“Trade what you see; not what you think.” – The Old Fool, Richard McCranie, trader extraordinaire.
“President Biden forgot key facts about the economy, foreign policy and his time in public office during a sit-down interview with Time magazine last month — even mixing up Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Biden, 81, repeated a false claim that wage increases have outpaced inflation during his presidency, lowballed the amount of US foreign aid to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022 and overestimated both Japan’s defense spending and the population of Africa, according to a post-interview fact check by Time.” Story at...
Bumbling Biden forgets facts, mixes up Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin in disastrous Time interview (msn.com)
My cmt: This is just sad (and scary) that our President is failing.
“When President Biden met with congressional leaders in the West Wing in January to negotiate a Ukraine funding deal, he spoke so softly at times that some participants struggled to hear him, according to five people familiar with the meeting. He read from notes to make obvious points, paused for extended periods and sometimes closed his eyes for so long that some in the room wondered whether he had tuned out...
...Last year, when Biden was negotiating with House Republicans to lift the debt ceiling, his demeanor and command of the details seemed to shift from one day to the next, according to then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and two others familiar with the talks. On some days, he had loose and spontaneous exchanges with Republicans, and on others he mumbled and appeared to rely on notes.
‘I used to meet with him when he was vice president. I’d go to his house,” McCarthy said in an interview. “He’s not the same person.’” Story at...
Behind Closed Doors, Biden Shows Signs of Slipping - WSJ
My cmt: The Dems said this report was “partisan politics.” Perhaps, but anyone who heard Biden’s recent speech about restricting immigration this week, could clearly hear slurring that wasn’t there a few years ago.
“Private job creation slowed more than expected in May, according to a report Wednesday from ADP that signals further sluggishness in the labor market. The payroll processing firm said that companies added 152,000 jobs on the month...” Story at...
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/05/private-payrolls-growth-slows-to-152000-in-may-much-less-than-expected-adp-says.html
“Economic activity in the services sector grew in May after contracting in April for the first time since December 2022, say the nation's purchasing and supply executives in the latest Services ISM® Report On Business®. The Services PMI® registered 53.8 percent, indicating sector expansion for the 46th time in 48 months.” Press release at...
https://www.ismworld.org/supply-management-news-and-reports/reports/ism-report-on-business/services/may/
“U.S. commercial crude oil inventories (excluding those in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve) increased by 1.2 million barrels from the previous week. At 455.9 million barrels, U.S. crude oil inventories are about 4% below the five year average for this time of year.” Report at...
https://ir.eia.gov/wpsr/wpsrsummary.pdf
-Wednesday the S&P 500 rose about 1.2% to 5354.
-VIX declined about 4% to 12.63.
-The yield on the 10-year Treasury declined to 4.277%.
UWM – Added 5/2/2024
QLD – Added 4/29/2024
SSO – Added 4/29/2024.
XLE – Added 4/24/2024
XLK – Technology ETF (holding since the October 2022 lows). I don’t want to pay taxes on this gain, so I am holding this position.
“The Dow Jones U.S. Completion Total Stock Market Index, also known as the DWCPF, is a widely used financial index that provides a comprehensive measure of the US equity market. The DWCPF includes all US stocks that are not included in the Dow Jones US Total Stock Market Index, which comprises large-cap and mid-cap companies. As a result, the DWCPF provides a complete picture of the US stock market, including small-cap and micro-cap companies, which are often overlooked by other indexes.” From...
https://fi.money/blog/posts/what-is-dow-jones-u-s-completion-total-stock-market-index-dwcpf
The Bull/Bear Spread (Bull Indicators minus Bear Indicators) declined slightly, but remained near Neutral Wednesday. Today, there were 13 Bear-signs and 11-Bull. (The rest are neutral. It is normal to have a lot of neutral indicators since many of those are top or bottom indicators that will signal only at extremes.) The 10-dMA of spread (purple line in the chart below) continued down, but the rate of decline has been improving. A 10-dMA is going to lag the daily numbers.
The S&P 500 made a new all-time high today, but only 99 issues on the NYSE made new 52-week highs. That suggests a narrow advance so it is somewhat concerning. I won’t get too worked up yet. It may be just a holdover of weakness that we have seen for the last several weeks, but it is an important stat I will continue to follow closely.
(The Long-Term Indicator is not a good top-indicator. It can signal BUY at a top.)
I am neutral at this point watching the markets, but leaning bullish.
TODAY’S RANKING OF 15 ETFs (Ranked Daily) ETF ranking follows:
*For additional background on the ETF ranking system see NTSM Page at…
http://navigatethestockmarket.blogspot.com/p/exchange-traded-funds-etf-ranking.html
For more details, see NTSM Page at…
https://navigatethestockmarket.blogspot.com/p/a-system-for-trading-dow-30-stocks-my_8.html
