Woah. U.S. Financials Data Falls off a Cliff
Very choppy action this week in the markets. Is the selloff at an end? The Commitments of Traders data released Friday suggests it may not be. It's been warning of trouble for the last few weeks, and the latest COT report is no different. Some highlights:
- U.S. financials: Woah. Take a look at the data on my latest signals table for the BKX U.S. Bank Index, the benchmark for large U.S. financial players. It's fallen off a cliff. The total open interest for both large speculators and small traders - which correlates moderately with BKX the following week - has been dropping steadily since May 1, just before the beginning of this correction. And Friday's numbers are definitely no exception. As I pointed out in my post last week, we're now well into the longest stretch of declining large spec total open interest since Jan. 2009.
- S&P 500: The COT data last week sent my signal for the S&P 500 to cash with a three-week delay, meaning it will take effect June 14. Now, the "smart money" commercial hedgers - who in past testing were usually correctly positioned at key market turns - have reversed course and have gotten significantly more bullish. That's pushed the setup back into the bullish column, again with a three-week delay, meaning the setup will stay in cash for just a week, then go back to being long the week of June 21.
- Gold: My trading setup for gold goes to cash on next week's open of trading after two weeks being bullish. But the data in the latest COT report seems fairly bullish for bullion. In particular, the large spec total open interest, which had a 77-percent correlation with next week's bullion prices between 1995 and 2007, has just skyrocketed.
Hope you have a good weekend. Please check back in early next week for an update to my portfolio page.
TAGS: SPX, S&P 500, gold, BKX, Bank Index, natural gas, Nikkei, crude oil, Treasury, bond, COT, Commitments of Traders,derivatives, Black Swans, market timing, trading system development, CFTC,Commodity Futures Trading Commission,COTs Timer, out-of-sample testing, walk-around testing
- U.S. financials: Woah. Take a look at the data on my latest signals table for the BKX U.S. Bank Index, the benchmark for large U.S. financial players. It's fallen off a cliff. The total open interest for both large speculators and small traders - which correlates moderately with BKX the following week - has been dropping steadily since May 1, just before the beginning of this correction. And Friday's numbers are definitely no exception. As I pointed out in my post last week, we're now well into the longest stretch of declining large spec total open interest since Jan. 2009.
- Gold: My trading setup for gold goes to cash on next week's open of trading after two weeks being bullish. But the data in the latest COT report seems fairly bullish for bullion. In particular, the large spec total open interest, which had a 77-percent correlation with next week's bullion prices between 1995 and 2007, has just skyrocketed.
Hope you have a good weekend. Please check back in early next week for an update to my portfolio page.
TAGS: SPX, S&P 500, gold, BKX, Bank Index, natural gas, Nikkei, crude oil, Treasury, bond, COT, Commitments of Traders,derivatives, Black Swans, market timing, trading system development, CFTC,Commodity Futures Trading Commission,COTs Timer, out-of-sample testing, walk-around testing
