Tightening
AAPL awaiting breakout to next supply areaNASDAQ:AAPL consolidating tightly. Awaiting the next breakout to around $195 supply area.
Potentially looking at new highs after that.
These are my views and analysis and is only used for educational purposes. I am not a financial advisor.
Nothing in the information posted here is intended to be or should be interpreted as trading advice.
Central banks navigate the last stretch of the tightening cycleThis week we learnt how vital Central Bank communication is to global financial markets. The trio of central banks – The Federal Reserve (Fed), European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) held their respective meetings. Each of the central banks tried to convey how they will navigate monetary policy amidst a slowing economy and avoid a hard landing.
China takes small steps to shore up the recovery
Even the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) surprised the markets this week, by announcing a cut in the 7-day Open Market Operations (OMO) by 10Bps to 1.9%1 which paved the way for another cut to the one-year medium term lending facility rate by 10Bps to 2.65%2. These recent developments mark a more proactive stance by Chinese policy makers in trying to tackle the Chinese slowdown in activity since the re-opening. Clearly more is needed. Policymakers are soliciting opinions from business leaders and economists on how to revitalise the economy in a number of urgent meetings3. While the Fed and ECB are trying to tame inflation, China has the opposite problem as inflation remains low. Manufacturing remains weak, exports are slowing, and credit growth is cooling. This is why it’s no surprise that the markets are prepping for a broader package of stimulus targeted towards the ailing property sector.
A hawkish skip for the Fed
The recent flurry of economic reports continues to show the US economy is holding up but losing steam, supporting the Fed’s approach of changing the pace of its policy tightening. The Fed kept the fed funds rate in range of 5-5.25%, by unanimous vote, in line with market expectations after 10 straight hikes dating back to March 2022.
The Fed’s dot plot showed the median rate at 5.6% versus 5.1% a month back. In the summary of economic projections, the median unemployment rate forecast was revised lower from 4.5% to 4.1% by the end of 2023 while the core inflation rate was revised higher from 3.6% to 3.9% making the case for more hikes this year. This clearly was a hawkish skip.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell was careful to point out that no decision was made on a July hike, but he did say it is a live meeting, leading the market to increase the probability of a move. What surprised me the most, was that Powell said rate cuts would be a couple of years out which is at odds with the dot plot forecast of 100Bps of cuts in 2024.
Senior Economist to WisdomTree Jeremy Siegel believes the Fed is done hiking and that alternative inflation metrics which incorporate real time housing inputs show inflation running at 1.4% instead of 4.1%. This is based on alternative shelter inflation calculations using Case Shiller Housing and Zillow rent annualized at 0.5% instead of the 8% that is biasing Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) CPI higher.
ECB’s revised inflation forecasts remain at odds
After raising the deposit rate by 25Bps to 3.5%, the ECB was a lot clearer than the Fed in signalling that rate hikes are almost certain next month on July 27. The ECB remains too optimistic on growth, reducing their projection for 2023 real GDP to only 0.9% (from 1% in its March projections).
While I would agree with the ECB’s view that (1) mostly labour-intensive services will support economic growth over the next two years and (2) the current hump in wage inflation will show up via higher prices for these services, I remain sceptical amidst the global headwinds for manufacturing, and a slower pace of overall growth could keep inflation as high as the ECB now projects. While wages are likely to accelerate slightly above 5% in 2023, they should begin declining to 4% yoy by late 2024. We believe, if core inflation continues to recede in the coming months and the real economy grows at 0.4% in 2023, the ECB will stay put in September after a final move next month.
As expected, the ECB confirmed that it will stop to reinvest proceeds from maturing bonds under its standard Asset Purchase Programme (APP) from July onwards. It won’t offer new long term liquidity injections upon the expiry of the €477Bn of a TLTRO III liquidity measure on 28 June 2023.
BOJ sits tight
As expected, the BOJ kept all key policy settings unchanged, including the +/-50Bps band around the zero% Japanese Government Bond JGB yield target. Since taking the helm in April 2023, BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda has stressed the high cost of premature tightening as the economy is finally seeing green shoots toward sustainable inflation.
In contrast to the ECB, the BoJ's latest assessment and outlook for the economy and inflation were also largely unchanged from their update in the April Outlook Report. The BoJ continues to note "extremely high uncertainties" surrounding economies and financial markets at home and abroad." Japanese equity markets reacted positively to the BOJ’s status quo stance on monetary policy. Looking ahead, the Fed’s potential pivot back to a hawkish mode versus the BOJ’s dovish perseverance could pave the way for further upside for Japanese equities owing to the underlying weakness in the Yen versus the US dollar.
Sources
1 Bloomberg on June 13, 2023
2 Bloomberg on June 15, 2023
3 Bloomberg on June 14, 2023
S&P500 and US stock marketThe medium- and long-term forecast of a serious fall remains in force , but so far there is no confirmation of its beginning, we are focusing on the above levels. Technically, we can still show a small increase, fundamentally the situation is unstable and the fall can begin at any moment. There are serious problems in the banking sector , the prospects of a recession . In previous reviews, the inversion of the yield curve (US government bonds) was mentioned more than once, at the moment the situation is only getting worse. Sooner or later, it will begin to return to a "normal state", which will be the beginning of an sharp phase of the crisis.
Quality is back in focus, amidst the banking turmoilHistory never repeats itself, but it often does rhyme. The recent collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank in the US and the forced takeover of Credit Suisse by rival UBS have triggered concerns of contagion across the global financial system. The current stress in the banking sector is reminiscent of the 2008 financial crisis. However, unlike the 2008 financial crisis, uncertainty is not centred on the quality of assets on bank balance sheets but instead on the potential for deposit flight.
Tough ride for Banks ahead
US regional banks have witnessed significant deposit outflows which, combined with unrealised losses on their security holdings, have seen banks consuming their liquid assets as a very fast pace. In turn, sentiment towards European banks has deteriorated. This is evident in the widening of debt risk premia, making it more expensive for banks to fund their operations. It’s important to note that banks were already tightening lending standards prior to recent events. So, lending conditions are likely to tighten further as deposits shrink at small and regional US banks and regulators respond to the new risk environment. The turn of events in the banking sector have led to higher uncertainty which is likely to be reflected in higher volatility in credit markets. So far, the impact on other sectors has been fairly contained, but a further deterioration of bank credit quality could drag other industries lower as well. We are still in the early innings, so the range of repercussions remains wide.
Traditional defensive sectors offer more protection in prior weakening credit cycles
On analysing the impact of a further rise (by 200Bps) in credit spreads on US and European debt (highlighted by the dark blue bars) we found that not all equity sectors will be impacted equally on the downside. In fact, traditional defensive sectors like utilities, consumer staples and healthcare could offer some protection in comparison to cyclical sectors such as banks, energy and real estate.
Since March 8, 2023, the steepest price corrections have been centred around the banking and commodity related sectors such as energy and materials, while technology, healthcare, consumer staples and utilities have managed to escape the rout illustrated by the grey bars. The historical sector performance (in the light blue bars) during Eurozone debt crisis (the second half of 2011), confirm a similar pattern whereby the traditional defensive sectors tend to shield investors when spreads widen.
Europe earnings hold forth despite the banking turmoil
Interestingly despite the recent banking turmoil, the global earnings revision ratio continued to show resilience in March. Europe stood out as the only region with more upgrades than downgrades. Earnings remain the key driver of equity market performance. Europe has clearly gotten off to a strong start and it will be interesting to see if European earnings expectations can hold up as credit conditions deteriorate.
Within Europe we analysed the sectors that were most exposed to the banking stress. By observing the beta of the sectors in the EuroStoxx 600 Index relative to regional banking spreads, we found that real estate, financials, industrials, materials, and energy were most exposed on the downside to the high banking stress. On the contrary, consumer staples, information technology, utilities and healthcare showed more resilience.
When the going gets tough, quality gets going
Investors should focus on companies with strong balance sheets which we often tend to find within the quality factor. Quality stocks, characterised by a higher earnings yield compared to its dividend yield alongside higher return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA), would offer a higher margin of safety in periods of higher volatility.
Conclusion
While central banks in US, Europe and UK continued their hawkish stance at their most recent policy-setting meetings, the evolving banking crisis could alter the path for monetary policy ahead. Chair Powell conceded that tightening financial conditions could have the same impact as another quarter point rate hike or more from the Fed.
Given the rising concerns on the risk of banking industry contagion, shrinking corporate profits and central bank policy ahead we continue to believe that positioning your equity exposure towards the quality factor would be prudent.
Europe is treading a fine line between growth and inflationEuropean equities have ushered in 2023 with a strong rebound, up 7.72%1. Exchange-traded fund (ETF) flows into the European region have risen by US$13bn, in sharp contrast to the US that has seen US$9bn of outflows year-to-date (YTD)as of 27 February 2023.
The confluence of China re-opening its economy and prudent management of resources during the energy crisis, alongside better valuations, helped European equities flourish. Essentially, the worst impact from the energy crisis that was priced in for Europe did not end up materialising, thereby improving sentiment.
Resilient Q4 2022 earnings season but outlook remains cautious
Europe is seeing better earnings growth for Q4 2022, up 8.81%3. The deep value parts of the market – financials, energy, utilities, consumer staples, and healthcare – continue to contribute to positive earnings growth. At the same time, China’s reopening has benefitted cyclical sectors across consumer discretionary and communications which posted the strongest earnings growth up 49% and 38% respectively4.
At 8% of sales, Europe has the second-highest exposure to China after Asia-Pacific (ex-Japan). It therefore would make sense to position for a better China macro-outlook in the sectors with the highest revenue exposure to China – semiconductors, materials, consumer durables, energy, and automobiles. We also know Chinese consumers saved one-third of their income last year, depositing 17.8 trillion yuan ($2.6 trillion) into banks, and investors are pinning their hopes on those savings finding their way into Europe’s luxury goods market.
Another factor favouring European equities has been European buyback activity which has increased to a record level, with a net buyback spend reaching around 220bn thereby creating an additional yield of around 2%5. This has helped Europe’s total yield (that is, buyback + dividends) outpace that of the US for the first time in 30 years.
Headwinds persist from further tightening by European Central Bank (ECB)
Euro-area Purchasing Manager’s Indices (PMI) continued their rebound in February reaching a nine-month high of 51, helped by easing headwinds from the energy crisis and resilient consumer spending amidst fading inflation. Headline inflation in the Euro-area for January dipped to 8.6%, showing further evidence that price pressures are easing6. However, core inflation in the Euro-area rose to 5.6%5 from 5.2% in December, highlighting that underlying price pressures continue to remain sticky. The more resilient economic data of late is likely to keep the ECB on a more hawkish monetary path. As monetary policy works with approximately a 10 - 12 month lag, we are yet to see the full impact of the recent spate of tightening.
Euro-area M1 growth is down to 0.6%, marking the second weakest reading on record pointing to weaker growth ahead. Furthermore, the Q1 results of the ECB Bank Lending Survey showed Euro-area credit conditions tightening at the fastest pace since 2009. In the Euro-area, moves in M1 growth tends to lead economic momentum by six months. This suggests that tighter monetary policy is leading to reduced credit availability for the real economy.
Tailwinds from looser fiscal policy to aid the Euro-area recovery
Prior to the Ukraine war, the Euro-area was characterised by relatively tight fiscal policy. However, the shock of the energy crisis drove a shift in fiscal policy. Governments are loosening their fiscal purse strings again, offering significant support to both consumers and businesses amidst the recent energy shock. Government expenditure, as a share of GDP, surged to almost 60% as COVID-19 hit (from just over 45% prior to the virus) and it is now rising again higher than before the pandemic7. The Eurozone budget deficit is now widening and heading towards 4% of GDP. Eurozone government expenditure as a share of GDP in 2022, through Q3, was 3% higher than the average from 2017 to 2019, with revenues up less than 1%. The think tank, Bruegel, estimates that EU economies have set aside €680bn to date to protect consumers from the energy crisis, which comes in addition to the EU Recovery Funds (€750bn from 2021 to 2027) which are now flowing. This is close to 10% of GDP, which excludes the cost of COVID-19 support.
The European economy remains caught between tailwinds – loose fiscal policy, easing energy prices, strong labour market, the re-opening of the Chinese economy – and headwinds of a weakening credit cycle in response to tighter monetary policy. Amidst this macro backdrop we expect investors to be more selective as the existing tailwinds should help Europe endure a milder than expected recession.
Brace for volatility as inflation meets recession2023 has been ushered in with a rebound in pockets of equity underperformance from 2022. Markets are coming to terms with the fact that stickier inflation and more resilient economic data globally are likely to keep central banks busy this year. Owing to which the spectre of interest rates staying higher for longer appears to be the dominant theme for the first half of 2023. Global money market curves are re-pricing higher to reflect the tighter monetary scenario.
For the Federal Reserve (Fed), markets have priced in a 5.5% terminal rate, somewhat higher than was suggested by the median dot plot back in December. While in Europe, 160Bps of additional rate hikes are being priced for the European Central Bank (ECB) with terminal rate forecasts approaching 4%. The speculative frenzy witnessed since the start of 2023, indicates that equity markets are discounting the fact that the global economy has not faced such an aggressive pace of tightening in more than a decade and the ramifications, although lagged, will eventually be felt across risk assets.
Preference for international vs US equities
Exchange-traded fund (ETF) flows since the start of 2023 resonate investors’ preferences to diversify their portfolios with a higher allocation to international markets versus the US. Since the start of 2023, international equity market ETFs have received the lion’s share of inflows, amounting to US$20.6bn in sharp contrast to US equity ETFs that suffered US$9.3bn in outflows.
Looking back over the past decade, US companies outpaced international stocks owing to two main drivers of equity price appreciation: earnings and valuation. Earnings remain the key driver for equity markets over the long term. If we try to think about what lies ahead, we can see that earnings revision estimates are displaying a marked turnaround for China, Japan, and Emerging Markets (EM), whilst the US and Europe are poised to see further earnings contractions.
China’s recovery remains the important swing factor that could enable its economy, alongside EM and Japan, to outperform global equities in 2023. At 8% of sales, Europe has the second highest exposure after Asia-Pacific (ex-Japan) to China. Yet it’s important to bear in mind that European companies earn twice the amount of revenue from the US than from China. So, a soft landing in the US will be vital for Europe to continue its cyclical rally.
US valuations remain high vs international developed and EM equities
US equity market valuations from a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio remain high globally, whilst Japan continues to trade at a steep 29% discount to its 15-year average. Amidst the recent rally, European valuations at a 13.7x P/E ratio remain at a 14% discount to its 15-year average. That being said, three months ago European equity valuations were trading at a 35% discount to its 15-year average. After travelling half the distance to their long-term average, European valuations might have to contend with the headwinds of tighter monetary policy.
Evident from the chart above, international markets ex-US continue to boast of favourable valuations allowing for a higher margin of safety, which is why we expect investor positioning to tilt in favour of international markets ex-US over the course of 2023.
The battle between Energy and Technology stocks
The Energy sector is coming off a strong year, as tight supplies and rising demand drove energy prices higher in 2022. While these dynamics have failed to play out so far in 2023, owing to the speculative frenzy in riskier parts of the market, we expect earnings results for energy companies, and their stock performance across the spectrum (including oil, gas, refining and services), to maintain momentum in 2023. Whilst investment in oil and gas production has been rising, it will still take multiple years for global supply to meet demand, which continues to support the narrative of higher energy prices.
Refining capacity continues to look tight this year, given the reduced capacity and long lead time required to bring new capacity online. We expect this to support another strong year for the profitability of refining operators. At the same time, energy service companies should also benefit as spending on exploration and production continues to gather steam. The biggest risk to the sector remains if demand for energy falters in the face of a severe recession. However, as we expect most economies to face a modest recession, this risk is less likely for the Energy sector.
Meanwhile, higher interest rates were the key driver of the underperformance of the Technology sector last year. We continue to see weakness in the Technology sector amidst rising risks of peak globalisation, weaker earnings, and the potential for more regulation. Despite the recent layoff announcements by technology firms, they still appear inflated, with employee growth in recent years 20% too high relative to real sales growth. The COVID-19 pandemic had accelerated the demand in software and technology spending with the rise of remote work and social distancing. However, companies today are more likely to cut their technology spending to offset the higher costs of energy, travel, wages, and other factors. The key risk, in our view, remains that valuations have come down, and if rates do begin to peak, selective technology companies could benefit from the growth generated by their cost-cutting initiatives.
Value vs Growth in 2023
Value stocks tend to be positively correlated with higher inflation. In 2022, high inflation was a result of rising commodity prices, labour shortages, and fiscal stimulus provided by Western economies, whilst Growth stocks were penalised for their lofty valuations. Value-based stocks flourished on commodity supply constraints and cheaper valuations amidst a rising rate environment. Much of this is now priced into Value stocks. Most Value stocks’ earnings growth and valuation re-ratings rely on higher commodity prices or interest rates or a factor outside of their control. Owing to this, we still believe there are opportunities where constrained supply in the absence of falling demand will continue to support higher prices.
There are significant prospects in Europe and Asia where discounts remain wide and sizeable valuation gaps exist across sectors. Europe’s energy sector accounted for two-thirds of Europe’s EPS (earnings per share) growth in 2022. The continuing trend of capital discipline, resilient earnings, and high shareholder returns should keep attracting flows into the sector in 2023. We expect Value stocks to be in better shape to withstand the global economic slowdown. Historically, the Value factor has demonstrated resilience during periods of interest rate volatility.
Conclusion
There is considerable uncertainty about how 2023 will unfold. As the key focus moves from inflation to a recession in 2023, it opens up the possibility of several outcomes for central banks and interest rates. Keeping this in mind, 2023 may well be a tale of two halves, with higher interest rates in the first half, followed by lower rates in the second half as a global recession takes centre stage.
$FBRT ready to move higher?* Coming up on the right side of its base
* Picking up on volume as it ascends in price
* Broke out of its inverse H&S pattern earlier and now is in a tight consolidation
* Three consecutive pocket pivots
* Forming a bull flag
Technicals:
Ticker: $FBRT
Sector: Real Estate - REIT - Mortgage
Relative Strength vs. Sector: 6.65
Relative Strength vs. SP500: 5.77
U/D Ratio: 1.91
Base Depth: 34.91%
Distance from breakout buy point: -4.67%
Volume 21.91% above its 15 day avg.
Trade idea:
* You can enter now as the price is still consolidating.
* Reason for entry is that the stock has been printing pocket pivots for the past three sessions in a row.
* This shows signs of accumulation which can also be seen in the high U/D ratio value.
* Manage risk accordingly
Henry Hub Natural Gas futures showing slowing momentumHenry Hub Natural Gas futures showing slowing momentum across the futures curve up to Jan 2024 ($NGF2024).
Recent geopolitical risks i.e. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, have pushed the prices of both spot and futures of commodities higher.
Natural Gas futures across the curve are tracking each other with a tighter spread till Jun 2023 implying that the market participants expect the prices to remain elevated for a longer time. However in the short-term, the price action shows an exhaustion by bulls forming a ranging pattern with a possibility of a reversal.
Central banks around the developed world highlighted in their Monetary Policy Statements this May that they expect energy prices to remain elevated for the next 18 months. I'll definitely be watching out for the impact of the policy tightening regime - which we are in now - to the demand side of the economy, and it's second-order effects on gas prices.
When Relief Rally Coincided with Quad WitchingYM1!
The US equity market selloff in Q1 was pretty fierce due to a confluence of reasons. Even the large-cap stocks have entered Oversold territory, as suggested by the RSI on the E-mini Dow future. Since the middle of March, the equity market experienced a typical round of relief rally, coinciding with the Quad Witching, when a large amount of derivatives expiration, order flow, and rebalancing happened.
Now the Dow is far away from the Oversold level, and the previous support has become overhead resistance. The decline will likely resume as the Fed is determined to tighten financial conditions to fight inflation.
Entry at 34400, stop above 35450. Targets are 32500 and 30000.
Disclaimer:
The contents in this Idea are intended for information purpose only and do not constitute investment recommendation or advice. Nor are they used to promote any specific products or services. They serve as an integral part of a case study to demonstrate fundamental concepts in risk management under given market scenarios.
Can technical analysis infer the result of Fed Tightening?This chart uses a simple downtrend in order to predict the terminal fed funds rate, which I believe will be 150-175 basis points by March 2023. As we can see, the previous fed funds rate hikes under the current downtrend have resulted in periods of lower GDP growth as well as yield-curve inversions and very regularly precede lows in total US jobless claims (the two criteria for a slowdown to be considered a recession are two consecutive quarters of lower GDP growth as well as a trough in unemployment). Historically, sharp increases in oil prices have been consistent indicators of economic slowdowns and very rarely move to the upside with a significant degree of magnitude without preceding a recession or at least a period of stock-market volatility.
Bitcoin boll.bands Need bottoming and tightening!!yeah this is going down more. Lets take a look at my level of tech, analysis. As you can see in the end of July. we squeezed the bb's(bonerbands) really tight, and pop! We went up. We then went up a nice runup from September, breaking ATH, reaching 69(Nice!) K. In September, you can see Bitcoin was also hugging the bottom of the bb's then, forming some support.
We still need to hug our current bb's. We are currently like a slimjim inside of a magnum condom.
We need to ride it down a bit to form some support, by then bb's will be nice and tight again.
A Chart Demonstrating How FED Policy Causes VolatilityDuring a discussion with a contact, I pointed out that watching the FED is one of the easy ways to forecast volatility.
Being specific here, FED policy on interest rates is a key predictor of market volatility.
To summarise, Federal Reserve interest rates induce tightening at institutions. This in turn causes credit crunches out in the real markets as institutions begin to tighten standards.
When this feeds through into the consumer level, this causes volatility n the real markets and hence we see peaks of the market-based components of credit conditions (I.e. the institutional banks and companies) coinciding very neatly with the VIX.
There are many reasons for this.
Firstly, tight credit conditions mean less margin is available.
This should be self-explanatory.
Secondly, it means that ultimately consumers are not able to consume on the level that they previously did and this of course hits institutions in their balance sheets.
As a third-order consequence, it can often mean that it becomes difficult to roll debt and service debt and this can sometimes force the selling of assets to meet short-term cashflow requirements.
A lot of the time, this means selling bonds and equities.
We can see that when the FED begins tightening, the market-based institutions begin tightening a few months to a couple of years later.
The FED's interest rates therefore clearly front-run interest rates and credit conditions out in the real world.
And thus, because these credit conditions are correlated to the VIX, the FED's activity is a clear predictor of big spikes in the VIX (As well as potential downside in the vix).
LITE breaking out of a tight range with higher than average volu* Excellent earnings
* Strong up trend in the long term
* High 3-month relative strength of 2.61 in the Tech sector
* High 50 day U/D ratio of 2.11
* Breaking out of a 3.31% range
* During the consolidation the volume did dry up and as it started breaking out the volume picked up.
Trade Idea:
* You can enter now as the price is just breaking out of the tight range
* If you're looking for a better entry you may wait for an entry opportunity near the $105.61 area
Bearish on silver and Gold Hey guys,
Hope everyone New years was great. We are looking at the daily chart of silver which is looking like it is forming a correction pattern. With it lack luster performance last year i dont see it changing that soon with sellers coming in every pop it had. I wanted to also debunk some Myth of the market that people dont seem to pay attention too, and that is Silver/Gold are hedges against inflation and the market going down. This couldn't be more false, gold and silver are hedges to Monetary policy, its the fed reaction to these events that shoot gold and silver up not the event itself.
Lets take the inflation of the 1970s-1980s yes gold was tied down but when it was released from the gold standard in 1972 it went up on anticipation of what the fed chair was going to do then corrected in 1976 right back to the same price it was in 1972 then raised again in anticipation until Paul Volcker did his tightening then rip up as money flooded the stock market. Gold and silver usually tell you the direction the market is about to go but do not go opposite to the market. COVID is the perfect example both gold and the stock market went down together and both rebounded together on the exact same day but gold and silver will out perform in anticipation of the effect of the monetary policy applied in the crisis. So if you believe the market will correct with the tightening then you must look back at silver and see that it will fall too.
timing it near the bottom will be a much more rewarding venture then buying it now.
Periods of low volatility and their explosive nature - EXAMPLEThis is Litecoin,
when it ran straight up to ~$300
Price needs direction and the eventuality is that it breaks out massively, often to the upside
this is an example of a tight trading range
I will attach my previous ideas which included tight ranges comparable to this one (maybe not as tight)
Consolidation Period Like how CGC is Reacting to Markets Crazy violent moves it is doing fine consolidating holding support of 20 ema while it hasn't found the volume to breakthrough the shorter resistance and hold there is strong support and no one bailing no mater what traders are doing i feel it should do well into earnings. as far as earnings they will not be looking so much at numbers as to forecast and i think Klien is making all the smart moves this is not being ran by stoners there is a serious numbers man in charge but i don't bet solely on numbers and balance sheets i was a fan of Blackstone in the low 20's several years ago when know one was interested Steve has Proven everyone wrong and so will Dave. watch the BBTighten if i where to trade Bollinger Band line, in the past upon heavy volume the 15min chart showed great entry right before it crossed on heavy volume usually made tremendous move...