Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Chicago PMI ... Consumer Confidence … Coronavirus (Covid-19) … Stock Market Analysis … ETF Trading … Dow 30 Ranking

“Trade what you see; not what you think.” – The Old Fool, Richard McCranie, trader extraordinaire.

 

“People always ask me what is going on in the markets. It is simple. Greatest Speculative Bubble of All Time in All Things. By two orders of magnitude.” – Michael “Big Short” Burry.

CHICAGO PMI (Advisor Perspectives)

“The Chicago Business BarometerTM, produced with MNI, fell to 66.8 in August, the lowest reading since June after climbing to a two-month high in July. Order backlogs rose sharply while production sank. Firms say the available supply of raw materials and workers isn’t sufficient to keep up with new orders.” Commentary and charts at...

https://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/2021/08/31/chicago-pmi-fell-in-august

 

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE (Conference Board via prnewswire)

“The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index® declined in August, following a decrease in July (a downward revision)... "Consumer confidence retreated in August to its lowest level since February 2021 (95.2)," said Lynn Franco, Senior Director of Economic Indicators at The Conference Board. "Concerns about the Delta variant—and, to a lesser degree, rising gas and food prices—resulted in a less favorable view of current economic conditions and short-term growth prospects...it is too soon to conclude this decline will result in consumers significantly curtailing their spending in the months ahead." Story at...

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/consumer-confidence-fell-in-august-to-lowest-level-since-february-301366221.html

 

THE NEXT STEP IN COVID VACCINES MAY BE THROUGH THE NOSE (Smithsonian Magazine)

“...The existing vaccines achieve systemic immunity by spurring the production of antibodies called immunoglobulin G, or IgG and killer T cells. These cells and proteins are highly effective at neutralizing the virus before seriously damaging our key organs. But to prevent the virus from entering into the body in the first place, scientists likely need to target the mucosal system. The moist tissue lining the nasal and mouth are part of the mucosal system, which stretches from there all the way through the gastrointestinal and reproductive tracts...Injected Covid-19 vaccines don’t appear to elicit much of an antibody response in the mucosa, says Michal Tal, an immunologist at Stanford University and team lead of the Stanford Saliva Study - an effort to track antibodies that are secreted in saliva from people who have been vaccinated. Many people who have been naturally infected with Covid-19 seem to create a mucosal immune response early in the infection, but for those relying on a vaccine to build their immunity, an intranasal vaccine may provide a necessary IgA supplement to their systemic immunity.” Story at...

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-scientists-are-working-intranasal-vaccines-combat-covid-19-180977478/

My cmt: Clearly, vaccines are not perfect, but they are better than nothing.  I have a friend of mine who chose not to get vaccinated.  He and his wife contracted Covid at an outdoor wedding in June along with 10 others (food was served inside). My friend’s wife has not recovered and may be a “long-hauler.” (An individual with lasting Covid symptoms.) My friend is only now recovering. The irony is that he is literally a rocket scientist and should have known better. Anti-vaxers make no sense to me.

 

Why get information from bogus websites when you could read real scientific studies on the subject?  For a more direct access to scientific papers and journals on any subject, use “Google Scholar” for your searches.   

 

CORONAVIRUS (NTSM)

Here’s the latest from the COVID19 Johns Hopkins website as of 4:00 PM Tuesday. U.S. total case numbers are on the left axis; daily numbers are on the right side of the graph in Red with the 10-dMA of daily numbers in Green.


MARKET REPORT / ANALYSIS

-Tuesday the S&P 500 slipped about 0.1% to 4523.

-VIX rose about 2% to 16.48.

-The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 1.308%.

 

Not much change today.  Indicators continue to improve slowly.

 

The daily sum of 20 Indicators improved from +1 to +2 (a positive number is bullish; negatives are bearish); the 10-day smoothed sum that smooths the daily fluctuations improved from -68 to -58. (These numbers sometimes change after I post the blog based on data that comes in late.) Most of these indicators are short-term and many are trend following.

 

The Long Term NTSM indicator ensemble remained HOLD. Price, Volume, VIX & Sentiment indicators are neutral.  

 

I moved my stock allocation back to my fully invested position of 50%, Monday.  I am cautiously bullish.  A top is coming, but not THE TOP.

 

MOMENTUM ANALYSIS:

TODAY’S RANKING OF 15 ETFs (Ranked Daily)

The top ranked ETF receives 100%. The rest are then ranked based on their momentum relative to the leading

ETF.

*For additional background on the ETF ranking system see NTSM Page at…

http://navigatethestockmarket.blogspot.com/p/exchange-traded-funds-etf-ranking.html

 

TODAY’S RANKING OF THE DOW 30 STOCKS (Ranked Daily)

Here’s the revised DOW 30 and its momentum analysis. The top ranked stock receives 100%. The rest are then ranked based on their momentum relative to the leading stock.

For more details, see NTSM Page at…

https://navigatethestockmarket.blogspot.com/p/a-system-for-trading-dow-30-stocks-my_8.html

 

TUESDAY MARKET INTERNALS (NYSE DATA)

Market Internals remained BULLISH on the market.

 

Market Internals are a decent trend-following analysis of current market action, but should not be used alone for short term trading. They are usually right, but they are often late.  They are most useful when they diverge from the Index. 

 

My stock-allocation is now about 50% invested in stocks; this is my “normal” 50% allocation.

 

You may wish to have a higher or lower % invested in stocks depending on your risk tolerance. 50% is a conservative position that I consider fully invested for most retirees.