Markets were undecided on Tuesday.  SPY opened down 0.07%, DIA opened 0.12% lower, and QQQ opened down 0.16%.  At that point, SPY and QQQ rallied to recross their opening gap and reach the highs by 10 a.m. From there they sold off reaching the lows 45 minutes later and then bobbing along those lows until 1 p.m. when they rallied to recross the gap again by 2:25 p.m. and then recross it once more in a slow modest slide into the close.  For its part, DIA had a similar path for the day but with much less magnitude of waves.  This action gave us indecisive, black-bodied Doji-type candles in all three major index ETFs. It also gave us a higher high and a higher low than Monday by a lower open and close.  Again, this happened on well-below average volume in all three major index ETFs.

On the day, nine of the 10 sectors were in the red with Energy (-2.14%) a full 1.5% out in front of the other sectors leading markets lower.  On the other side, Healthcare (+0.05%) was the only sector in the green. Meanwhile, SPY lost 0.16%, DIA fell 0.13%, and QQQ lost 0.21%.  VXX popped 3.92% to close at 46.17 and T2122 dropped back out of the overbought territory to close in the top end of its mid-range at 70.83.  On the bond front, 10-year bond yields fell to 3.81% and Oil (WTI) dropped another 0.74% to close at $73.82 per barrel.  So, Tuesday was more of a rest and/or indecision day for traders as markets wandered around the small opening gap all day. By the closing bell, markets had small black bodies.  However, even at their extremes, none of the major index ETFs were more than half a percent from their Monday close.

The major economic news scheduled for Tuesday was limited to API Weekly Crude Oil Stocks after the close, which showed a 0.347-million-barrel inventory build (compared to a forecasted 2.800-million-barrel drawdown and well above the prior week’s 5.205-million-barrel drawdown). 

In Fed news, on Tuesday, Fed Governor Bowman (a hawk) told an Alaska Bankers conference that she is still cautious about changing Fed policy.  Bowman said, “it will become appropriate to gradually lower the federal funds rate to prevent monetary policy from becoming overly restrictive…”  However, she continued, “we need to be patient and avoid undermining continued progress on lowering inflation by overreacting to any single data point (apparently a reference to July’s 4.3% Unemployment value).”  Bowman noted doubts about data quality, saying “Increased measurement challenges and the frequency and extent of data revisions…make the task of assessing the current state of the economy…challenging.”  This led to her conclusion, “I will remain cautious in my approach to considering adjustments to the current stance of policy.”

After the close, KEYS, LZB, PAGS, and TOL reported beats on both the revenue and earnings line.  Meanwhile, ALC, JKHY and ZTO missed on revenue while beating on earnings.  However, COTY missed on both the top and bottom lines.

In stock news, on Tuesday, the PARA takeover saga continued as a new suitor made his interest official, submitting a $4.3 billion bid via the acquisition of National Amusements.  Later, JNJ announced they have agreed to buy V-Wave (a heart failure treatment maker) for $600 million up front and potentially an additional $1.1 billion in milestone payments (based on the development of V-Wave’s treatments).  Meanwhile, GOOGL announced its Waymo robotaxi unit had doubled its “paid rides” to 100k per week over three months of operation.  (Not bad considering Waymo only has 700 of its robotic taxis.)  Meanwhile, WFC announced it had agreed to sell its “non-agency third-party Commercial Mortgage Servicing” unit to private firm Trimont.  The terms of the sale were not disclosed.  At the same time, STLA announced it was delayed its investment plans for Belvidere, IL.  This came after the UAW filed grievances Monday alleging STLA has violated the terms of its November 2023 contract.  STLA denied this charge.  After the close, MCHP announced it had detected potentially unauthorized activity on its network systems that had disrupted operations at come facilities.  (The activity was seen Aug. 17 and again on Aug. 19.)  The company said it is working to bring all of its systems back online.  Also after the close, BBAI (and AI company) announced it had won a contract of up to $2.4 billion over 10 years with the FAA.

In stock legal and governmental news, on Tuesday, the EU announced it would slash its previously announced additional tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China. For example, TSLA will pay an additional 9% tariff (much lower than the previously-announced 20.8%).  These “punitive duties” are on top of the EU’s standard 10% tariff on imported cars.  The European Commission said that the changes come after it had verified the Chinese government subsidies EV companies had received.  At the same time, the FDA approved JNJ’s “chemotherapy-free” combination treatment for a type of non-small cell lung cancer.  (This puts the JNJ treatment in competition with AZN’s blockbuster drug Tagrisso.)  Later, DIS backed down in the face of heavy bad publicity and announced it will drop its motion to dismiss a lawsuit.  Previously, DIS claimed that a user agreement accepted for a 2019 free trial of DIS+ streaming service prevented a FL widower from suing over the wrongful death of his wife.  (His wife died from allergic reaction to food served at a DIS restaurant in 2023, after the couple had informed the restaurant of the allergy and the restaurant claimed to accommodate food allergies.) Instead of forced arbitration, DIS now says the case can be decided in court. 

Elsewhere, the Dept. of Transportation announced the ALK acquisition of HA had been cleared by the Justice Dept. and was now under DOT review.  Later, the NHTSA announced BMWYY (BMW) is recalling 721k vehicles over electrical short-circuit risk due to a faulty water pump connector seal.  At the same time, the FAA has formally required the inspection of all BA 787 Dreamliner jets over the five recent “mid-air dive” reports that have been tied to pilot seat adjustment turning off the autopilot.  Later, the UK competition watchdog agency announced it had accepted META’s proposed changes to the way it uses customer’s data in advertising.  At the same time, a US Appeals Court revived a lawsuit against GOOGL.  The class-action suit alleges that GOOGL continued to collect personal data of Chrome browser users after they chose not to synchronize their browser to Google accounts.

After the close, WBD pledged to spend at least $8.5 billion to produce movies and TV shows in Las Vegas after the company received a tax incentive package.  Finally, a TX Trump-appointed federal judge struck down the FTC ban on most non-compete agreements required for employees.  (The same judge had temporarily blocked the ban in July.)  The ruling said the FTC does not have the authority to ban practices it deems as unfair competition methods, even though the agency was tasked by Congress is enforcing federal antitrust laws.  (Appeals will very likely follow, but with the uber-Republican SCOTUS, the odds of the bans coming back into effect are long at best.)

Overnight, Asian markets were mixed again as seven of the 12 regional exchanges were in the red.  Taiwan (-0.85%) and Hong Kong (-0.69%) paced the losses while Thailand (+0.73%) was by far the biggest gainer.  However, in Europe, we see green across the board at midday.  The CAC (+0.42%), DAX (+0.48%), and FTSE (+0.17%) lead the region higher in early afternoon trade.  In the US, as of 7:30 a.m., Futures are pointing toward a modestly green start to the morning.  The DIA implies a +0.14% open, the SPY is implying a +0.19% open, and the QQQ implies a +0.22% open at this hour.  At the same time, 10-Year bond yields are at 3.822% and Oil (WTI) is up by a fraction to $73.31 per barrel in early trading.

The major economic news scheduled for Wednesday is limited to EIA Weekly Crude Oil Inventories (10:30 a.m.) and July FOMC Meeting Minutes (2 p.m.).  The major earnings reports scheduled for before the open include ADI, DY, M, TGT, TJX, and ZK.  Then, after the close, A, CAAP, LU, NDSN, SNOW, SNPS, URBN, and ZM report.

In economic news later this week, on Thursday, Weekly Initial Jobless Claims, Weekly Continuing Jobless Claims, S&P Global Mfg. PMI, S&P Global Services PMI, S&P Global Composite PMI, July Existing Home Sales, and the Fed Balance Sheet are reported.  The Jackson Hole Symposium also starts.  Finally, on Friday we get July Building Permits, and July New Home Sales.  The Jackson Hole Symposium also continues.

In terms of earnings reports later this week, on Thursday, AAP, BIDU, BILI, BJ, CSIQ, IQ, NTES, PTON, TD, VIK, BMA, INTU, ROST, and WDAY report.  Finally, on Friday, we hear from GFI.

So far this morning, ADI, DY, M, and TGT have all reported beats on both the revenue and earnings lines.  Meanwhile, ZK missed (massive miss) on revenue while staying in line on earnings (still a loss).

In miscellaneous news, on Tuesday, a research report from CBRE said that the North American datacenter capacity has jumped 70% in the last year due to the AI craze. The electrical demand of datacenters alone now stands at 3.9 gigawatts.  The report said more than 500 megawatts of new datacenter demand went online in just the eight largest US markets in the first half of 2024.  (For reference, that 500 megawatts adding in H1 was roughly equivalent to the entire data center capacity of Silicon Valley at the end of 2023.)  Elsewhere, the SEC approved (along party lines with GOP-appointed members fighting the move) the new rules proposed in June that will allow the Public Company Accountancy Oversight to hold employees, partners, contractors, and others to be held accountable for negligence if audits are found to be in violation (fraudulent).  Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported Tuesday evening that the “Carry Trade” is back on but in reverse.  For many years, investors borrowed Yen in Japan at almost non-existent interest rates and “carried the money” to the US to invest in higher-yielding vehicles.  With July’s Japanese rate hike and the fall in the Dollar, traders are now borrowing Dollars to put into Japanese investments.  The idea is that speculators are betting that Japan will increase rates more and the US sill start cutting rates next month.  (I’m not sure I buy that reporting given the relative differences in US and Japanese interest rates even after Japan’s July hike.  Nonetheless, that is what Bloomberg reports.)

With that background, markets seem to be resting or indecisive again this morning. All three major index ETFs made a very modest gap higher to open the premarket, Since that point they have traded indecisively but have small white body Spinning Top candles at this time of the early session. With that said, all three remains far above their T-line (8ema) and the short-term trend is still strongly bullish. Meanwhile, the mid-term bearish trend is broken, though one could argue a new mid-term bullish trend has not formed yet (due to a lack of higher low in the run). In the long-term, we are now clearly back in a Bull trend. In terms of extension, as I mentioned all three are stretched to the upside relative to their T-line. However, the T2122 indicator has now pulled back out of its overbought territory into the top part of its mid-range. So, the market does still need a pullback or at least a rest. However, Tuesday’s candle helped some. Just remember that the market can stay overextended a lot longer than we can stay solvent predicting a reversal. So, keep the mantra “follow, don’t lead, but also don’t chase” in mind. With regard to those 10 big dog tickers, six of them are in the green, led by AMZN (+0.69%) while GOOGL (-0.60%) is the laggard. However, the biggest dog (in terms of dollar-volume traded), is NVDA (-0.01%) followed by TSLA (-0.07%), which are both undecided this morning.

As always, be deliberate and disciplined…but don’t be stubborn. If you have a loss, admit you were wrong and take that loss before it gets out of hand. And when the price does move in your direction, always move your stops in your favor and take a little profit off the table. You have to keep the “Legend of the Man in the Green Bathrobe” in mind. In a winning situation, it is NOT HOUSE MONEY you’re betting, it’s YOUR MONEY! There is no reason to keep raising your bet (risk) size just because you’ve had a win. Finally, remember that trading is not a hobby, it’s a job. The gains are real and so is the risk. So, treat it that way. Do the work and follow the process. Stick to your trading rules, trade with the trend, and take those profits when you have them. Do the work!

See you in the trading room.

Ed

🎯 Mike Probst: Rick, Got CTL off the scanner today. Already up 30%. Love it.

🎯 Dick Carp: the scanner paid for the year with HES-thank you

🎯 Arnoldo Bolanos: LTA scanner really works $$, thanks Ed.

🎯 Bob S: LTA is incredible…. I use it … would not trade without it

🎯 Malcolm .: Posted in room 2, @Rick… I used the LTA Scanner to go through hundreds of stocks this weekend and picked out three to trade:  PYPL, TGT, and ZS.   Quality patterns and with my trading, up 24%, 7% and 12%…. this program is gold.

🎯 Friday 6/21/19  (10:09 am) Aaron B: Today, my account is at +190% since January. Thanks, RWO HRC Flash Malcolm Thomas Steve Ed Bob S Bob C Mike P and everyone that contributes every day. I love our job.

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