Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Stocks Struggle to Small Gains Through Listless Session

Like Chinese water torture, the slow drip... drip... drip... of the stock market's dips and ascents had Wall Street hoping for better on Tuesday, but, after an early rally erased opening losses, stocks lost momentum into the close, finishing with insignificant gains.

While January was kind to investors of all stripes, February has been rude, sending stocks briefly into correction territory and still hovering just above recent lows.

Dow Jones Industrial Average February Scoreboard:

Date Close Gain/Loss Cum. G/L
2/1/18 26,186.71 +37.32 +37.32
2/2/18 25,520.96 -665.75 -628.43
2/5/18 24,345.75 -1,175.21 -1,803.64
2/6/18 24,912.77 +567.02 -1,236.62
2/7/18 24,893.35 -19.42 -1,256.04
2/8/18 23,860.46 -1,032.89 -2288.93
2/9/18 24,190.90 +330.44 -1958.49
2/12/18 24,601.27 +410.37 -1548.12
2/13/18 24,640.45 +39.18 -1508.94

At the Close, Tuesday, February 13, 2018:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 24,640.45, +39.18 (+0.16%)
NASDAQ: 7,013.51, +31.55 (+0.45%)
S&P 500: 2,662.94, +6.94 (+0.26%)
NYSE Composite: 12,574.37, +14.25 (+0.11%)

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

How Long Before Stocks Regain Previous Highs?

The question before Wall Street's punters, planners and prognosticators is measuring the length of time it will take for the main indices to regain their prior all-time-high levels.

Just in case the recent downturn isn't of the long-term variety (a 50-50 proposition), the guesses and estimates range from a few weeks to a matter of months. However, if circumstance prevail to keep stocks lower - higher interest rates, bouncy economic data, unexpected geopolitical events - regaining the high ground could take years.

A couple of recent retreats and rises may prove instructive.

After the NASDAQ shattered the 5000 mark in 2000 (5,048.62, March 10, 2000), it subsequently crashed and burned, shedding roughly 75% of its value by March 9, 2009 (1,268.64). It didn't get all the way back to the previous top until April 25, 2015, when it closed at 5,056.06.

Even more recent, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average topped out at 14,164.53 on October 9, 2007, less than 18 months later it had fallen by more than 50%, to 6,547.05, bottoming out on March 9, 2009. Fueled by central bank largesse in the form of ZIRP and QE, the Dow rocketed back to prior highs until March 5, 2013, closing at 14,253.77 that day, a period - from top to top - of a mere five-and-a-half years.

From this recent data, it appears the tops and bottoms are generally features of Spring and Fall, so the most recent January highs may not signal the market's last hurrah but portend another quick rise back beyond and then a fall.

Whatever the case may be, it does appear that the second-longest bull market in history is nearing an end, and may, in fact, be done. How long it takes to get back, after the eventual crash, is an open question, and one that should be correctly assessed in terms of years, and probably more than a decade.

For the record, the Dow regained some of what it lost over the past two weeks, but it still has a fair a distance to travel back toward the all-time highs, a touch more than 1500 points.

Next week? Why not?

Dow Jones Industrial Average February Scoreboard:

Date Close Gain/Loss Cum. G/L
2/1/18 26,186.71 +37.32 +37.32
2/2/18 25,520.96 -665.75 -628.43
2/5/18 24,345.75 -1,175.21 -1,803.64
2/6/18 24,912.77 +567.02 -1,236.62
2/7/18 24,893.35 -19.42 -1,256.04
2/8/18 23,860.46 -1,032.89 -2288.93
2/9/18 24,190.90 +330.44 -1958.49
2/12/18 24,601.27 +410.37 -1548.12

At the Close, Monday, February 12, 2018:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 24,601.27, +410.37 (+1.70%)
NASDAQ: 6,981.96, +107.47 (+1.56%)
S&P 500: 2,656.00, +36.45 (+1.39%)
NYSE Composite: 12,560.12, +154.30 (+1.24%)


Saturday, February 10, 2018

Stocks Continue Downward Spiral Second Straight Week

With stocks rallying on Friday, the disastrous second straight week of declines came to a relieving finish for equity longs, but not without significant teeth-gnashing through the tortuous five trading days.

The Dow and S&P 500 each entered correction territory on Thursday, as the blue chip index posted its second-largest single-day point decline. With the focus on the 10% down mark, Friday's gains may serve only as a temporary salve to many frayed nerves.

With the Dow Industrials still down nearly 2000 points in just the first seven trading days of February it's going to take quite an effort to regain all-time highs. The major indices peaked simultaneously in late January, but it's been all downhill since then, and the probable causes for such a shakeout are still in effect, if not even more exacerbated in the case of bond yields.

Globally, outflows from equity funds set a record, as investors pulled $30.6 billion out in the week through Wednesday, according to global fund tracker EPFR.

Breaking down those flows, the U.S. dominated with a record $33 billion in equity redemptions, while Europe saw $3.3 billion exit, the largest in 79 weeks. Japan saw the strongest equity inflows in 65 weeks at $2.4 billion, while $2.4 billion flowed into emerging markets, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

Weekly declines in US markets were uniform, as the four major indices were all lower by at least five percent, led by the Dow, at 5.21%.

The 10-year-note closed out the week at 2.83%, a level seen promoting a massive shift from stocks to bonds and risk to relative safety. Crude oil slipped to its lowest level of the year, finishing off Friday at $59.05. Though not directly related to the equity selloff, crude prices have been elevated for the past two months until they were devastated by a massive increase in supply, reported this week.

Precious metals prices were muted, falling along with stocks, bonds and nearly every other asset class.

Trickling out from the corners of mouths were murmurings of getting long art, transportation, real estate and anything tangible.

Obviously, the correction is not over, having barely dipped a toe into the -10% water. It would not be unusual to see stocks bounce early next week and possibly beyond, though a retest of the prior lows is all but inevitable.

While caution had been thrown to the wind all of last year and through January of this year, consensus sentiment has changed dramatically and markets are likely to remain unstable until volatility subsides. That may not happen for some time, since the past nine years of bank-and-buyback-induced stock profits have been characterized by extremely low levels of volatility.

The past two weeks have been witness to a fundamental change in many regards. Extreme greed turned to a healthy level of fear in just a few days.

Rising rates and the prospect of profligate spending at the federal level point to further declines in the equity complex.

Dow Jones Industrial Average February Scorecard:

Date Close Gain/Loss Cum. G/L
2/1/18 26,186.71 +37.32 +37.32
2/2/18 25,520.96 -665.75 -628.43
2/5/18 24,345.75 -1,175.21 -1,803.64
2/6/18 24,912.77 +567.02 -1,236.62
2/7/18 24,893.35 -19.42 -1,256.04
2/8/18 23,860.46 -1,032.89 -2288.93
2/9/18 24,190.90 +330.44 -1958.49

At the Close, Friday, February 9, 2018:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 24,190.90, +330.44 (+1.38%)
NASDAQ: 6,874.49, +97.33 (+1.44%)
S&P 500: 2,619.55, +38.55 (+1.49%)
NYSE Composite: 12,405.82, +135.17 (+1.10%)

For the Week:
Dow: -1330.06 (-5.21%)
NASDAQ: -366.46 (-5.06%)
S&P 500: -142.58 (-5.16%)
NYSE Composite: -679.53 (-5.19%)

Friday, February 9, 2018

The Gartman File (It's about time this fraud was exposed)

Well, after publicly calling out Dennis Gartman, celebrity investment advisor and frequent guest on CNBC, and trying to sign up for his newsletter (thegartmanletter.com), Money Daily editor Fearless Rick has received no response.

Now, maybe it's because the people at The Gartman Letter are really, really busy, tracking stocks and currencies and ETFs and what not, though that's a serious doubt. It would make more sense to believe that Gartman is indeed lying - to his subscribers, primarily - about his year-to-date (as of March 10) performance of 12.3% and outperforming the S&P by 14%, especially after digging into Mr. Dennis Gartman's history.

On March 29, 2016Gartman "admits" that he's up 8.2%.

At one time, Gartman was pegged to manage an ETF for Horizons, a Canadian-based investment firm with various funds and ETFs under management. Specifically, the fund was known as the Horizons AlphaPro Gartman ETF, which was founded in March 2009 (perfect timing, being that was the market bottom), and went out of business four years later, on March 22, 2013.

Gartman, expert trader and analyst he claims to be, managed to lose money for the ETF and its clients while the S&P was up something on the order of 132% (from about 670 to roughly 1550).

Here's an article from the UK's Guardian (note: no mention of this on CNBC or any other US news media), published just before the AlphaPro Gartman ETF closed its doors at 7.90 per share, after opening four years earlier at $10.00.

But the Gartman ETF, named after advisor Dennis Gartman, ubiquitous author of the Gartman Letter, an investment advisory, couldn’t harness the benefits of its fortunate timing. The fund went public at $10 a share. Those same shares now fetch around $7.90.

More astonishing is that this closed-end fund actually saw the equivalent of massive redemptions. That’s unheard of in the closed-end world. With the asset base, and therefore fees, down sharply, it’s no surprise that Horizons Alphapro has decided to shut the fund down next month.

Here's an earlier article on Seeking Alpha, (June 23, 2011) that notes the fund had done OK for some time, but as of the article's writing, was down 7.7%.

Here is a rather humorous note from Peter Grandich, on Gartman's performance with a chart comparing his fund to the price of gold.

Nowhere to be found on any of Mr. Gartman's various postings and appearances are mention of his Hedge Fund, formed in August of 2009, as the River Crescent Fund (apparently named for the street on which he lives and likely does business from, in Suffolk, Virginia). At the time, Gartman was looking to raise the modest sum of $200 million from investors, and, according to his SEC filings, would accept a minimum of $5 million for starters.

Apparently, anybody with five million bucks didn't need Gartman's advice, because since its inception, there's been no news, no investments, no nothing, except for a lonely SEC filing. That's probably a good thing for most investors.

So, what does Gartman manage today, after failing miserably during one of the great bull markets of all time? According to sources, he manages his own retirement fund. And that's the one he claims is up 12.3% on the year, while the stock market was beaten down severely in January and early February, and gyrating in negative territory for the better part of the past month.

Essentially, from March 2009 through March 2013, Gartman should have had worn disclaimers every time he appeared on CNBC. whether he was or not is a question for the way-back machine. Certainly, there are clips from that time period and Money Daily will investigate further. Oddly enough, no mention is made of Gartman's failure with the AlphaPro Gartman EFT on his official CNBC biography.

Here's a particularly bad call, when Gartman said he was getting out of stocks in August of 2012, just prior to the Fed's launch of QE3, a mammoth stimulus, less than a month later.

Also, as far as can be discerned, Mr. Dennis Gartman is neither a registered equity trader, a member of FINRA, nor a futures trader (since 2005). Nor is Mr. Gartman a registered investment advisor.

The only conclusions one can reasonably assume is that Dennis Gartman, being well past his prime, is living off the $50 to $100 per day he makes appearing on CNBC and whatever meager earnings he derives from his newsletter.

Speaking of his newsletter - which I have never seen and doubt ever will as my request on his website has not elicited so much as a response - here are a few reviews. They're generally unflattering, again, begging the question as to why the clownish Gartman is even on CNBC at all.

Updating on April 21, 2016, Gartman says he likes Alcoa (AA) and Gold in Yen or Euro terms. Naturally, as soon as he had finished his on-air mouthings, gold fell $20... in US dollar terms, of course. As for the Alcoa call, it's a pretty safe one, since AA has been as high as 17.75 (November, 2014) and, recently, down to a multi-year low in January of 6.12 (intra-day). Calling it a buy around $10 a share isn't exactly rocket science. Gartman may actually have a winner here, but it won't be much of one.

UPDATE: Gartman has gone from bearish (in light of a face-ripping 200-point rally on the Dow, May 24) to bullish in 24 hours. This is the typical Gartman flip-flop and more evidence that he's a complete buffoon and plays with imaginary money.

What a clod!

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Dude, Where's My Retirement Pension?

Stocks took another punch to the gut on Thursday, extending the February losses on all global indices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average officially (-10%) entered correction phase.

The NASDAQ is within a hair of a 10% drop, from 7,505.77 to 6,777.16. 6755.19 is the magic number in this case.

On the S&P 500, the January 26 top of 2,872.87 is far away from the close into correction territory (at 2585.87), achieved in today's session with a triple-digit loss.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average Scoreboard looks like this:

Date Close Gain/Loss Cum. G/L
2/1/18 26,186.71 +37.32 +37.32
2/2/18 25,520.96 -665.75 -628.43
2/5/18 24,345.75 -1,175.21 -1,803.64
2/6/18 24,912.77 +567.02 -1,236.62
2/7/18 24,893.35 -19.42 -1,256.04
2/8/18 23,860.46 -1,032.89 -2,288.93

That's in just six trading sessions, people. All the major averages are down for the year, but, hey, it's only February. Plenty of time to boost those profits.

This is only the beginning of a collapse that may be unprecedented. Considering the adherence to antiquated Keynesian economic theories spoon-fed to the masses, the unwinding will be a farce, fed by propagandists, though it's effects will be somewhat permanent on the financial status of almost everybody.

Precious metals were among the few gainers on the day.

At the Close, Thursday, February 8, 2018:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 23,860.46, -1,032.89 (-4.15%)
NASDAQ: 6,777.16, -274.82 (-3.90%)
S&P 500: 2,581.00, -100.66 (-3.75%)
NYSE Composite: 12,270.65, -416.53 (-3.28%)