Stocks Reverse Course, But Do Not Recover Recent Losses; ADP Jobs Misses Target

After three days of losses, stocks bounced back on Wednesday, though they did not recover all of the ground lost.

Since the close Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving, the Dow is down over 500 points, the NASDAQ has shed 140 points, and the S&P 500 is off 40 points. The bounce on Wednesday, December 4, recovered less than half of the recent declines. Though the losses are nothing serious in the larger scheme of things, they are signaling that at least some of the investment community are not convinced the US economy, or US corporations, are in the best of ways. Thus, profits are being taken off the table. Further declines will feed into more year-end profit-taking and further loss prevention.

Recent movement in bonds also suggests that a countertrend is developing, with money shifting from risk assets into the bond market, where returns are low but widely accepted as safer than stocks. When money flows out of dividend-producing equities into treasuries or corporate debt, it's a sure sign that investors are nervous about the future direction. Last December witnessed massive declines, bordering on sending the stock market into bearish conditions, though at decline was stopped short by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, whose message to the President's Working Group on Financial Markets (AKA the Plunge Protection Team, or PPT) was clearly designed to rescue the stock market from rampant year-end selling.

Actions taken by the Working Group served to stem the tide of sellers and produce robust gains though the better part of 2019. With the year nearing an end, stocks are once again close to all-time highs, though recent data does not support such lofty valuations. From ISM manufacturing coming in below expectations, to Wednesday's ADP private sector jobs report for November, which reported an increase of just 67,000 jobs. The payroll number was well below the expected 150,000, and was the slowest growth since May.

Analysts are warning that the ADP number may be in stark contrast to what the BLS reports in Friday's non-farm payroll data, because the ADP report did not include General Motors workers returning from strike, whereas the BLS data will include those returning workers as "jobs added." The non-farm report for November is expected to show job gains in the range of 180,000 to 187,000 on Friday, up from 128,000 in October.

It makes reading the tea leaves of market sentiment and data just a little more confusing than it already is, given the daily up-and-down movements prompted by the changing signals regarding a US trade deal with China. The trade war has been and will continue to be the main directional driver of the stock market, probably for longer than most people would entertain. The Chinese appear intent on waiting out President Trump until the 2016 election in November, and it also appears that mr. Trump is fine with that.

A non-deal on trade can only cause more consternation for investors wishing to get a real perspective on the macro side of things, though one doesn't have to look far to see that global trade has been and continues to slip and slide away. Overall, global conditions are not suitable to induce a stock market rally, though they are also not severe enough to cause a crash. A slow grind down may be the path of least resistance, with days and weeks of gains and losses speckling the index charts.

At the Close, Wednesday, December 4, 2019:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 27,649.78, +146.97 (+0.53%)
NASDAQ: 8,566.67, +46.03 (+0.54%)
S&P 500: 3,112.76, +19.56 (+0.63%)
NYSE Composite: 13,457.97, +91.88 (+0.69%)

Smackdown! Stocks Crushed; Dow Loses 859 points, NASDAQ Drops 315

Stocks were battered on Wednesday as investors fled stocks in droves, sending the Dow to its worst loss in eight months and extending the S&P 500's losing streak to five straight days.

The Dow suffered its biggest point decline since February 8 (-1,032.89). The NASDAQ's 315-point loss was the largest since the Brexit vote in England on June 23, 2016. Global markets responded the following day with huge losses, the NASDAQ dropping 202 points. Wednesday's decline on the NASDAQ was the third-largest point drop, the 4.08% loss ranks 13th all-time.

Wednesday's sudden collapse was not completely unpredictable. It came exactly two weeks after the Federal Reserve hiked the federal funds rate for the eighth consecutive time, when it's FOMC meeting concluded on September 26. Since then, stocks initially gained, with the Dow making successive all-time highs on October 2nd and 3rd. On the 4th and 5th, however, the direction reversed, with the Industrial Average losing 380 points over those two sessions.

With Wednesday's losses, the Dow has shed 1230 points and futures on Thursday are pointing to more declines.

Markets around the world have been trending lower in recent weeks, with some already in correction territory, most notably, the German DAX, Argentina's MERVAL and the KOSPI of South Korea. England's FTSE has been suffering losses of late and is more than nine percent off recent highs.

Tuesday's post here at Money Daily referenced a market action in 2007 as a comparison to the current condition, noting that in the year preceding the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, the Dow made new highs in quick succession before taking a plunge that lasted a year-and-a-half, finally reversing course in March 2009. A similar set-up occurred recently on the Dow, though the new highs were more compressed.

Large one-day declines are often event-driven. This shellacking can be tied most closely to the September interest rate hikes. With the 10-year note yielding 3.23%, there are few stocks offering that percentage level in dividends, thus, investors seeking to ameliorate risk are selling stocks and buying bonds, which are not subject to the kinds of wild price swings typical in stocks.

When markets open in the US, investors will see that the rout has spread globally. Japan's NIKKEI was down nearly four percent on Thursday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 3.5% and China stocks ripped more than five percent lower.

With closing prices on Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has wiped out most of the year's gains. The Dow is up just over 800 points on the year, a gain of less than four percent.

Dow Jones Industrial Average October Scorecard:

Date	Close	Gain/Loss	Cum. G/L
10/1/18	26,651.21	+192.90	+192.90
10/2/18	26,773.94	+122.73	+315.63
10/3/18	26,828.39	+54.45	+370.08
10/4/18	26,627.48	-200.91	+169.17
10/5/18	26,447.05	-180.43	-11.26
10/8/18	26,486.78	+39.73	+28.47
10/9/18	26,430.57	-56.21	-27.74
10/9/18	25,598.74	-831.83	-859.57

At the Close, Wednesday, October 10, 2018:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 25,598.74, -831.83 (-3.15%)
NASDAQ: 7,422.05, -315.97 (-4.08%)
S&P 500: 2,785.68, -94.66 (-3.29%)
NYSE Composite: 12,622.13, -338.32 (-2.61%)

Dow Industrials Down 8th Straight Day, Damage Spreading

Well, there goes (almost) all of the gains made on the Dow between June 1 and June 11. Eight-day losing streaks (as any addicted gambler will tell you) can do nasty things to your bottom line. In this case, it's looking squarely at end-of-quarter results, which, at this exact juncture, is a small gain. April was +50.81, May +252.59, June +45.86, for a whopping grand total of 349.26, a little short of 1 1/2 percent gain.

While there are still six trading days left in June and in the quarter, there's the distinct possibility that the Dow, already in a confirmed bear market since April 9, is heading still lower, looking at the recent (March 23) bottom of 23,533.20 for any kind of support.

As the Dow continues the longest consecutive daily slide in the past 40 years, dating back to 1978, the recent losses have wiped out all gains for the year, leaving the Dow down one percent YTD. The record for longest daily losing Dow streak is 11 days, that level of pain occurring in 1971 (Nixon closes the gold window) and 1973 (OPEC?).

All is not gloom and doom, however. The NASDAQ is still 12% higher for the year and the S&P 500 is holding onto about a three percent gain for the year.

Losses are beginning to spread. The S&P has lost 37 points since June 12, and the NASDAQ was down 68 points just today. Whether these losses will stick and markets begin to behave more rationally, like the Dow, is a matter for the future. Since the February correction, analysts have warned investors that this is a stock pickers' market, noting that the easy days of just buying an index fund or playing the widely held stocks has come to an end. It's more about being adroit and making in-and-out moves, much like a day-trader. It's really nowhere for long term investors to be playing, as many stocks are still near all-time highs and are still carrying overpriced valuations, many based on earnings that have been manipulated higher by buyback sleight-of-hand.

Non-believers in the Dow Theory, which confirmed a primary trend change from a bull to a bear market on April 9, may be getting a bit nervous, though the recent bidding on the NASDAQ and Russell 2000 would suggest otherwise.

Once the floodgates are fully open, a condition which feels very much like all of this week, there will be no place to run to, nowhere to hide, except, maybe bonds, which have been stubborn but steady, the 10-year-note holding at 2.90% as of today, though there are indications the yield could go lower, given the number of investors seeking a safe place for their money.

So much for the Fed's grand plan to hike interest rates and unload their massive balance sheet into the public sphere. Since they play with make-believe money which they themselves conjured out of thin air, losses don't really matter to them, since they can make it all up with a few kind keystrokes on their magical money-printing computers.

As usual, it's the serfs that will get forty lashes in the form of lower stock prices and higher consumer prices... so, make that 80 lashes.

Dow Jones Industrial Average June Scorecard:

Date	Close	Gain/Loss	Cum. G/L
6/1/18	24,635.21	+219.37	+219.37
6/4/18	24,813.69	+178.48	+397.85
6/5/18	24,799.98	-13.71	+384.14
6/6/18	25,146.39	+346.41	+730.55
6/7/18	25,241.41	+95.02	+825.57
6/8/18	25,316.53	+75.12	+900.69
6/11/18	25,322.31	+5.78	+906.47
6/12/18	25,320.73	-1.58	+904.89
6/13/18	25,201.20	-119.53	+785.36
6/14/18	25,175.31	-25.89	+759.47
6/15/18	25,090.48	-84.83	+674.64
6/18/18	24,987.47	-103.01	+571.63
6/19/18	24,700.21	-287.26	+284.37
6/20/18	24,657.80	-42.41	+241.96
6/21/18	24,461.70	-196.10	+45.86

At the Close, Thursday, June 21, 2018:
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 24,461.70, -196.10 (-0.80%)
NASDAQ: 7,712.95, -68.56 (-0.88%)
S&P 500: 2,749.76, -17.56 (-0.63%)
NYSE Composite: 12,560.24, -88.50 (-0.70%)

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%)

How is Your Money Doing? Here's the February Dow Scoreboard, Day 5

In the sports world, all manner of statistics and scenarios are routinely trotted out in attempts to reinforce how one team or player is better than another. All of this analysis is done every day on TV and radio talk shows, but the in the final analysis, as so perfectly expressed by the king of sports talk radio, Jim Rome, is "scoreboard," as in, who won the game, no matter the stats.

The same kind of metric can easily be applied to stocks and investments, as it no doubt should be. Thus, there's no need for analysis, no need for bald-headed, econo-speak commentators, no need for inverse correlations, causations, or extrapolations. All that matter can be found in the daily closing prices for individual stocks, or for individual stock indices, such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the measure by which everybody measures success.

Over the past four trading sessions, there's been more than sufficient ammunition for all kinds of wild speculation and analysis of what happened and why, and there may be a thousand reasons why the Dow and other indices were slaughtered last Friday and again this Monday. The more simplistic answers appear in the comeback sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday, which failed to recoup all of the losses. Thus, it's all in the scoreboard, i.e., the daily closes on the Dow. Nothing more, nothing less. No analysis necessary. You either won or you lost.

Let's just track the Dow through the month of February and see how well those precious stocks are doing.

Here are the only numbers that matter:

Dow Jones Industrial Average dates, closing prices, gains or losses:

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

So, as can clearly be seen, even adding in the smallish gain on Feb. 1, the Dow is down a massive amount. The contention here at Money Daily is that there has been a sea change in the market. Not only is a correction in the works (-10%), but a bear market (-20%) is quickly developing. We'll keep tracking so you at home can keep score on your "investments."

At the Close, Wednesday, February 7, 2018:
Dow Jones Industrial Average, 24,893.35, -19.42 (-0.08%)
NASDAQ: 7,051.98, -63.90 (-0.90%)
S&P 500: 2,681.65, -13.49 (-0.50%)
NYSE Composite: 12,714.83, -30.62 (-0.24%)