Great Trades

The dip in the S&P 500 we mentioned last time did indeed prove to be a buying opportunity. However, unlike the previous 9 times the market rallied back from a short-term pullback after the TICK 10-day EMA peaked over 600, this time that 10-day EMA has not reached the 600 level on the rally back to a new high. That could mean this dip will take longer, like the June/July dip, or it could mean the trend will change. As this chart shows, the TICK 10-day EMA is below 0 for the first time since the June/July dip (though it has room to move lower):


Each time the NYSE McClellan Oscillator (NYMO) has dropped to this area during this rally, the market has rallied back to make a new high. If this rally is to continue without a more significant correction, it should do the same once again:


As this weekly chart shows, the S&P 500 has been trending higher since March with a bearish divergence on PPO, just as it had been trending lower into March with a bullish divergence:


Watch for a bearish cross on the weekly PPO and a break of the weekly uptrend to signal a more significant market correction. If the TICK 10-day EMA can't reach the 600 level on the next bounce, or the market fails to sustain a rally from oversold NYMO levels, the medium-term trend could be changing.


Gold has continued its breakout action, moving as high as $1070 before backtesting the previous all-time high level in the 1030-1040 area. Gold bulls will want to see a successful backtest followed by a breakout to new highs:



We continue to test our futures trading system across different markets. We await a significant downward correction in the stock market to see how our various programs perform under those conditions.

Today's reversal off the morning dip and close above $1000 is very bullish action, and could portend a push to take out the all-time high.

That didn't take long. In less than 2 trading days, gold has proceeded to break out to a new all-time high over $1040, as the action on Friday indicated. Silver was up over 4% today.

The precious metals could be in for an extended rally period on this breakout. If so, the miners should be in for a strong bull move.

In other commodities, gold has been consolidating around the 1000 level recently, threatening to take out the all-time high of 1,033 from early last year. If it holds the 1000 area and pushes through to new highs, the bull trend will continue, with a target in the 1300 area from the inverse head and shoulders pattern formed since early last year. A breakout in gold should also send silver much higher, with silver needing to more than triple to reach its all-time high. Adjusted for inflation, the all-time highs for both metals is much, much higher.


Since we posted that a week ago, gold has dipped below 990 4 times intraday, including today, only to close above that mark each time. Today's reversal off the morning dip and close above $1000 is very bullish action, and could portend a push to take out the all-time high.

Since Monday's close, the Dow has lost over 300 points, but gold has actually moved higher by over $10, even as the U.S. dollar has moved higher.

As long as the 1000 area holds, the gold action continues to look like a bullish consolidation. Traders can go long in the 1000 area with a well-defined risk using a stop below recent support (mid-980's intraday and 990 closing basis have been the recent support areas in December futures), giving a good risk/reward trading opportunity.