S&P 500 MODEL TRADING PLANS for WED 04/01

Real Market Sentiment to Reveal Itself Today! As many veterans on the markets have been referring to, the last few days of “bounce” in the markets could be mainly driven by the quarter-end portfolio asset allocation re-balancing (back to 60/40 equity/bond model). Some part of the “window dressing” flows could also have propped up the (more…)

S&P 500 MODEL TRADING PLANS for TUE 03/31

Quarter-end Window Dressing or Moral Hazard? The well known quarter-end “Window dressing” by funds and institutional advisors could put artificial pressure to the upside on the markets today. At the same time, since the quarter is anyway big negative one, could it also spark funds to dump losers and/or rotate into “wish list” stocks that (more…)

S&P 500 MODEL TRADING PLANS for MON 03/30

Advantage None Our models have rejected the daily close above the 2510 level last week and are looking for a daily close above 2560 today to turn mildly bullish. The short term bottom might be in at 2191.86, possibly until the earnings season kicks in in a couple of weeks, but there is no directional (more…)

S&P 500 MODEL TRADING PLANS for FRI 03/27

Choppy, Widened Trading Range Our models have been looking for a daily close above 2510 to adapt a short term bullish bias, which we got yesterday as anticipated but the models are ignoring it now and looking for another daily close above 2510 on Monday for them to turn mildly bullish. The short term bottom (more…)

S&P 500 MODEL TRADING PLANS for THU 03/26

Shorts Beary Confused? Looks like the traders who were betting on the short side are trapped in the sustained upsurge in the markets, thanks to the fiscal stimulus bazooka and the Fed’s aggressive moves. Even today’s 3.28 million initial jobless claims do not seem to dent the market sentiment (at least not yet), as the (more…)

S&P 500 MODEL TRADING PLANS for WED 03/25

Short-term Bottom In, Or a Selling Opportunity Unfolding? The fiscal bazooka is now (almost) official! The overnight futures have gone through a wild range with the volatility ticking up. Is this going to be another “buy the rumor, sell the news” or is it a great buying opportunity? Investors seem to lack conviction while hedge (more…)

S&P 500 MODEL TRADING PLANS for TUE 03/24

Is the (short-term) Bottom In, Yet? The markets have breached the levels from Trump’s Inaugural Day, 01/20/2017 (at 2271.31 on S&P 500 and 25516.83 on the Dow) yesterday and, as anticipated, the administration seems to be going all-in to defend those levels bringing out stimulus bazookas. We wrote yesterday morning, “In this election year, it (more…)

S&P 500 MODEL TRADING PLANS for MON 03/23

Can Trillions of Dollars Improve the Market Sentiment? The overnight index futures have dropped 5% and hit the “limit down” overnight, but have recovered by early hours and are pointing to potential gains today. The markets are testing the levels from Trump’s Inaugural Day, 01/20/2017 (at 2271.31 on S&P 500 and 25516.83 on the Dow). (more…)

S&P 500 INDEX TESTING TRUMP’s INAUGURAL DAY’s LEVELS

S&P 500 Futures are down 5% and hit “limit down” within the first hour after opening! Tomorrow, it is likely we are going to open below the Trump Inaugural day’s level of 01/20/2017 (2271.31 on S&P 500 and 25516.83 on the Dow). Three years’ worth of market gains disappearing fast! With Institutional Quality Quantitative Research (more…)

S&P 500 MODEL TRADING PLANS for FRI 03/20

Once-in-a-quarter Quadruple Witching Day The Quadruple Witching that occurs every third Friday of every calendar quarter end is going to obscure the underlying market currents today, with options related plays dominating the market moves. Investors are cautioned to not read too much into today’s market direction and not to extrapolate it into future outlook (aka (more…)