Market Timing update 10-28-20

It’s been a couple of months since we last looked at the Market Timing AI Expert System. Since that time the 400 rules that make up this AI system have generated a cluster of 3 down signals, followed by a buy signal and then most recently another down signal.

In this 7 minute video Steve Hill, CEO of AIQ Systems explores the signals and the confirmation techniques used to verfiy the ratings, together with the primary rules that fired.

Quick Market update video

The Expert System in TradingExpert Pro gave a 1 – 99 down signal on the Dow Jones on 8-27-20. The market internals based on the advancing vs declining issue in the New York market continue to diverge from the market price action.

The phase indicator used to confirm Expert Ratings turned down on 8-31-20. We usually look for a phase confirmation of an Expert Rating to occur within 3 days of the rating.

The changes made in the constituents of the Dow 30 effective 8-31-20

  • Salesforce.com replaced Exxon Mobil, Amgen replacedd Pfizer and Honeywell replaced Raytheon Technologies.
  • The changes were due to Apple’s 4-for-1 stock split, which significantly reduced the indexes exposure to the information technology sector.
  • The Dow 30 is a price weighted index.

Dow 30 MACD picture – Dotcom vs Covid

You may have seen some of the articles out there analyzing the skewed nature of the current market rally. As Joe Bartosiewicz in his August 8 Bartometer pointed out:

“The Top 15 Stocks in the S&P 500 account in Market Value 35% of the entire S&P 500 stock market. The Bottom 420 Stocks in the S&P 500 account in Market Value 33.8% of the entire S&P 500 stock market. This means that 15 stocks are controlling the entire S&P 500..”

The Dow Jones 30 index uses a price weighted criteria as part of it’s calculation, and also includes Apple; AAPL has more than doubled in price in under 5 months.

Given that there appears to be only a small basket of stocks leading this rally, we had a look back at the last time tech related stocks were driving the market higher; the dotcom bubble that ran through the 90s into the early 00s.

Monthly DJIA and MACD – left through 3/2002 – right through 10/2002

The first chart is a monthly of the Dow 30 with MACD indicator comparing the market 03/29//2002 as the dotcom bubble rolled over vs 7 months later. Students of divergence analysis, will tell you that MACD in late March 2002 clearly showed prices should be much lower still despite the @33 % rally from the September 2001 low. By late October 2002 the market had fallen again by @33%. At that time the market was close to @40% lower than the high at the start of 2000.

Monthly DJIA and MACD – left through 3/2002 – right through 8/2020

The second chart is a monthly of the Dow 30 on the right through 8/10/20 vs the rally peak of 03/29/2002. The current market has had a @50% rally from the low at the end of March 2020. The original correction was @37% from high to low, slightly bigger than the dotcom correction. The MACD, similar to 2002, is strongly diverging.

The decline in 2002, after the rally, took prices lower than the the prior bottom. If a similar pattern happens this time and the decline is @40% from the high of 29568, the Dow would at the 17700 level.

AIQ Market Timing update 6-28-20

This video on the Market Timing signals in AIQ is also applicable for our WinWayCharts TradingExpert Market Timing. Check it out.

Market volatility continues. In this update we’ll take a look at the current AI signals on the Dow Jones. For folks less familiar with our AI engine here’s a recap of what we do.

TradingExpert Pro uses two AI knowledge bases, one specifically designed to issue market timing signals and the other designed to issue stock timing signals.

Each contains approximately 400 rules, but only a few “fire” on any given day.  In the language of expert systems, those rules that are found to be valid on a particular day are described as having “fired”.

Rules can fire in opposite directions.  When this happens, the bullish and bearish rules fight it out.  It’s only when bullish rules dominate that the Expert Rating signal is bullish, or when bearish rules dominate that the Expert Rating signal is bearish.

The Expert Rating consists of two values.

The upside rating is the value on the left and the downside rating is on the right.  Expert Ratings are based on a scale of 0 to 100.  An Expert Rating of 95 to 100 is considered a strong signal that the Stock or market may change direction.

An Expert Rating below 90 is considered meaningless.  A low rating means that there is not enough consistency in the rules that fired to translate to a signal.  The expert system has not found enough evidence to warrant a change from the last strong signal.

March and April to the Rescue?

Well that got ugly quick.  For the record, if you have been in the markets for any length of time you have seen this kind of action plenty of times.  An index, or stock, or commodity or whatever, trends and trends and trend steadily and relentlessly higher over a period of time.  And just when it seems like its going to last forever – BAM.  It gives back all or much of its recent rally gains very quickly.  Welcome to the exciting world of investing.

I make no claims of “calling the top” – because I never have actually (correctly) called one and I don’t expect that I ever will.  But having written Part I and Part II of articles titled “Please Take a Moment to Locate the Nearest Exit” in the last week, I was probably one of the least surprised people at what transpired in the stock market in the last few sessions.

Of course the question on everyone’s lips – as always in this type of panic or near panic situation – is, “where to from here?”  And folks if I knew the answer, I swear I would tell you.  But like everyone else, I can only assess the situation, formulate a plan of action – or inaction, as the case may be – and act accordingly.  But some random thoughts:

*Long periods of relative calm followed by extreme drops are more often than not followed by periods of volatility.  So, look for a sharp rebound for at least a few days followed by another downdraft and so on and so forth, until either:

a) The market bottoms out and resumes an uptrend

b) The major indexes (think Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, Russell 2000) drop below their 200-day moving averages.  As of the close on 2/25 both the Dow and the Russell 2000 were below their 200-day moving average.  That would set up another a) or b) scenario.

If the major indexes break below their long-term moving averages it will either:

a) End up being a whipsaw – i.e., the market reverses quickly to the upside

b) Or will be a sign of more serious trouble

The main point is that you should be paying close attention in the days and weeks ahead to the indexes in Figure 1.

Figure 1 – Major indexes with 200-day moving averages (Courtesy WinWayCharts TradingExpert)

One Possible Bullish Hope

One reason for potential optimism is that the two-month period of March and April has historically been one of the more favorable two-month periods on an annual basis.  Figure 2 displays the cumulative price gain achieved by the S&P 500 Index ONLY during March and April every year since 1945.  The long-term trend is unmistakable, but year-to-year results can of course, vary greatly.

Figure 2 – S&P 500 cumulative price gain March-April ONLY (1945-2019)

For the record:

S&P 500 March-April Result
Number of times UP 55 (73%)
Number of times DOWN 20 (27%)
Average UP% +5.0%
Average DOWN% (-3.4%)

Figure 3 – Facts and Figures

Will March and April bail us out?  Here’s hoping.

As an aside, this strategy is having a great week so far.

Jay Kaeppel

Disclaimer: The information, opinions and ideas expressed herein are for informational and educational purposes only and are based on research conducted and presented solely by the author.  The information presented does not represent the views of the author only and does not constitute a complete description of any investment service.  In addition, nothing presented herein should be construed as investment advice, as an advertisement or offering of investment advisory services, or as an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security.  The data presented herein were obtained from various third-party sources.  While the data is believed 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.  International investments are subject to additional risks such as currency fluctuations, political instability and the potential for illiquid markets.  Past performance is no guarantee of future results.  There is risk of loss in all trading.  Back tested performance does not represent actual performance and should not be interpreted as an indication of such performance.  Also, back tested performance results have certain inherent limitations and differs from actual performance because it is achieved with the benefit of hindsight.

Please Take a Moment to Locate the Nearest Exit (Part II)

To put this piece in context please refer to Part I here.

Part I detailed the Good News (the stock market is still very much in a bullish trend and may very well continue to be for some time) and touched on one piece of Bad News (the market is overvalued on a long-term valuation basis).

The Next Piece of Bad News: The “Early Lull”

In my book, Seasonal Stock Market Trends, I wrote about something called the Decennial Pattern, that highlights the action of the stock market in a “typical” decade.

The Four Parts of the “Typical Decade” are:

The Early Lull: Market often struggles in first 2.5 years of a decade

The Mid-Decade Rally: Market typically rallies in the middle of a decade – particularly between Oct 1 Year “4” and Mar 31 Year “6”

The 7-8 Decline: Market often experiences a sharp decline somewhere in the Year “7” to Year “8” period

The Late Rally: Market often rallies strongly into the end of the decade.

Figure 1 – 1980-1989 (Courtesy WinWayCharts TradingExpert)

Figure 2 – 1990-1999 (Courtesy WinWayCharts TradingExpert)

Figure 3 – 2000-2009 (Courtesy WinWayCharts TradingExpert)

Figure 4 – 2010-2019 (Courtesy WinWayCharts TradingExpert)

We are now in the “Early Lull” period.  This in no way “guarantees” trouble in the stock market in the next two years.  But it does offer a strong “suggestion”, particularly when we focus only on decades since 1900 that started with an Election Year (which is where we are now) – 1900, 1920, 1940, 1960, 1980, 2000.

(See this article for a more detailed discussion)

As you can see in Figures 5 and 6, each of these 6 2.5-year decade opening periods witnessed a market decline – -14% on average and -63% cumulative.  Once again, no guarantee that 2020 into mid 2022 will show weakness, but….. the warning sign is there

Figure 5 – Dow price performance first 2.5 years of decades that open with a Presidential Election Year (1900-present)

Figure 6 – Cumulative Dow price performance first 2.5 years of decades that open with a Presidential Election Year (1900-present)

Summary

Repeating now: the trend of the stock market is presently “Up”.

Therefore:

*The most prudent thing to do today is to avoid all of the “news generated” worry and angst and enjoy the trend.

*The second most prudent thing to do is to acknowledge that this up trend will NOT last forever, and to prepare – at least mentally – for what you will do when that eventuality transpires, i.e., take a moment to locate the nearest exit.

Stay tuned for Part III

Jay Kaeppel

Disclaimer: The information, opinions and ideas expressed herein are for informational and educational purposes only and are based on research conducted and presented solely by the author.  The information presented does not represent the views of the author only and does not constitute a complete description of any investment service.  In addition, nothing presented herein should be construed as investment advice, as an advertisement or offering of investment advisory services, or as an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security.  The data presented herein were obtained from various third-party sources.  While the data is believed 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.  International investments are subject to additional risks such as currency fluctuations, political instability and the potential for illiquid markets.  Past performance is no guarantee of future results.  There is risk of loss in all trading.  Back tested performance does not represent actual performance and should not be interpreted as an indication of such performance.  Also, back tested performance results have certain inherent limitations and differs from actual performance because it is achieved with the benefit of hindsight.

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