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By Jani Ziedins | End of Day Analysis
Free After-Hours Analysis:
Tuesday turned into a decent day for the S&P 500. While the index only gained a modest 0.5%, more important is Monday’s selling didn’t continue. At least for the moment, the market seems to be finding its footing near 3,425 support.
The big talking point continues to be the next round of Covid stimulus. Nancy Pelosi put a Tuesday deadline in order to pass something before the election. While that now seems unlikely, a few days here or there doesn’t matter that much to the market. More important is a deal gets done and so far all things are pointing in that direction, even if it turns out a little delayed.
That said, I don’t think the market is placing a lot of emphasis on these stimulus negotiations anyway. If it was, we would see far larger swings following these deal/no-deal headlines. While a 1% pop or drop feels like a big deal in the moment, this is more meaningless noise than the catalyst for the next big directional breakout or breakdown.
The market is expecting something around $2T in stimulus. If it doesn’t happen today, then it will come shortly after the election. If it gets delayed into next year, that is most likely because Democrats won the election and Republicans are dragging their feet. But even a multi-month delay isn’t that bad for stocks because a Democrat-led stimulus will almost certainly be larger than anything allowed by Republicans today. The stimulus could be late, but the size will more than make up for it.
No matter what happens, there seems to be more upside than downside as everything turns out less bad than feared. The election will go off without a hitch. Our politicians lack the will to lock the country down again. And more stimulus is coming. All of those things are near-term bullish for stocks.
That said, anything could happen over the near-term and that includes a pullback under 3,425 support. But Monday’s dip to could easily be “close enough” to check that box and the market never looks back. If the index trades well Wednesday, all is forgotten and forgiven. If we get another dip under Monday’s lows, prices will most likely undercut 3,400, even if just momentarily. As soon as the index retakes 3,400, that is our signal to jump back. As always, start small, get in early, keep a nearby stop, and only add to something that is working.
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By Jani Ziedins | End of Day Analysis
Free After-Hours Analysis:
Monday started off well enough after the S&P 500 rallied nearly 20 points shortly after the open. Unfortunately, that was as good as it got. By the end of the session, prices had retreated 75-points from those early highs in the biggest single-day decline in nearly a month.
As ugly as Monday looked, it shouldn’t surprise anyone. Stocks were approaching the old highs and some near-term resistance was inevitable. Cognitively everyone knows markets move in waves, yet people are still surprised every time stocks take a near-term step back.
Hopefully, everyone who bought September’s bounce was following this rebound with a trailing stop and were able to lock-in some really nice profits over the last few days. If a person bought September’s rebound using a 3x ETF, they locked-in a pretty easy 20% gain over the last few weeks. Not bad.
The key to buying dips is starting small, getting in early, keeping a nearby stop, and only adding to what is working. Even if we got shaken out in September’s first couple of failed bounces, our losses were small and easily offset by riding this 300-point wave higher.
As always, the key is being willing to act when everyone else is afraid of making a mistake. Fortune favors the bold.
As for what comes next, we could see some near-term weakness, especially if our politicians fail to agree on a Covid stimulus bill this week. But if we’re in cash, the lower we go now, the better. It means we make even more money buying the next bounce. That said, unfortunately, I’m not expecting prices to fall a lot further. The market will most likely remain rangebound leading up to the election and the next big trade won’t happen until November.
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By Jani Ziedins | Weekly Analysis
Free Weekly Analysis:
The S&P 500 finished the week higher by nearly 4%, giving us the biggest weekly gain in several months. Not bad for a market that many people had given up for dead little more than two weeks ago.
As I’ve been saying for a while, this is a volatile market and that means big moves in both directions. Markets love symmetry and as quickly as prices fell in early September, we should have expected an equally impressive rebound. An 8% advance from the lows in little more than two weeks is not something we see very often. Hopefully, most readers recognized this strength early and find themselves sitting on a nice pile of profits.
As I often remind people, no matter what we believe, our plan always needs to account for the possibility we are wrong. It was fair to be bearish and think the market was on the verge of collapse a few weeks ago. But more important than up or down was having an exit in mind if a short didn’t go according to plan. There is nothing wrong with trying a trade, but always have a clearly defined point, decided ahead of time, where you will admit defeat and close your positions. No one is right all the time, myself included. This is why I spend far more time planning my exits than my entires.
For those that missed the rebound, unfortunately, one of the characteristics of sharp rebounds is the bulk of the gains arrive early. While there still more upside left in this move, the gains will be slower and take longer. That said, as long as the index remains above 3,400, keep giving this the benefit of doubt. In a few more weeks we should be challenging all-time highs.
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By Jani Ziedins | End of Day Analysis
Free After-Hours Analysis:
Exactly two weeks ago the stock market was “on the verge of collapse”. Today things look far different. Amazing what a 250-points rebound will do for the market’s mood.
I caught grief on social media for claiming September’s dip was buyable. While the crowd insisted the next leg lower was imminent, I kept buying the bounces. The first bounce didn’t stick. But that’s not a big deal. If we start small, get in early, and get out early, the losses are minor. In fact, if we are good at this and move quickly, we can get out at breakeven, making these free trades. It’s hard to beat that risk/reward.
The second bounce didn’t stick and neither did the third. But all of this was expected and part of the plan. Sometimes the market bounces quickly. Other times it takes a few false starts before it gets its mojo back. This time the fourth bounce was the magic number.
No doubt a lot of optimistic dip-buyers gave up after the second or third failed bounce and they ended up missing the real one. That’s the way this goes sometimes. Just because a trade doesn’t work the first time doesn’t mean we should give up. As long as we focus on sensible entries and exits, we have the ability to test all of these rebounds with relatively low risk.
Long-term success in the market is nothing more than sticking to our trading plan and ignoring all the useless opinions surrounding us. Stick to what we know and we will always come out ahead in the end.
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By Jani Ziedins | End of Day Analysis
Free After-Hours Analysis:
The S&P 500 reclaimed nearly all of yesterday afternoon’s tumble after traders realized Trump’s threats to suspend stimulus negotiations were more bark than bite. Within hours, Trump backpedaled and promised to sign any bill that put money into voter’s taxpayer’s pockets.
This reversal alleviated investors’ fears and prices quickly returned to recent highs. And we should have seen this coming. Yesterday evening I wrote, “the dip might even turn out so modest and fleeting it could be hard to take advantage of.” Well, there you go. Blink and you missed it.
Tonight we have the vice presidential debate. If there is anything more inconsequential than the vice presidential debate, I can’t think of it. So yeah, expect investors to forget about this nearly as quickly as bored voters flip the channel.
The market continues trading well and has been above 3,300 support for nearly two weeks. If stocks were fragile and vulnerable, we would have crashed by now. Instead, September’s pullback is just that, a pullback. Nothing unusual or alarming about a step-back and cooling off following a 6 month, nearly non-stop run from the March lows. Two-steps forward, one-step back.
Expect the sideways chop to continue until the election. But as long as we get more up than down, things are going well. If the index crashes back under 3,300, we will have to reevaluate, but until then, there is nothing to stress about. (This is our last-line-of-defense stop-loss. That said, a savvy and nimble trader will recognize looming weakness and get out long before the market reaches our last-line-of-defense.)
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