Global Market Comments
September 28, 2020
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(MARKET OUTLOOK FOR THE WEEK AHEAD, or DID THE ELECTION OR COVID JUST HIT THE STOCK MARKET?),
(SPY), (TLT), (GLD), (TSLA), (UUP)
Posts
Global Market Comments
September 21, 2020
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(MARKET OUTLOOK FOR THE WEEK AHEAD, or HERE’S THE BLACK SWAN FOR 2020),
(SPY), (INDU), (TSLA), (JPM), (TLT), (C),
(V), (GLD), (AAPL), (AMZN), (UUP)
Global Market Comments
August 18, 2020
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(HOW TO HEDGE YOUR CURRENCY RISK),
(FXA), (UUP),
Global Market Comments
July 17, 2020
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(JULY 15 BIWEEKLY STRATEGY WEBINAR Q&A),
(EEM), (GLD), (GDX), (NEM), (GOLD), (UUP), (FXA), (FXE), (FXY), (AMZN), (AAPL), (GOOGL), (FB), (BIDU), (TLT), (TBT), (IBB), (ROM)
Below please find subscribers’ Q&A for the July 15 Mad Hedge Fund Trader Global Strategy Webinar broadcast from Lake Tahoe, NV with my guest and co-host Bill Davis of the Mad Day Trader. Keep those questions coming!
Q: Do you expect foreign equities to begin to outperform US equities sometime soon?
A: I expect them to outperform imminently simply because Europe did their shutdown properly, a total shutdown, and got rid of the virus, so their economy and schools are opening. We did a partial shutdown, some states did not shut down at all, and as a result, the epidemic is on fire here, and our shutdown will have to last an extra six months to a year. So that means you’ll probably want to be rotating out of US stocks and into emerging stocks, and the (EEM) is the ETF to go with there.
Q: Would you buy gold LEAPS at this point?
A: Normally, I say only buy LEAPS on capitulation selloffs like we had in March. We actually put out 25 LEAP recommendations on the long side in tech and biotech in March and they all proved spectacular winners. However, at this point, gold is just short of an all-time high; if you break the high you could get a $500 or $1,000 move very quickly to the upside. If you want to do LEAPS, I would go out one year, I would go fairly close to the money, something like a $200-$210 LEAP in the (GLD) ETF. Your much bigger bang, by the way, would be to do LEAPS on the individual stocks; go 10% or 20% out of the money, you might make 100%-200% on those and the stocks to do there would be Newmont Mining (NEM) and Barrick Gold (GOLD).
Q: Would the US or any other country consider backing their currency with gold?
A: Absolutely not. We went off the gold standard in 1972 for a reason. That’s because they're not making it anymore; there isn't enough gold to support growth in a global economy. On the other hand, a supply of paper is unlimited, and that's why we've had such terrific economic growth since we’ve gone off the gold standard.
Q: I’m seeing some really great deals in energy. Should I get involved?
A: Absolutely not. Don’t confuse “gone down a lot” with “cheap.” We think the oil business is long term going out of business. It can't compete with alternatives and electric cars; the economics for investing in a non-scalable energy form just are not there. It’s like asking an analog adding machine to compete with a computer.
Q: Is it too late to sell the US dollar or the Invesco DB US Dollar Index Bullish Fund ETF (UUP)?
A: No, we’re only in the very early stages of the collapse of the US dollar, so you want to be buying all of the nondollar ETFs like the Australian dollar (FXA), the euro (FXE), and the Japanese yen (FXY). Massive over issuance of currency will destroy its value, that’s one of the seminal lessons of currency markets. The US is not immune to that.
Q: Biotech is getting overheated here—should I buy the rumor, sell the news?
A: We’re also just in the opening stages of the biotech golden age. Even if they cure corona tomorrow, there are another 100 diseases they will cure over the next 10 years using all of the new advanced technology that has just been developed, like gene editing, monoclonal antibodies, and quantum computers. It’s another reason to subscribe to the Mad Hedge Biotech and Healthcare Letter for $1,500 a year (click here).
Q: I see Bill Gross is bullish on value stocks—would you go with that view?
A: No, leave the value stocks for Bill Gross. He's semi-retired and hasn’t been as good on the stock market lately as he used to be, as much as he is a dear friend. This is a chasing-a-winner type market. I would wait for value stocks. You could die a long horrible death by the time value stocks turn around so I would avoid them. Go for earnings growth, that’s the only thing that counts in the future.
Q: What would you recommend as a portfolio starter?
A: I would recommend 100% cash. I know you don’t want to hear that you should keep cash if you just bought an expensive trade alert service, but the fact is the risk now is the highest it’s been in years. I only add new trade at market sweet spots, and you don’t get those every day of the year. I will send you an alert if I see a low-risk high-return trade. Wait for the summer correction—that will set up another bet-the-ranch opportunity. Don’t worry about trade alerts, we’ll be doing about 400 of them this year, but they do tend to come in bunches at market bottoms and market tops.
Q: Do American companies have much of a chance against Chinese tech?
A: The US has an overwhelming lead, which will probably increase at an exponential rate. I think the threat of Chinese tech is vastly overstated by the administration. They needed an enemy to protect us from to stick around. The reality is that the US is so far ahead it’s unbelievable; that’s the reason they steal our technology. And they only have leads in very specific areas, such as surveillance of large populations. I wouldn’t worry too much about tech—if the Chinese really had a lead on tech, would Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), Alphabet (GOOGL), Facebook (FB) all be going to new highs every day, while Baidu (BIDU) lagged?
Q: Should we close out the Regeneron call spread?
A: At this point, we’re so far in the money I would just wait two more days and it will expire at its maximum $10 value, and you can avoid all the fees. You’ll end up making $1,600 or 16.28% 15 trading days.
Q: Presidential candidate Joe Biden has just had a huge surge in the polls in battleground states. Will he be damaging to the market?
A: No, ever since he started his rise in the polls, the stock market has been rising almost every day, and that’s even after announcing in advance that he’s going to raise corporate taxes from 21% to 28%. He’s also going to eliminate the carried interest, which should have been eliminated a long time ago. I imagine there will be some super punitive Roosevelt style 90% tax on net taxable income over a billion dollars—a real billionaire’s punishment tax, as they’ve basically made all the money for the last 30 years. The stock market is voting with confidence for the future Biden government, who am I to disagree? The market is always right.
Q: Will gold hit a new high?
A: Yes, I think we will have a new high in a couple of weeks. That's why I said it’s a rare case when you actually buy LEAPS in a rising market, especially if you go one or two years out. Guess where gold will be in two years? My bet is $3,000, so a $200/$210 LEAP in the (GLD) could bring in a 1,000% return, The overwhelming fundamentals are in favor of gold. I'll keep hammering away at that in the newsletter.
Q: I only trade stocks; how can I take advantage of your recommendations?
A: First of all, buy the stocks. Second, you can buy stocks on margin, which gives you double exposure. Third, there are many 2X ETFs on the stocks or sectors we recommend, like the (TBT), which you can also trade in a stock account. For example, for biotech, you can get your exposure there through the (IBB), and through tech, you can buy the 2X (ROM); but I wouldn’t buy it today because it is too high. In fact, only about 25% of our followers do options, the rest trade stocks or use it to manage their own long-term portfolios.
Q: Will we hit 0% yielding US Treasuries (TLT)?
A: Probably not, that move is behind us. We got down to a 31 basis points yield at the lows. Now, massive oversupply from the US government will be the primary factor dictating Treasury prices, and that means going down a lot.
Good Luck and Stay Healthy
John Thomas
CEO & Publisher
The Diary of a Mad Hedge Fund Trader
Global Market Comments
June 24, 2020
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(HOW TO HEDGE YOUR CURRENCY RISK),
(FXA), (UUP),
(TESTIMONIAL)
Global Market Comments
June 15, 2020
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(MARKET OUTLOOK FOR THE WEEK AHEAD, or WAITING FOR MY SUGAR CUBE),
(SPY), (INDU), (UUP), (GLD), (TLT), (HTZ), (TSLA)
I was born in the middle of a pandemic.
It was polio, and in the early 1950s, it was claiming 150,000 kids a year just in the US. You know polio. You’ve seen the pictures of the kids with withered legs or living in iron lungs, the ventilators of their day.
My mom contracted polio in the 1930s and spent a year in quarantine. They didn’t understand then that the virus was in the drinking water.
She lost the use of her legs for a time. My grandfather’s cure was to take her hiking in the High Sierras every weekend to rebuild her muscles. During WWII, he had to buy gas coupons on the black market to make the round trip from LA to Yosemite.
It worked well enough for mom to earn a scholarship to USC where she met my dad, a varsity football player. By the time I came along, Jonas Salk discovered a vaccine, which was infused into a sugar cube and given to me at the Santa Anita Racetrack along with tens of thousands of others. It was one of the big events of American history.
Some 70 years later, I am maintaining the family tradition, forcing my kids out on backpacks a couple of times a week, they're moaning and complaining all the way.
It looks like the first wave of the Corona pandemic isn’t even over yet. That’s why the Dow Average managed to puke out some 10% in days.
So, here is the conundrum: How much can we take the market down in the face of the greatest monetary and fiscal stimulus in history. Some $9 trillion has already been spent and there is at least another $5 trillion behind it.
My bet is a few more thousand points down to 24,000 but not much more than that. If this turns into a rout and a retest of the lows, the Fed will simply turn on the presses and print more money. After all, the marching orders from the top are to keep stocks high into the election, whatever the cost.
One of the reasons we are seeing such wild swings in the market is that the market itself doesn’t know what it’s worth. That’s because this is the most artificially manipulated market in history, thanks to the government stimulus, 20 times what we saw in 2008-2009.
Stocks can’t figure out if they are worthless, or worth infinity, and we are wildly whipsawing back and forth between two extremes.
Take that stimulus away and the Dow Average would be worth 14,000 or less. Stimulus will go away someday, and when it goes away, there will be a big hit to the market. It’s anyone’s guess as to timing. Ask the Covid-19 virus.
We have seen countless market gurus being wrong about this market, many of whom are old friends of mine. That’s because they, like I, see the long-term damage being wrought to the economy. Recovering 80% of what we lost will be easy. The last 20% will be a struggle.
That alone amounts to one of the worst recessions we have ever seen. This is going to be a loooong recovery. Some forecasters don’t expect US GDP to recover to the 2019 level of $21.43 trillion until 2025.
In the meantime, the national debt is soaring, now at $26 trillion, and will soon become a major drag on the economy. The budget deficit alone this year is now pegged at an eye-popping $3 trillion, the largest in history.
The S&P 500 turned positive on the year for a whole day. It’s been an amazing move, the largest in history in the shortest time, some 47% in ten weeks. NASDAQ hit my year-end target of $10,000, then immediately gave back 10%.
The problem now is that stocks are still the most overbought in history and risk is the highest since January. Much trading is now dominated by newly minted day traders chasing bankrupt stocks like Hertz (HTZ) with their $1,200 stimulus check. Far and away, the better trade is to sell short bonds. After that, buy gold (GLD) and sell short the US Dollar (UUP).
Stocks then dove 7.4% on second wave fears as US cases top 2 million and deaths exceeded 114,000. Jay Powell says he won’t raise interest rates until 2023 at the earliest. The “reopening” stocks of airlines, hotels, and cruise lines are leading the downturn from crazy overbought levels.
Houston may have to close down again, in the wake of soaring Corona cases after a too early reopening. Other cities will follow. Cases in Arizona are also hitting new highs. It’s not what the market wanted to hear.
Weekly Jobless Claims hit 1.54 million, at a falling rate, but still at horrendous absolute levels. That’s better than last week’s 1.9 million. Some 20.9 million are still receiving state unemployment benefits, or 13.1% or the total workforce. These numbers certainly don’t justify a stock market near an all-time high.
The Fed expects Unemployment to remain stubbornly high, not falling to 9.3% by yearend. I think that’s highly optimistic. Some 20% of the 43 million lost jobs are never coming back, giving you an embedded U-6 rate of over 10%. It is easier and faster to fire people than to hire them back.
Election Poll numbers are starting to affect the market. Polls showing Trump 10%-14% points behind Joe Biden in the November presidential election opened stocks down 400 points on Monday. The betting polls in London are confirming these numbers.
The Republican leadership is jumping ship. A Biden win will bring higher corporate taxes, balanced budgets, less liquidity for the stock market, fewer Tweets, and clipped wings for the top 1%. Is this a trigger for the next market correction? We’ll find out in five months. When will stocks notice that?
Bond King Jeffrey Gundlach absolutely hates stocks, predicting we could take out the March lows. He believes the monster rally in big tech is unsustainable. The better trades are to sell short the US dollar (UUP) and to buy gold (GLD). I agree with much of this, but Geoff’s calls can take 6-12 months to come true, so don’t hold your breath, or bet the ranch.
Tesla hit a new all-time high, as I expected, ticking at $1,220. An 11% price cut is boosting sales and market share, while (GM) and (F) are dying. The Model Y, which looks like the love child of a Model X and Tesla 3, is expected to be their biggest seller ever. This is one bubble stock that IS worth chasing. Buy (TSLA) dips up to $2,500. No kidding!
New Zealand became the first Corona-free country, with zero cases, so it can be done. An island country with all international flights grounded, aggressive social distancing restrictions, and an ambitious contract tracing, the land of kiwis had everything going for it. Most importantly, they had the right leadership that listened to scientists, which the worst-hit countries of Sweden, Brazil, and the US are sadly lacking.
The Mad Hedge June 4 Traders & Investors Summit recording is up. For those who missed it, I have posted all 9:15 hours of recordings of every speaker. This is a collection of some of the best traders and investors I have stumbled across over the past five decades. To find it please click here.
When we come out on the other side of this, we will be perfectly poised to launch into my new American Golden Age, or the next Roaring Twenties. With interest rates still at zero, oil at a cheap $34 a barrel, there will be no reason not to. The Dow Average will rise by 400% or more in the coming decade.
My Global Trading Dispatch performance took it on the nose last week. I got stopped out of my shorts at the market top, then took a hit on my bonds shorts. My 11-year performance stands at 360.61%.
That takes my 2020 YTD return up to a more modest +4.70%. This compares to a loss for the Dow Average of -12.2%, up from -37%. My trailing one-year return retreated to 44.88%. My eleven-year average annualized profit backed off to +34.34%.
The only numbers that count for the market are the number of US Coronavirus cases and deaths, which you can find here.
On Monday, June 15 at 12:00 PM EST, the June New York State Manufacturing Index is out.
On Tuesday, June 16 at 12:30 PM EST, US Retail Sales for May are released.
On Wednesday, June 17 at 8:15 AM EST, Housing Starts for May are announced.
At 10:30 AM EST, the EIA Cushing Crude Oil Stocks are published.
On Thursday, June 18 at 8:30 AM EST, Weekly Jobless Claims are announced.
On Friday, June 19 at 2:00 PM EST, the Baker Hughes Rig Count is out.
As for me, I am waiting for my sugar cube.
In the meantime, I will spend the weekend carefully researching the recreational vehicle market. If everything goes perfectly, a Covid-19 vaccine will be not available to the general public for at least two years.
Until then, my travel will be limited to the distance I can drive. Travel while social distancing with my own three-man “quaranteam” will be the only safe way to go.
When the New York Times highlights it, as they did this weekend, it’s got to be a major new thing.
Stay healthy.
John Thomas
CEO & Publisher
The Diary of a Mad Hedge Fund Trader
Yosemite in 1942
Global Market Comments
March 24, 2020
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(TEN SIGNS THE MARKET IS BOTTOMING),
(FXI), (BRK/A), (BA), (DAL), (SPX),
(INDU), (UUP), (VIX), (VXX), (AAPL)
I spent the morning calling some big hedge fund friends asking what they are looking for to indicate the market may be bottoming. I’ll give you a warning right now. None of the traditional fundamental or technical measures have any validity in this market.
Markets will need to see at least one, and maybe all of these before they launch into a sustainable recovery. The good news is that several have already happened and are flashing green.
1) Watch New Corona Cases in China
The pandemic started in China and it will end in China (FXI). The president of China, Xi Jinping, has already announced that the epidemic is over and that the country is returning to normal. The country is donating thousands of respirators and millions of masks to Europe and poor countries all over the world. China was able to enforce a quarantine far more severe than possible in the West, such as using the army to surround 60 million people for a month. So, the results in the Middle Kingdom may not be immediately transferable to the US.
If we do get an actual fall in the number of cases in China, that could indicate the end is near. To keep track, click here.
2) Watch Corona Cases in Italy
Italy quarantined two weeks before California so we should get an earlier answer there. The numbers are reliable, but we don’t know the true extent of their quarantine. After all, this is Italy. Also, Italy has a much older population than the US (that Mediterranean diet keeps Italians alive forever), so they will naturally suffer a higher death rate. However, a decline in cases there will be proof that a western-style shelter-in-place order will work. To keep track, click here.
3) Watch Corona Cases in California
The Golden State was the first to quarantine ten days ago, so it will be the first American state to see cases top out. On Monday, we were at 1,733 cases and 27 deaths, or one in 1.5 million. However, it is a partial quarantine at best, with maybe half of the 20 million workforce staying home. When our cases top out, which should be the week of April 13, it could be an indication that the epidemic is flagging. To keep track, click here.
4) Watch Washington
Passage of a Corona Economic Recovery Bill could take place as early as Friday and could be worth $2 trillion. Add in the massive stimulus provided by the Federal Reserve, a large multiple of the 2008-2009 efforts, and $10 trillion is about to hit the economy. Warning: don’t be short an economy that is about to be hit with $10 trillion worth of stimulus.
5) Watch the Technicals.
Yes, technicals may be worthless now but someday in the future, they won’t be. The stock market has traded 20% below the 200-day moving average only four times in the last century. The Dow Average (INDU) was 32% below the 200-day moving average at the Monday low. The next rip-your-face off short-covering rally is imminent and may initially target that down 20% level at $21,496, or 18% above the Monday low.
6) Watch for the Big Buy
Value players are back in the market for the first time in six years, the last time the S&P 500 (SPX) traded at a discount to its historical 15.5X earnings multiple and are circling targets like hungry sharks. Watch for Warren Buffet of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK/A) to buy a large part of a trophy property, like a major bank or airline. He’s already stepped up his ownership in Delta Airlines (DAL). I’m sure he’s going over the books of Boeing (BA). Warren might even buy back his own stock at a discount to net asset value, down 31.4% in a month. Any move by Warren will signal confidence to the rest of the markets.
7) Watch the US Dollar
With US overnight interest rates having crashed by 1.5% in recent weeks, the US dollar (UUP) should be the weakest currency in the world. The greenback overnight became a zero-yielding currency. Instead, it has been the strongest, rocketing on a gigantic global flight to safety bid. When the foreign exchange rates return to rationality, the buck should weaken, as it has already started to do after last week’s super spike. A weak dollar will be good for American companies and their stocks.
8) Watch the (VIX)
We now know that the Volatility Index (VIX), (VXX) was artificially boosted last week by hundreds of short players covering positions with gigantic losses and going bust. Now that this is washed out, I expect volatility to decline for the rest of 2020. It has already fallen from $80 to $49 in days. This is a precursor to a strong stock market.
9) Watch the Absolute Value of the Market
There could be a magic number beyond which prices can’t fall anymore. That could be yesterday’s 18,000, 17,000, or 15,000. Some 80% of all US stocks are owned by long term holders who never sell, like pension funds, corporate crossholdings, or individuals who have owned them for decades and don’t want to pay the capital gains tax. When the ownership of that 20% is shifted to the 80%, the market runs out of sellers and stocks can’t fall anymore. That may have already happened. Similarly, a final capitulation selloff of market leaders, like Apple (AAPL) may also be a sign that the bear market is ending. (AAPL) is off 34.40% since February.
10) Watch John Thomas
I am watching all of the above 24/7. So rather than chase down all these data points every day, just watch for my next trade alert. I am confined to my home office for the duration, probably for months, so I have nothing else to do. No trips to Switzerland, the Taj Mahal, or the Great Pyramids of Egypt for me this year. It will just be nose to the grindstone.
Stay Healthy and we’ll back a killing on the back nine.
John Thomas
