Someone in the markets is wrong, we need more trillionsStock markets yesterday stormed new local peaks. The latest data from Spain and Italy show that, apparently, the peak of the epidemic in the countries has been passed: the number of new infections and deaths shows a steady downward trend. China in turn shows 0 (zero) new cases of infections. And April 7 is the end date of the lockdown in Wuhan. As the result markets decide the worst is behind and ahead of us the brightest and most beautiful future.
It is somewhat strange that in this general fun markets quickly forgot that the largest economy in the world so far is only approaching the peak of the epidemic with unobvious consequences both for the country as a whole and for its economy. Everyone somehow ignored the news that Japan (the third largest economy in the world) introduced a state of emergency in a number of prefectures, including Tokyo (an interesting fact is that Tokyo’s economy is 11th in the world in size, and not among cities, but among countries (! )). For some reason, everyone forgot about that the US labor market has turned into deppest depression only during a couple of weeks.
Here is quote from the former head of the Fed, Jannette Yellen: “the economy is in a“ completely shocking ”recession, which is not yet reflected in current data. If it were, the unemployment rate would probably reach 13%, while the overall economic downturn would be about 30%. ”
Experts all as one (Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, etc.) talk about a 30+% drop in US GDP in the second quarter, but US stock indices are up 10% in just a couple of days.
At the same time gold adds 50-60 dollars a day, closely approaching to 1700.
Obviously, someone on the market is wrong. We are trying to be unbiased. Perhaps we are mistaken. But so far, the facts, statistics and experts show that the stock markets are more likely to be mistaken. That is why, despite the fact that we continue to go against the market, we recommend to sell in the stock markets. The main thing is not to forget about stop-losses.
Meanwhile, confirming our words that the problems have not yet been resolved, Japan accepts $ 1 trillion (!) of assistance to the economy. Plus, information has arrived that the US wants to allocate an additional trillion dollars to help the economy. If everything is so good and great - why do they do that?
And a few words about the oil market. Russia confirmed participation in the OPEC+ meeting on Thursday. But the main attention is now focused on the United States - whether they will participate in the agreement. This condition was proclaimed by Saudi Arabia and Russia. So far, Trump noted that no one asked him to participate in the meeting and, in general, market mechanisms themselves will solve the situation. That is, US manufacturers without external intervention will reduce production due to low prices. Well, the intrigue is twisting. But for now, without full clarity, we will continue to sell oil within the day until Thursday.
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The state of emergency in Japan as a signal of premature optimiDespite the fact that the general epidemiological situation in the world is still extremely unfavorable, some “hot heads” in the financial markets have again started to show impatience and predict end of “lockdowns” around the world in the nearest future.
As a result, stock indices crawled up even against the backdrop of absolutely failed statistics from the US labor market. Moreover, the figures for the number of confirmed cases of infection of almost 1.4 million and deaths over 75K did not stop the most impatient buyers.
At the same time Japan could declare a state of emergency in the country. And the point is not that the number of cases has reached a critical point (the current 4K against the background of other countries looks like a model of well-being), but that the Government feels a real threat of losing control over the situation. Japan announced a new program to stimulate the economy and compensate the negative effects of coronavirus.
In general, the news is bad enough for the world. The worst is still not behind (especially for the economy) and it’s still too early to relax. So we consider the growth of the stock markets to be an excellent opportunity for sales at a higher prices. No more. And the dynamics of gold yesterday in general confirms this: a re-test of 1700 looks more and more inevitable.
Today we will continue to sell the dollar, despite all its reluctance to fall. First of all, we will do this in a pair of USDJPY, as well as in EURUSD. We will not touch the pound yet - hospitalization of the Boris Johnson is not the best reason for buying the country's currency.
Optimism in the oil market also faded somewhat. After it became clear that the new OPEC + without the participation of the United States may not take place, and the United States is not eager to limit its own production, oil stopped its growth yesterday, and on the whole, Monday opened with a solid gap down. Frankly, we have serious doubts about the success of the meeting on Thursday, and even more so in achieving the announced reduction volumes of 10 million b / d. Accordingly, this week we expect an increase in downward pressure in the oil market and we will sell oil until Thursday and its results. At the same time, the basic medium-term purchase positions continue to remain relevant, and we use the possible decline in oil to the region of $ 20 (WTI brand) to restore purchases from $ 20.
Week in a glance: oil growth and the fall of the US labor marketTraditionally for the current crisis times, the last week made a number of records. Moreover, the records were quite diverse. We start, of course, with the maximum one-day increase in the oil market history. It was recorded on Thursday after Trump announced in a tweet the resurrection of OPEC + with production cuts from 10 to 15 million b/d. Saudi Arabia on the same day announced the emergency meeting of OPEC and countries not included in the cartel, but participating in OPEC +. As the result during only two days oil grew by 45%. Recall that at the start of last week, we actively recommended and bought ourselves oil near $20 (WTI brand).
However, optimism was somewhat cooled by the skirmish between Russia and Saudi Arabia over whoever initiated the OPEC + breakup. As a result, the meeting was postponed from Monday to Thursday. And later, both Russia and Saudi Arabia, mentioned that without the USA a new OPEC + is impossible. In general, there will be another interesting week in the oil market.
Another historical event last week was the fall of the US labor market into the abyss. It all started on Thursday, when jobless claims showed an unrealistic 6.6 million (as a result, in two weeks the ranks of the unemployed in the USA replenished by 10 million (!), Which was never in the history of the States), and continued on Friday, when the NFP fell through the abyss, showing -701K with a forecast of -100K. By the way on the eve of the NFP, we predicted failure by -500K-600K.
As the record can be considered the reaction of the dollar to the NFP data. Or rather its complete absence. The foreign exchange market really fell into a stupor. But this is even somewhat good. The lack of reaction today does not mean that it will not be tomorrow. Therefore, this week, we will sell with renewed energy in the US stock market, as well as sell the dollar on the entire spectrum of the foreign exchange market, primarily against the Japanese yen. And, of course, we will buy gold. In any case, a re-test of 1700 should take place sooner or later.
Some of the medium-term purchases of oil (those that were over $20) we closed on Friday, but the remaining positions are in the game. The OPEC+ meeting, will almost certainly provoke strong movements in the oil market. So we want to be ready, if possible, to add to purchases, but below current prices, if, of course, such an opportunity appears. The medium-term relevance of oil purchases has not been lost, but, on the contrary, sharply added following the results of the past week. So if it seems to someone that it’s too late to enter the position, we recommend to reconsider this position - the potential for oil growth is far from exhausted.
The next revolution in the oil market, dollar is in dangerThe main event of yesterday was another revolution in the oil market. More precisely, Trump's verbal intervention announcing it. It is about the tweet of the President of the United States where he noted that he is awaiting the announcement of an agreement between Russia and Saudi Arabia on the reduction of oil production. The size of reduction is not 2-3 million b / d, but about 10 million or even 15 million (!). This is without a doubt a historical event and the strongest signal in favor of rising oil prices. Actually, yesterday’s + 25%-30% is direct evidence in favor of this. And although there is no official confirmation yet, Saudi Arabia is already gathering an emergency meeting of OPEC +. Also China decided to massively redeem oil for filling to capacity of strategic reserves, while it is so cheap.
We should note that at the start of the week we bought WTI at $ 20 and recommended our readers to do the same. So congratulations to those who follow our advice. + 30% per day on one transaction without leverage - the result itself is outstanding, if not unique.
Yesterday there was another strong blow from the US initial jobless claims data. If last week the number of initial jobless claims reached a record 3.3 million and this seemed like a complete failure, then yesterday's 6.6 million (!) in general, seems to be a transition to some kind of new economic reality.
This reality is extremely negative and toxic for the dollar and the US stock market, especially in anticipation of today's publication of official statistics on the US labor market. Analysts expect a decrease in NFP by 100K. This figure in itself looks extremely depressing, but as it seems to us, -100K can be very favorable figure for the US. If in the labor market in just two weeks of March managed to generate 10 million unemployed, then the scale of the decrease in the NFP can be several times (!) bigger than predicted. We, for example, will not be surprised with the NFP figure in in the range (-500K) - (- 600K). But the markets will almost certainly be surprised. This will be a shock for the dollar, which is likely to be sold, as well as for the US stock market, which will also be subjected to strong downward pressure. The only thing that can save the dollar is the fact that the NFP data for March do not include the last 2 weeks of March. But this doesn’t change anything, since it only postpones the sentence, without changing its essence.
Based on our expectations, we will not even wait for the publication of the data, but start to sell the dollar just here and now. First of all, against the Japanese yen. We will also actively buy gold (negative data are likely to scare already frightened investors).
Welcome to the real world, Mr. TrumpWe wrote yesterday that the optimism in the financial markets at the start of the week is very premature and this will end with another round of decline in the stock markets. Actually, this is what happened.
The reason for the decline was Trump's acceptance of reality, which he so stubbornly denies. In his last speech, the US President admitted that the main problems are yet to come, and against the backdrop of predictions that up to 240K Americans will not be able to survive the epidemic, this looks like an extremely depressing fact for financial markets. Moreover, the situation in the world continues to deteriorate. Judging by the current dynamics, tomorrow (if not today) the number of cases may well exceed the mark of 1 million, which in itself looks very frightening.
So we continue to sell everywhere in the stock markets, hide in safe haven assets (we buy gold and the Japanese yen) and prepare for the bad NFP data and the subsequent sale of the dollar.
It should be noted that the wave of economic negativity has not yet clearly covered the United States. In fact, everything in US began to reach more or less serious levels only two weeks ago. Yesterday's statistics on the labor market from ADP showed a decrease of only 27K, but this is definitely positive for the US and the dollar, in light of how much the indicator could sag (analysts, by the way, expected a decrease of 150K). The PMI and ISM indices went below 50, which is a statement of a decrease in economic activity, but again, this data is far from disastrous. So the dollar can be satisfied with the data. However, this is good for those who want to sell it on the eve of official statistics on US labor market.
And a few words about our medium-term position (buy oil). Yesterday was the day the OPEC + agreement expired. Typically, oil quotes did not fall to $15 and below, as many analysts predict now. Yes, the size of the drop in demand is scary, but do not forget that oil has already received its share of suffering in the form of a 60% drop in oil prices over the past few months. But the future sharp drop in oil production (according to various estimates, may exceed 5 million bpd) is still not taken into account in the price. Which in itself seems to be a local injustice to the asset. So we continue to believe in the prospective growth of oil, understanding, however, a general negative fundamental background nowadays.
WHO, China and the United States give causes for optimism This week's news background is struggling to get the most out of the sad situation that the world has found itself in (over 850K cases worldwide and the picture is only getting worse). We are talking about the desire of the United States to increase the already unprecedented amount of assistance to the economy. The White House and the Democrats are preparing for a new package of measures if the peak of the epidemic does not pass in the coming weeks. And Trump, in turn, called for another $ 2 trillion for infrastructure projects to support the labor market.
The World Health Organization has done its part to increase optimism, saying the peak of the pandemic in Italy and Spain seems to have passed.
Another reason for moderate optimism gave China. The PMI index in March rose sharply from 29.6 to 52.3 (with a forecast of 37.8). What does this mean especially in light of the information that Wuhan will be unlocked next week? China gives a clear signal that tough measures against the epidemic can minimize the damage to the economy from a pandemic by limiting it to period of 1-2 months.
But the rest of the world is not China. This is evidenced even by the fact that China now occupies only 4th place in the pandemic race.
So it’s too early to relax. Analysts so far only worsen their own forecasts. A week ago, Goldman Sachs expected a decrease in US GDP in the second quarter by 24%, but yesterday the forecast was lowered to 34%. Plus unemployment is expected at around 15%.
So we are still considering the growth in the stock markets at the start of the week as a great opportunity for sales. The only thing to note is that we recommend to protect each sale with relatively small stops - it is better to take a stop, take a break and go again than go against the will of the market (an attack of optimism can be quite sharp).
Amid such news, gold suffered losses. But again, for now, this is just a reason for cheaper purchases — nothing more.
The oil market also experienced some relief. Trump’s call to Putin raised the hopes that the oil price war could end soon. Quotes slightly moved away from the lows. Actually, everything is going according to our medium-term plan, despite all the news that the price of Russian oil has reached its lowest level in the last 20-plus years, Goldman Sachs expects a decrease in global demand by 26 million barrels bpd, while IHS Markit believes that the price oil in April will collapse to $ 10 per barrel, which will provoke a reduction in world production by 10 million bpd.
Oil hits 18-year lows (time to buy), Fitch presses on the poundThe start of the week was surprisingly calm. Honestly, looking at the figures for the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States (exceeded 160K) and Trump's return to reality (he decided to abandon the idea of full economic activity within two weeks), we expected a return to sales on the stock market and increased pressure on the dollar.
But this entire negative was absorbed but the oil. WTI prices reached the minimum values for the last 18 years. The current market sentiment in the complete absence of positive news continues to remain on the side of bears. In general, what is happening is logical: the economic crisis inevitably provokes a fall in commodity markets.
But the case of oil, in our opinion, is quite unique. The fact is that oil collapsed before it became clear that we were dealing with a global economic crisis. This refers to its epic drop of 30% following the OPEC+ gap. That is, oil has exhausted its reasonable potential for reducing in advance. Now oil has to fall below reasonable limits due to general pressure on commodity markets.
Our medium-term trading position for oil yesterday was finally formed. We added to the already opened purchases the last long position opened near $20. Recall that the motivation for this trade is that current prices are already below the average costs in the market, which means that oil is doomed to rise in perspective. It may take months, but ultimately, the price of oil should return to its fair value.
Let’s get back to the other news. Fitch rating agency downgraded the UK sovereign debt rating from AA to AA-, justifying this by a sharp increase in the country's debt, as well as uncertainty with trade negotiations with the EU. Our position on the pound is twofold. In the medium term, in our opinion, his chances of growth are good. But here and now (this week) we are likely to sell the pound against the dollar, at least until the GBPUSD is below 1.25.
Dooms day clock is ticking out. According to most experts, if there will be no turning point for the better in the next few weeks, the world will almost certainly plunge into a deep global recession with all the sad consequences.
In this regard, we recall our recommendation to buy gold. The goal of the current movement has not yet been achieved (we are talking about a re-test of 1700), so this week the growth of asset prices, in our opinion, should continue.
Week in a glance: not a day without records, our positionsEach new week is trying to be even more eventful than the previous one. And so far, in general, it turns out. At least judging by the last week.
The week began with optimism caused by the approval by the Senate of record aid from the US government. Its size exceeds $ 2 trillion, which is unprecedented cases in the history of mankind, and not just the US. In this light, the growth of US stock indices is generally justified and logical, especially if we recall the Fed's zero rates and an essentially unlimited program of quantitative easing. Here, we have another record: the growth of US stock indices on Tuesday became the biggest since 1933. According to experts, the Government and the Central Bank in total are ready to pour in US economy up to $ 6 trillion ($ 2 trillion + $ 4 trillion).
The main problem with the current growth of US stock indices is that it is only temporary. Last week will be remembered by another records, but this time with a “-” sign. For example, the United States has become the world leader in the spread of the epidemic. It takes only 2 weeks. Given the pace of the epidemic in the United States, its economy runs the risk of massive damage. Actually, analysts are already talking about it: at Goldman Sachs expect a drop of 24%, and Morgan Stanley - by 30%. The President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, James Bullard, expects a fall in GDP by 50% (!) with unemployment at 30%.
Weekly data on initial jobless claims in the United States confirmed the most pessimistic forecasts. The indicator grew by almost 3.3 million (!). This is an absolute record for the entire history of observation, which is also almost 5 times higher than the previous anti-record.
So the worst for the US economy is yet to come. This means that the stock market is doomed to a further fall. That is why current growth is just a great opportunity for sales.
The next candidate for sales is the US dollar. The largest economic loss in history is not a reason for the growth of its national currency. The dynamics of the dollar last week confirmed this. But the most interesting thing is that the dollar has just begun to move away from the maximum levels, so sales from current prices look like a fairly promising deal. Therefore, we sell the dollar. First of all, against the Japanese yen, in order to further participate in the purchase of an asset-refuge (we are talking about the Japanese yen).
Considering that panic in the financial markets, despite all the measures of governments, remains at the highest levels since the global financial crisis, gold purchases remain another promising idea. Actually last week the asset showed what it is capable of. In just a couple of days, gold rose by more than $ 100. Again, this growth is not yet complete. The re-test 1700 seems to be the inevitable and only logical scenario. But even this peak is most likely not limited to. The further goal is 1800, and there already before 2000 it will be at hand. So we buy gold, there have been no more ideal conditions for its growth for many decades (if at all there have been 100 in recent years).
Another interesting result of the week was the formation of the bottom in the oil market. Despite all the negativity that prevails in commodity markets, oil has clearly exhausted its downward potential. This is logical, current prices are already either lower (USA) or at (Russia) cost price. Vivid evidence in favor of this was the maximum decrease in the number of active oil installations in the United States over the past 35 years (hello another record). That is, current oil prices are indeed below cost. The curtailment of production will lead to a drop in supply in the oil market, which in turn will provoke an increase in oil prices in the future. So there’s basically nowhere to drop oil. This means that oil remains a fairly promising medium-term position in itself and will serve as a hedge for sales in the stock market. OPEC+ is going to end this week. But what if: “The king is dead, long live the king”.
Invisible war and the worst forecasts come trueOn the one hand, it’s nice when your forecasts come true (we mean our recommendations to sell the dollar this week), on the other hand, you can’t be happy with the reasons that ensured the implementation of the forecasts. The epidemiological situation in the United States continues to deteriorate rapidly. New York risks becoming a ghost town. In just 7 days, 18,000 cases of coronavirus were diagnosed in the city. On Wednesday, the number of calls to 911 rescue service reached historic highs, which had previously been recorded on September 11.
Data on initial jobless claims justified the forecasts of pessimists: an increase of almost 3.3 million. This is a complete failure even against the background of growth forecasts of 1-1.6 million.
In general, everything is bad. And trillions of dollars can’t change this fact. So today we will continue to sell the dollar. The growth of the pound by 700 points over the current week against this background seems quite logical and we expected it when no one wanted to buy it at 1.16. The decision of the Bank of England to leave the rate unchanged did not surprise anyone or scare anyone. By and large, everything that the Central Bank wanted to do, it did at an extraordinary meeting.
But let’s get back to the problems of the world economy.It not know such a tough and swift landing not during the global financial crisis, not during the oil embargo of 1973, and not during the Great Depression. Even the Second World War did not inflict such a strong and sudden blow on the global supply chain (the largest port in the world - Shanghai - in February reduced the volume of activity by 20%, and the volume of imports to the USA from China in the first two weeks of March decreased by 45% ( !) - this has never been happened before). In fact, the global economy is now in a position as if there is a world war. With one exception, there is no war.
So the growth of US stock indices is an opportunity for sales and nothing more. By the way, a good opportunity, given the scale of growth from local lows.
And finally, recall our recommendation to sell the euro against the Japanese yen. The details of the new program of quantitative easing from the ECB were announced yesterday (we are talking about 750 billion euros) - in fact, the Central Bank can buy any number of bonds from anyone.
2 trillion reasons to calm down and 3 million reasons to worryThe main event of yesterday was the approval by the US Senate of an emergency $ 2 trillion emergency plan. The plan provides $ 1,200 direct payments to low-income Americans, $ 500 billion will be provided in the form of loan guarantees, $ 350 billion will be used to help small businesses.
Against the background of this information, the markets perked up a bit. But for now, we see no reason for global repositioning. The pandemic is in full swing, the damage from it is measured in tens of percent of GDP, so we will use any increase in stock indices for selling shares.
After all, things are bad. New York is becoming the center of an epidemic in the United States and is under siege. California (a quarter of the US economy) may remain in the lockdown for another 8-12 weeks. India is quarantined for three weeks. Great Britain closes Parliament. So repositioning is still very premature.
In addition, today markets will face one more challenge: US jobless claims. A number of experts voice fantastic 3 million initial jobless claims (the average figure recently has been 220K). Recall that the most significant jumps in the indicator were about 8 years ago during the hurricane Sandy. But even then the number was less than 281K (this value was recorded last week). That is, 3 million claims against this background look as terrible and scary as possible.
So dollar sales are still relevant today. Recall that the Fed is ready to make an unlimited injection of dollars, which is a threat to the dollar # 1.
In the oil market, meanwhile, there is an active undercover fight. Nothing is known about its actual results. But, in our opinion, a telephone conversation between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman is very revealing. The Trump administration is clearly trying to persuade Saudi Arabia to abandon the plan to dramatically increase oil supply as part of a price war with Russia
Pandemic in progress, Wuhan is waiting, but Trump can't wait The pandemic is in full swing and there are no positive trends around the world. The epicenter remains in Europe. And if yesterday we talked about possible losses of the US economy, today we will give a couple of figures for Europe. According to Goldman Sachs analysts, Italy’s GDP will drop by 11.6% in 2020, Spain - by 9.7%, Germany - by 8.9%, and France - 7.5%. In general, the Eurozone will lose about 9% of GDP. In this light, we recall our recommendation to sell the euro. But not against the dollar, we recommend to sell it against the British pound and the Japanese yen, that is, we sell EURGBP and EURJPY pairs.
This recommendation is confirmed by the March indexes of business activity from the Eurozone, Germany and France. All of them came out significantly worse than already pessimistic forecasts. For example, the composite Eurozone PMI for March was at 31.4 (!) mark with a forecast of 38.8 and a February reading of 51.6 (!).
However, the leadership of the Eurozone in the pandemic race is disputed by the United States. We already wrote that by the end of the week, the States may well catch up with Europe, especially if Trump realizes his promise to open the US as soon as possible.
That is why we do not recommend selling the euro against the dollar, because we consider dollar sales themselves to be a good trading idea in the light of everything that is happening now in the world and the USA in particular. We sell primarily against the Japanese yen. Do not forget to buy gold on the falls.
But there is some optimistic information as well. We mean the news that the capital of the Chinese province of Hubei Wuhan will be open on April 8. That is, China gives us a specific time marks for the duration of the epidemic. Of course 3 Chinese months may well be equal to six months in Italy or the United States, which have not even reached the peak of the epidemic. But you can still begin to prepare for the fact that soon the worst will be behind.
In this light, let us recall our medium-term oil deal (buy oil). Yes, here and now there are no actual reasons for purchases, but if you act in advance, then you can act just right now.
However, at the rumor level, there is information that the United States and Saudi Arabia can create a new alliance in the oil market and agree on coordinated actions. In addition, US oil companies are trying to gain support from the Government to ensure survival in the current environment.
Speaking of support, the amount of assistance to the economy from the US authorities can reach $2 trillion. As a result, yesterday for some time optimism gets back to the US stock market. But it's too early to talk about purchases. On the contrary, we use these growth attempts for sales.
Fed is breaking bad, analysts spread panicThe main news yesterday was the Fed's announcement of a number of programs to support the economy and financial markets. We will not list them all, because the main thing is not even that. The key thing is the fact that for the first time there are no restrictions on the amount. This support is not for $100 billion, or $1 trillion. This is conditionally infinite amount. That is, the printing press is turned on full and whatever happens.
Judging by the reaction of the stock market, investors took this news quite restrained. This means that the market sentiment is still bearish, so we will use any rise in stock prices as a reason for sales.
We believe that the short-term effect of such actions by the Fed will probably be positive for economy, but in the future these are very dangerous steps. The United States in the coronovirus race has already broken into third place and at such a pace country can finish this week if not in first, then in second place.
In addition, analysts compete whose forecast for the US economy in the second quarter will be worse. Goldman Sachs, for example, expects a drop of 24%, and Morgan Stanley - by 30% in US GDP for the 2-nd quarter. But the most scary was the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, James Bullard, who expects a fall in GDP of 50% (!) With a simultaneous increase in unemployment to 30%.
As the result we recommend to sell the dollar (first of all against Japanese yen), as well as to buy gold.
Italy, meanwhile, tightened quarantine measures even more, which led to an almost complete halt of industrial production in the country. In this light, we remind about our recommendation to sell EURGBP. Although it is worth noting that the decision of Germany to provide assistance to the economy in the amount of 750 billion euros may well have a positive effect on the euro. But in this regard, it is better to buy the euro against the dollar.
Of our other positions, we keep on recommend medium-term oil purchases. Motivation: the current force majeure for the oil market, in our opinion, has created a rather unique, but temporary situation. Unique because of the scale of the price drop due to the simultaneous negative impact of a drop in demand (the coronavirus epidemic and the economic consequences of it) and a sharp increase in supply (the actions of Saudi Arabia). But both of these factors are temporary. China has shown that the epidemic (at least its active phase) is rather limited in time and even provided guidance on the duration of the extreme phase - a couple of months. The position of Saudi Arabia is more like an exponential gesture, the purpose of which is obvious - to increase the level of Russia's compliance. With all the bravado, not one of the key oil producers is satisfied with prices near $ 20, which means that there will be an agreement sooner or later. We also note that so far, in fact, production has not been increased significantly. According to Reuters, Saudi Arabian exports totaled 7.3 million barrels per day in March, not 10 million barrels threatened by the Saudis. Thus, it is only a matter of time before the drivers of lower oil prices converge on oil and change their direction of impact from south to north.
Are we on course for another bitcoin panic?As we all know, investors are panicking, which is driving SPX and OIL to see insanely low prices. Those panics are not exclusive to the main markets, I believe that crypto will follow soon.
Bitcoin remains around 5k, and it might for another couple of days before I believe we will see another major panic sell. We are definitely in a bearish market right now and it would not make much sense for bitcoin to be bullish.
I would advise you to trade with lower amounts of money and use leverage wisely as these times are really uncertain and markets can either dump or rally at any day, we can only try to assume the future but we will not be able to predict, for that reason, I will ask everyone to remain reactive to the markets and if you have a position open please continue monitoring the major indicators and reading the news, as anything can happen now.
ECB promises almost trillion, Trump wants even moreChaos and anarchy are still there in the financial markets. Although even in this chaos, elements of order can be found and money can be made from them. Our yesterday's recommendation to sell EURGBP evidences in this favor. After madness on Wednesday, yesterday everything began to return to their places and more than compensate previous losses.
The reason for the sale of the euro on all fronts was the results of an emergency meeting of the ECB. European Central Bank decided to provide a new program of asset repurchase of € 750 billion.
Trying to keep up with the Europeans Trump offered a $ 1 trillion aid package.
The Bank of England looked good even against this background with its rate cut to 0.1% and the expansion of the quantitative easing program to $ 750 billion. As a result, pound volatility was extremely high on Wednesday.
What else unites Europe and the USA? The simultaneous closure of factories, which has become the largest since World War II. So for those who think that the worst is over, we have bad news.
The Swiss National Bank (SNB), meanwhile, shows what needs to be done in order to prevent an excessive strengthening of the national currency: instead of the usual rate cuts or quantitative easing programs, he resorted to good old currency interventions.
Why SNB experience is interesting here and now? We have already noted that the dollar has strengthened too much. This is bad for the US economy especially right now. The Fed rate cut to 0% did not work. Flooding the repo market with money does not help. Actually, only currency interventions remained as the options to stop the growth of the dollar. Meanwhile, the number of cases in the United States doubled yesterday (!), And this is an excellent reason for panic. We mean that we are preparing for a dollar reversal and are beginning to slowly sell it primarily against the Japanese yen. Sells in the US stock market are still our best trading idea of the year.
Of the other promising positions that we expect to shoot in the foreseeable future, oil purchases continue to be.
Dollar dominates, governments act, RAs downgradeThe dollar continues to dominate in the FOREX. The secret of his success is simple - the increased demand for U.S. Treasury bonds during the crisis, high liquidity of the dollar, as well as the relatively good situation in the U.S. economy, coupled with measures to support it and the current epidemiological situation in the country comparing with the other problem currencies (Euro, pound, commodity currencies).
Anyway, the Dollar Index has reached its highest level since 2017 and, on the whole, looks rather overbought. That is, with his purchases one should be careful and more selective.
The optimal trading tactics for today, in our opinion, is active trading based on the signals from oscillators. Moreover, we recommend using not the classic RSI or Stochastic, but our author's Ranger, since now it is critical to understand where specific pair can go in terms of absolute price values. So today in the FOREX we will both buy and sell.
The pandemic, meanwhile, continues, and problems in the global economy continue to grow like a snowball. And this week the worst is beginning to happen - rating agencies have started to downgrade ratings. This is extremely alarming, because after the blowing up of the stock market bubble (from which greedy investors will mostly suffer. Which will be exclusively their own problems in some way even deserved), the corporate debt market bubble will begin to collapse. This topic is much more serious and potentially more destructive for the global economy. The word default can become very typical in the news.
In general, there is no reason to take a breath. This means that purchases of gold and other safe haven assets continue to be relevant, as well as sales in global stock markets.
It should be noted that in the fight against the crisis the Central Bank, have already largely spoken their words and now it is the turn of governments. That is, we are moving from monetary measures to fiscal stimulus. The White House is preparing to help the US economy for $ 850 billion. France prepared a package of measures for $ 335 billion, Germany for $ 500, etc.
As for our favorite positions for today, this is without a doubt the sell of EURGBP. We will talk about the motivation for this deal in a separate report, which we will publish today later.
Crazy week behind but it's too early to relaxLast week showed as clearly as possible how bad things are now: the crisis is not just a word, but a reflection of sad reality. The Fear Index has reached highs unseen since 2008. Once again: so high it rose only at the peak (!) of the global financial crisis 2007-2009. Is this not the best illustration of how bad everything is?
Italy went into complete lockdown, and other countries followed it, albeit in a milder form. For the Italian economy, this is, if not the end, then a very strong blow. This is the third largest economy in the Eurozone by the way.
Today China has already confirmed alarming fears - the economy suffered a severe blow: industrial production in February fell by 13.5%, and retail sales by 20.5%. As the result everyone suddenly remembered about the safe haven assets again.
So there is nothing surprising in the fact that the ECB has expanded the program of quantitative easing, and the German government promises emergency economic assistance ( more than $500 billion). To understand how much is it lets compare with GDP: this is about 15% of the country's GDP. Measures of this magnitude were not even during the crisis of 2007-09.
The Bank of England at an extraordinary meeting lowered the rate. The Fed expects rate cuts to almost 0% this week.
In general, we are now in the midst of a crisis. And it is not the fact that the worst is over. A pandemic is developing exponentially. Each new day of the epidemic increases the amount of economic impact.
So the upcoming week could be another test. Moreover, on Wednesday the Fed will announce its decision on the parameters of monetary policy. On Thursday, the Bank of Japan will say its word. In addition, there will be quite a lot of macroeconomic statistics.
How to trade in such conditions? For beginners, we would recommend just watching from the side. Otherwise, everything can end extremely sad. For those who are ready to compete with the markets, we recommend expanding the boundaries of the concept of “impossible” as far as possible in terms of the size of daily price fluctuations. Given how dynamic everything is, you can try to trade based on the signals of oscillators - intraday prices constantly rebound by more than serious values.
As for the general directions, given how bad everything is now in Italy and Europe as a whole, we will sell the euro. Moreover, this week we will not do this in pair with the dollar, which itself may be under attack if the Fed takes extraordinary measures, but against the yen and the pound, that is, we will sell EURJPY and EURGBP pairs.
Intraday you can sell oil, but at the same time, we note that in the medium term we have already bought oil (WTI) at $ 30. This is part of a big “buy” plan that involves adding at $ 25 and $ 20 to a super-position.
In addition, this week we will buy gold. It generates great entry points and it’s a sin not to use them. The only thing for positions in gold is the tactics of multiple trades based on small stops. That is, we put small stop-losses on long positions, if they are executed, we wait for a while and restore buy when the movement calms down. Standing against the gold market in the current conditions may be suicidal, but jumps after stops will allow you to control what is happening. And the overall prospects of the position will ultimately allow to beat off all the stops and be in the plus after all.
The crisis as it is: Trump, the Fed and the ECBWhat happened yesterday in the financial markets is on the one hand (from the position of normal price dynamics), was extremely atypical, and on the other (for markets during the crisis) it was quite natural.
On such days, traders either become rich (rarely) or lost their deposits (as a rule). It is better for beginners and even experienced traders on such days to stand aside, because there is very little logic in what is happening, but there are a lot of strong movements.
Of course, one can try to discern order in this chaos. But observation from the outside without involvement in trading allows you to maintain a more objective perception of reality.
Actually, everything is developing according to the scenario that we have voiced since the fall of last year. A critical mass of prerequisites for the crisis was on the table, and it was only a question of a trigger. The coronavirus epidemic has become this cause and now we are dealing with the consequences.
Now everything comes down to answering one question, whether it will be possible to localize the epidemic and when (judging by the data from China, the time frame will more or less clear - it will take about 2-3 months to solve the problem, if real efforts will be provided to solve it), and how long the crisis will last (if the epidemic will be localized within a month or two, then the first half of the year will be a failure, but recovery will begin in the second part of the year).
Central banks, meanwhile, are going to habitually fill the markets with money. In particular, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced its intention to conduct repo market transactions totaling more than $ 4 trillion. The US stock market reacted to this with fall. This is a very bad signal for those who still buy there. Recall that since the fall of 2019 we have warned that the bubble will burst.
The ECB did not lower the rate yesterday, but approved new incentive measures. We are talking about expanding the quantitative easing program: the volume of additional net asset purchases will increase by 120 billion euros. That is, the fire of the crisis will be flooded by money. It is very symptomatic that even in conditions when other central banks emergency reduce rates, the ECB cannot do this even in the midst of a panic in the markets. That is, the current rate is the limit.
Trump announced yesterday a ban on travel to the United States from 26 European countries for a month.
The oil market was relatively calm yesterday. Relatively in terms of price, not in terms of news. The oil war is in full swing. And the object of attack of Saudi Arabia is becoming more apparent. This is not the United States and its shale. It's Russia. Riyadh is ready not only to dramatically increase the volume of oil supplies to Europe, but also to offer customers a good discount. European oil refineries, including Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Total, OMV, Repsol and Cepsa have already reserved supplies of Saudi oil, the volume of which exceeds the usual by 25-200%.
Considering how chaotic and dynamic everything is now, today we plan to trade exclusively actively, but with mandatory stops. We will give preference to purchases of the dollar and gold. But this does not mean that in moments of strong overbought, we will not sell it. That is, today we monitor the oscillators and trade according to their signals.
But what if the markets are wrong: lets fish in troubled watersThe start of the week plunged many into a state of deepest stupor. Over the past six months we have already devoted dozens of reviews preparing our readers for the onset of global problems and the collapse of bubbles in risky asset markets.
The most wrong thing a trader can do in such a situation is to lose an adequate perception of reality and rush into the pursuit of the market. We urge our readers to remain calm and analyze the situation as openly as possible.
Let’s take as example the oil market. Yes, here and now the situation looks completely hopeless. But by and large, all this we already seen in 2014. Situations, of course, are not identical, but in many ways they are similar. So, we can try to draw historical parallels and predict the future development of events and market prices. What happened when the last time oil prices went below $ 30 (WTI)? By the will of the key oil market participants, the current reality at that time was changed (meaning the signing of the first OPEC + agreement).
Actually, here and now everything can be repeated. It is not so difficult to imagine the situation of the OPEC + emergency meeting already at the end of this or next week, at which Russia agrees to cut the production and the situation will turn upside down. Given how dependent the Russian economy is on hydrocarbons, this is the only reasonable option for a country if it does not want to become a second Venezuela.
That is, banal logic suggests that selling oil at current prices is a very risky thing. But purchases, on the contrary, are promising.
Similar thoughts can be presented for the US dollar. Beating of USD in the FOREX, given the current form of the US economy and other countries is undeserved. Yes, the Fed has already lowered the rate, and the ECB has not yet, respectively, the rate differential has narrowed, but it is still in favor of the United States.
At the same time, new historical lows on the yield of US treasury bonds indicate that demand for dollars is not falling, but, on the contrary, is growing. That is another logical contradiction that makes us think that the markets are wrong.
The experience of the year 2008 shows that the insanity into which markets plunge headlong is a relatively short-term phenomenon. And ultimately, common sense returns. We have no particular doubts about this. The only doubt is timing. That is, when everything returns to norm.
Of course, go against the market without stops, trying to impose your will, is potentially a margin call. But at the same time, following your line without fanaticism and with reasonable stops will make it possible in the end not only to catch a local correction, but to be at the origins of a big movement.
That is why today we will continue to follow our basic plan: sell EURUSD, buy USDJPY with simultaneous purchases of gold (all positions with hard and rather short stops), sell in the US stock market, and sell the Russian ruble as well.
Fed`s surprise, coronavirus chronicles, ADP numbersThe main event of yesterday was the Fed’s decision to urgently reduce the rate by 0.5%. The central bank did not wait on March 18 and caught many by surprise. The reaction of the financial markets as a whole seemed logical: the US stock market went up, the dollar was falling, gold was growing. The whole question is whether these trends will continue. We practically do not doubt gold and put on its further growth. The US stock market may well grow by a further wave of optimism by a few percents. But the closer he gets closer to historical highs, the stronger will be our desire to sell. The dollar will be able to take revenge on Friday, but more on that below.
In the meantime, we traditionally continue to review the news from epidemic fronts. The epidemic in China has virtually disappeared (130 new cases), but in the world, everything is in full swing (almost 2000 new cases per day).
G7 countries, meanwhile, held an emergency meeting at which they firmly decided to confront the economic consequences of the epidemic.
Inspired by this news, as well as information about a possible massive easing of monetary policies around the world (the Central Bank of Australia also lowered the rate yesterday and thereby confirmed reasonable expectations), investors again breathed a sigh of relief and rushed to buy cheaper assets. We traditionally do not share this optimism and consider it clearly premature. The consequences are just beginning to manifest. So in the next month, depressing news will be enough.
On the foreign exchange market yesterday there was a certain return of common sense. In terms of the fact that the euro stopped growing at the end of the day (even against the background of information about the Fed’s rate reduction of 0.5%), the pound seemed to have found some ground under its feet. All the attention of traders is focused on the first rand of trade negotiations between the EU and the UK. The results will not be earlier than Thursday. So far, we generally consider all this to be nothing more than noise, which can only give the best entry points. Really, nothing will be solved now, which means you should not worry about anything. Recall that our position on the pound is medium-term purchases. Justification - The EU and the UK will eventually be able to agree again.
As for the euro, it seems that there was a less clear explanation for its growth in recent days. In addition to the classic for almost any strong movement of triggering stop loss and buy-stop, analysts call the curtailment of the trade due to the coronavirus epidemic as the main reason for the sharp strengthening of the euro against the dollar. For those who are not in the know, we explain that the ultra-low rates in the Eurozone made it possible to borrow money there and invest them in markets with higher returns (for example, the USA). Which naturally led to a depreciation of the euro. Curtailment is marked by opposite trends, respectively, the euro strengthened. Rumors that the Fed will sharply reduce the rate in March and may reduce the rate even later in 2020 provoked the start of the process of curtailing the trade, which was especially clearly reflected in the EURUSD pair.
News about the epidemic has recently monopolized the information space so much that it’s easy to miss important news that does not have the word coronavirus or something like that in the headline.
We mean that on Friday statistics on the US labor market will be published. This news is traditionally one of the main ones for financial markets. Considering how sensitive markets are now to any deviations from the norm, these data are of increased importance. But the numbers on the NFP will be published only on Friday, but for now, today we are waiting for data from ADP.
BXRX FDA approval lotto playThis idea comes from recent success in a Sprint trade. It was slow in coming, but it did come through very successfully, which is the impetus for this idea of "reading" tickers with binary events.
This is purely a news driven idea in which there is no technical reading of the chart what-so-ever. I have no idea if this will be correct, and am really using this platform for journaling & finding others who use similar methods. I'm getting the tickers from a freely available online calendar with the PDUFA dates.
I use a pendulum and cards I made up to gain information on the "energy" of the situation. Anyone doing anything similar, please contact me to share information. I'm definitely on the fringes here.
BXRX has a deadline for an FDA approval tomorrow (2/20/20).
My indications are that it is APPROVED. I don't read about the details of the application and I don't care, although reading it may help my insomnia ;)
BXRX is currently trading at the LOD $7.88 - 5.97%
Indications are it could go up to $9.14
The ATH is $9.60
We shall see...
LLY Sell the RallyMy dowsing method suggests LLY gets their FDA approval, and the stock will pop, but that in the longer term, this stock is going to breakdown; probably with the entire market.
I'm getting that the resistance will be around that $145-46 zone, which would also be a test of the uptrend line from below. Good luck!
EURNZD Post news trade set-up + 100 Pip PotentialWe had a good push down on the NZD Interest Rate decision and this pair has now gone into a consolidation between 1.6941 (High) and 1.6857 (Low). Moreover, it is now below the Daily, 60 and 15 min KS, as well as the 15 cloud.
Entry = 1.6920
Stop = 1.6940
Risk = 20 pips
Profit target = 1.6820
Reward = 100 Pips
RRR = 5-1
Once this trade is up + 20 pips, move your stop to breakeven and let it run.
I would appreciate if you leave a comment or like as a thank you.
Allen