you can see, in the Aug-Sep-Oct time frame all four of these averages “broke out” to new all-time highs (i.e., The Good News) and then broke back down below the previous resistance line drawn on each chart (i.e., The Bad News).

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Figure 1 – Four major indexes breakout then fail (Courtesy AIQ TradingExpert)

False breakouts happen all the time.  And the reality here is that sometimes they mean something and sometimes they don’t.  But when all four major average do the same thing, a warning sign has been issued to those who are interested in seeing it.  That’s why it can be useful to seek “confirmation”.  For my purposes I look to what I refer to as my 4 “bellwethers”, which are:

SMH – Semiconductors

TRAN – Dow Transportation Average

ZIV – Velocity Shares Inverse VIX Index

BID – Sotheby Holdings

These tickers appear in Figure 2 (click to enlarge).

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Figure 2 – Jay’s Market Bellwethers (Courtesy AIQ TradingExpert)

While the major indexes were testing new highs in Aug/Sep and then breaking down in October:

SMH – Never really came close to breaking out above its March high

TRAN – Followed the major indexes by hitting new highs in Aug/SP and then breaking down in October

ZIV – Never came anywhere close to its Jan-2018 high

BID – Broke to a new high in Jun/Jul, then failed badly.

In a nutshell, the failed major index breakouts were accompanied by absolutely no positive signs from the 4 bellwethers. So, the warning signs were there if one wished to see them.

So where are the bellwethers now?  Another close look at Figure 2 reveals that:

SMH – the key support level at 80.92

TRAN – the key level for the Dow Transports is 8744.36

ZIV – the key support level is 60.60

BID – a potential support level is 32.95 (the Apr 2013 low)

Summary

*Given the washed-out/oversold level that many indicators and sentiment surveys have reached…

*…Combined with the fact that we are in the seasonally favorable pre-election year (no down pre-election years since the 1930’s)

*There is a chance that 2019 could be surprisingly bullish, and shell-shocked investors should not stick their heads in the sand to the possibility.

At the same time:

*Based solely on trend-following indicators ALL of the major market indexes are technically in confirmed bear markets.  As a result, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having some portion of one’s capital in defensive positions at the moment (30% cash or short-term bonds?).

*Keep a close eye on January performance.  A bullish January would be a positive sign just as a negative January could – in this case – signal a continued market decline.

*Keep a close eye on the 4 Bellwethers relative to their respective support levels.

In a nutshell:

*Up January + Bellwethers holding above support = GOOD

*Down January + Bellwether breaking down below support = BAD

Those are all the “clues” I can offer at the moment.

Jay Kaeppel

Disclaimer:  The data presented herein were obtained from various third-party sources.  While I believe the data to be reliable, no representation is made as to, and no responsibility, warranty or liability is accepted for the accuracy or completeness of such information.  The information, opinions and ideas expressed herein are for informational and educational purposes only and do not constitute and should not be construed as investment advice, an advertisement or offering of investment advisory services, or an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security.

The 2018 updated SP500 Group and Sector

group and sector

The 2018 updated SP500 Group and Sector structure for TradingExpert Pro is now available


This completely updated structure is current through the end of December 2018. Many sectors and groups have been renamed by S&P and the new structure reflects these changes. The old SP500 structure in your program will be replaced if you choose to install the update. 

The complete install and further instructions are available at http://aiqsystems.com/sp500_update_2019.html


The SP500 structure in AIQ Charts and Data Manager showing new group and sector naming shown below

Weekly & Daily Stochastics

back testing, Stocks & Commodities traders tips, technical indicator

The AIQ code based on Vitali Apirine’s article in the September issue of Stocks and Commodities, “Weekly and Daily Stochastics, is provided below

Using Apirine’s weekly and daily stochastic indicators and a moving average to determine trend direction, I created an example system (long only) with the following rules:

Enter long next bar at open when all of the following are true:

  1. The 200-day simple average of the NDX is greater than the day before
  2. The 200-day simple average of the stock is greater than the day before
  3. Both the weekly and daily stochastic indicators have been below 20 in the last five days
  4. Both the weekly and daily stochastic indicators are greater than the day before.

I tested three exits. Figure 8 shows a 21-day hold then exit. Figure 9 shows a three-moving-average trend-following exit. Figure 10 shows an exit using only the weekly & daily stochastic, once both are lower than the day before.

Sample Chart

FIGURE 8: AIQ, BUY and HOLD. Here is the sample equity curve (blue) compared to the NDX (red) for the test using a 21-day hold exit.

Sample Chart

FIGURE 9: AIQ, TREND-FOLLOWING EXIT. Here is the sample equity curve (blue) compared to the NDX index (red) for the test using a trend-following exit.

Sample Chart

FIGURE 10: AIQ, W and D STOCHASTIC EXIT. Here is the sample equity curve (blue) compared to the NDX index (red) for the test using the weekly and daily stochastic indicators.

The 21-day hold test showed a 11.2% return with a maximum drawdown of 29.3%. The trend-following exit test showed a 17.6% return with a maximum drawdown of 28.8%. The test using an exit based on only the weekly and daily stochastic indicators showed a return of 2.9% with a maximum drawdown of 32.5%. All the tests used the same entry rule and were run on an old 2016 list of the NASDAQ 100 stocks with the stocks that are no longer trading deleted.

!WEEKLY AND DAILY STOCHASTIC
!Author: Vitali Apirine, TASC Sept 2018
!Coded by: Richard Denning 7/7/2018
!www.TradersEdgeSystems.com

!INPUTS:
Periods is 14.
Periods1 is 3.
Pds is 70. 
Pds1 is 3.
smaLen1 is 70.
exitType is 1.

!ABBREVIATIONS:
C is [close].
H is [high].
L is [low].

!INDICATOR CODE:
STOCD is (C-LOWRESULT(L,Periods))/(HIGHRESULT(H,Periods)-LOWRESULT(L,Periods))*100. 
SD is Simpleavg(Stocd,Periods1).
StocW is (C-LOWRESULT(L,Pds))/(HIGHRESULT(H,Pds)-LOWRESULT(L,Pds))*100.
SW is Simpleavg(Stocw,Pds1).
HD if hasdatafor(1000) >= 500.
SMA200 is simpleavg(C,200).
SMA200ndx is tickerUDF("NDX",SMA200).

!SYSTEM CODE:
Buy if SMA200ndx > valresult(SMA200ndx,1)
          and SMA200 > valresult(SMA200,1)
          and SW > valresult(SW,1) 
          and SD > valresult(SD,1) 
          and countof(SW < 20,5)>=1 
          and countof(SD < 20,5)>=1 
          and HD.
smaLen2 is smaLen1*2.
smaLen3 is smaLen1*4.
SMA1 is simpleavg(C,smaLen1).
SMA2 is simpleavg(C,smaLen2).
SMA3 is simpleavg(C,smaLen3).
PD is {position days}.

!EXIT TYPE 1 USES THE INDICATOR ONLY
!EXIT TYPE 2 IS TREND FOLLOWING
Sell if (SD < valresult(SD,1) and SW < valresult(SW,1) and exitType=1)
       or (exitType = 2 
           and ((Valresult(C,PD)valresult(SMA1,PD) And Cvalresult(SMA2,PD) And Cvalresult(SMA3,PD) And C 250)).

RSS is C/valresult(C,120).
RSL is C/valresult(C,240).

—Richard Denning

info@TradersEdgeSystems.com

for AIQ Systems

When to Buy Energy Stocks

back testing, educational newsletters, ETFS, jay kaeppel, Mutual funds

Crude oil and pretty much the entire energy sector has been crushed in recent months. This type of action sometimes causes investors to wonder if a buying opportunity may be forming.

The answer may well be, “Yes, but not just yet.”

Seasonality and Energy

Historically the energy sector shows strength during the February into May period.  This is especially true if the November through January period is negative.  Let’s take a closer look.

The Test

If Fidelity Select Energy (ticker FSENX) shows a loss during November through January then we will buy and hold FSENX from the end of January through the end of May.  The cumulative growth of $1,000 appears in Figure 1 and the yearly results in Figure 2.

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Figure 1 – Growth of $1,000 invested in FSENX ONLY during Feb-May ONLY IF Nov-Jan shows a loss

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Figure 2 – % + (-) from holding FSENX during Feb-May ONLY IF Nov-Jan shows a loss

Figure 3 displays ticker XLE (an energy ETF that tracks loosely with FSENX).  As you can see, at the moment the Nov-Jan return is down roughly -15%.

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Figure 3 – Ticker XLE (Courtesy AIQ TradingExpert)

All of this suggests remaining patient and not trying to pick a bottom in the fickle energy sector. If, however, the energy sector shows a 3-month loss at the end of January, history suggests a buying opportunity may then be at end.

Summary

Paraphrasing here – “Patience, ah, people, patience”.

Jay Kaeppel

Disclaimer:  The data presented herein were obtained from various third-party sources.  While I believe the data to be reliable, no representation is made as to, and no responsibility, warranty or liability is accepted for the accuracy or completeness of such information.  The information, opinions and ideas expressed herein are for informational and educational purposes only and do not constitute and should not be construed as investment advice, an advertisement or offering of investment advisory services, or an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security.