Forex Relative Strength Analysis Report For Week Starting 8/11/19

Some of the world’s currencies are accepted for most international transactions. The most popular currencies are accepted for most international transactions are the U.S. dollar, the euro, and the yen. However, the U.S. dollar is the most popular.

And in the foreign exchange market 90 of forex trading involves the U.S. dollar. Thus, when assessing the relative strength of the most popular currencies in the world, it’s always against the U.S. dollar, using the dailytime frame chart.

The “major” forex currency pairs are the major countries that are paired with the U.S. dollar (the nicknames of the majors are in parenthesis).

AUD/USD – Australia dollar (Aussie) vs. the U.S. dollar

EUR/USD – Euro vs. the U.S. dollar

GBP/USD – British pound (Sterling or Cable) vs. the U.S. dollar

NZD/USD – New Zealand dollar (Kiwi) vs. the U.S. dollar

USD/CAD – U.S. dollar vs. the Canadian dollar (Loonie)

USD/CHF – U.S. dollar vs. the Swiss franc (Swissie)

USD/JPY – U.S. dollar vs. the Japanese yen (the Yen)

Based on the moving averages and the last daily closing price, relative to the moving averages,

the currency relative strength relative to the US dollar is the following:

Two Weeks Ago

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.

Ag Analysis Report – 8/9/19…Is Corn Prices Going Lower???

The planting season in 2019 was historically slow due to wet weather several months ago. The storms left millions of acres unseeded and put corn crops that were planted late at a greater risk for damage.  For example, in May, a farmer in Indiana said his corn crop was only 6% planted at the time, but this was the case in most of the Midwestern states as many farmers experienced record flooding across the central United States.

Image result for corn and flooding

The latest AccuWeather 2019 crop production analysis predicts a significant decline from last year’s corn and soybean yield, as well as a noticeable variation from the July U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates.

AccuWeather analysts predict the 2019 corn yield will be 13.07 billion bushels, a decline of 9.3% from 2018 and 5.8% lower than the latest USDA figures. It would be the lowest yield since 2012, a year of a significant drought that saw final corn production numbers plummet to 10.76 billion bushels.

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The World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) is a monthly report published by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) providing comprehensive forecast of supply and demand for major crops (global and United States) and livestock (U.S. only).  On Monday they report their numbers for corn.

I have no idea what the crop yield is going to be when the report is issued on Monday. Big here is a bigger picture of the corn futures on the weekly chart.

So I will repeat, I have no idea what the results are going to be on Monday, but based on the daily chart, the chart suggests, the results will surprise on the upside, pushing prices down, due to price entering a daily supply as I finish this post.

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.

Innovative Industrial Properties…An Interesting Play In The Marijuana Sector – Part 2

I wanted to give an update on one of my favorite plays in the Marijuana space.  I talked about Innovative Industrial Properties three months ago,

Innovative Industrial Properties…An Interesting Play In The Marijuana Sector

but a lot has happen since then.   Again, Innovative Industrial is a marijuana-based REIT that acquires cannabis-related properties. Innovative Industrial went public in 2016.  The company has made eight quarterly dividend payments since July 2017, with three separate $0.10/quarter increases over that span.  And on July 15th, the company paid a quarterly dividend of $0.60 per share, representing an increase of 33% from the previous quarter.

But also In July, the company issued 1,495,000 shares of common stock.  Typically when a company issues more stock, where they dilute the earnings/share which is frown upon on Wall Street.  This is probably why the stock fell in mid-July.

Now in my eyes, they raised more cash to buy more properties…which is a good thing.  In recent months, the company has acquired the following properties: six in California, two in Pennsylvania, two in Michigan and one each in Ohio, Nevada and Massachusetts.  But get this, all the properties have occupants that have signed on to long-term leases.

There reason why I love Innovative Industrial Properties so much is because you have an opportunity to get onboard a growing company, in one of the hottest growing secular trends, that’s paying shareholders dividends that grow almost every quarter. Why are dividends such a big due, look at the returns of the S&P 500 and the S&P 500 with reinvested dividends.

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I’m personally looking to buy if price gets to the $64 level, so if price breaches the daily demand at $95 price has a shot of getting through the mess in white and to the $64 level. 

This level also represent a fib retracement of 61.8%, for all the folks out there that use fibonacci in their trading.

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.

Unusual Options Activity In Apple – Part 2

Three days ago, I talked about unusual options activity in Apple

Unusual Options Activity In Apple

After earnings, the stock price went from $220 to under $190, which represented a 14% drop. Since any stocks’ move is comprised roughly 49% of the broader market move and 31% of the stock’s sector move reason for the Apple’s drop was the DOW’s 800 point move to the downside. Nevertheless, algos and hedge fund managers saw price hitting the 200 moving average and that’s when price caught the bids. That’s also when the Smart Money bought an astounding 48,000 call options with a strike price at $200 that expire today.

Now the price at which those options as I write this post are sitting at $.70 or $70 per contract,

but prior to the Market close yesterday those contracts were at $300 / contract.

This represents a return of 254% for the Smart Money. Why do I say they made a profit, because they sold out of their positions yesterday? How do I know this, because the the 48,000 contracts, the volume in this case on Tues, would of shown up as open interest on Wednesday. Open interest indicates the total number of option contracts that are currently open or held.  Unlike options trading volume, open interest is not updated during the trading day. So the Smart Money sold their options between Wednesday and Thursday, because the open interest going into the trading day Friday only shows a bit over 1500 contracts.

Another example of why I only follow the Smart Money…plain and simple, they have information that simple isn’t accessible to anyone else.

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.

Currency Analysis Report 8/9/19 – The Kiwi Got Squashed

The New Zealand dollar is known in the forex world after its national icon, the flightless bird called the Kiwi, which is also pictured on the country’s $1 coin.

Image result for new zealand $1 coin

The Kiwi remains under pressure as lingering U.S.-China trade tensions continue to weigh on sentiment.  The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has already cut interests rate twice this year and Bearish traders were betting on another ¼ point cut this earlier this week. But the news that came out this week, even shock the Bears.

The New Zealand Dollar was crushed Wednesday after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) slashed its interest rate further than markets expected and gave guidance that was more ‘dovish’ than anticipated, but analysts say there’s more losses ahead because the bank is likely to cut again before long.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand cut its interest rate by 50 basis points to a new record low of 1.25% Wednesday when financial markets had looked for only a 25 basis point reduction, taking the market by surprise and prompting traders to dump the Kiwi currency by the bucketload.

Image result for Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr

Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr hinted at further easing by any means necessary in order to hit their inflation rate targets.   Based on where I think the global economy is headed over the coming 12-24 months, I’m personally bearish as well on the Kiwi.

On the monthly chart, there is a nice head and shoulder pattern.

So based on a measured move, price could go sub .5000, which is an extreme.

So I will settle for distance that is half the measured move, but at the moment, on a smaller time frame, I can find a level to enter to go short.

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.

Gasoline Analysis Report 8/9/19 – More Declines To Come

The last time I posted about gasoline was in late June,

Gasoline Analysis Report 6/27/19 – Will Prices Continue To Rise???

The refinery was the largest and oldest on the East Coast went up in flames, removing 25% of the refining capacity in the Northeast in the process.

The chart suggests if gasoline can rise a bit higher to short (due to gasoline supply concern) price at the daily supply at $2.015. 

In the article I talked indirectly about gasoline being a derivative of oil, which means that if oil rises/falls, gasoline will follow suit.

Retail gasoline prices tend to rise in the spring and peak in the Summer when people drive more frequently.  So the set-up had the seasonality going for it as well since the accident was a month past Memorial Day.

Unleaded Gasoline miNY Futures (QU) Seasonal Chart

Needless to say price hit the daily supply at $2.015 and fell.

According to AAA, the national average is about $2.69 per gallon now, down from a couple of cents from last week.  I anticipate retail gasoline prices continue to decline in the coming months.   The  gasoline futures’ chart suggests price is heading down to $1.4500

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.

Dr. Copper Approaching A “The Line In The Sand” Level

The only channel I seldom have on is either CNBC or Bloomberg.  While the financial talking heads are talking about the 800 point decline in the DOW, the 10 yr and 30 yr interest rate hitting multi-year lows, the VIX and the impending currency war, nobody is talking about Dr. Copper.

The term Doctor Copper is market lingo for the copper’s ability to predict turning points in the global economy. Rising copper prices imply demand or a growing global economy and declining copper prices imply lack of demand or a slowing global economy.

The focus is increasingly on the damage caused by the havoc of a trade dispute between the world’s two biggest economies. The broad applications for copper mean it’s particularly vulnerable to the synchronized tailspin being seen in everything from car-making and earth-moving equipment to commercial property and advanced electronic components.

“What the hard data is telling us is that end-use demand is slow and in many places getting kicked quite hard,” Oliver Nugent, a metals strategist at Citigroup Inc., said by phone from London. “China’s commodity-intensive economy is as weak as it’s been in recent history.”

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From a macro perspective, copper stalled out in Jan of 2018 and when trade tariff became a huge topic of discussion, the momentum in copper turned which was confirmed by the trendline break.

Fast forward almost two years later and trade talk is still being discussed and in recent days it’s a matter of who has the bigger stick. However, what’s different today is Germany is pretty much in a recession, global interest rates are at multi year lows and the US just cut rates for the first time in 10 years. Thus, copper is at a level that I’m deeming, “the line in the sand.”

If copper closes below 2.5000 on the monthly chart, look for copper to make its way down to 2.0000.

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.

The Only Reason Why The US Equity Markets Reversed Where It Did

Arthur D. Cashin, Jr. is a managing director of UBS Financial Services Inc. and the Director of Floor Operations for UBS Financial Services at the New York Stock Exchange is a well-respected figure on Wall Street. 

Traders are trying to remain positive as stocks came off their sharp morning lows, veteran trader Art Cashin told CNBC on Wednesday.

“If we rolled over here and violated the morning lows, then it would really begin to be a problem,” said Cashin, UBS director of floor operations at the New York Stock Exchange. “For now, everybody is kind of crossing their fingers and whistling past the graveyard, saying, ‘OK, we tested Monday’s lows,’” he added, around midmorning as the worst of the sell-off was abating.

“The S&P held, so I guess we can be in good shape,” said Cashin, who predicted rocky markets for the next few weeks as global trade tensions mount. “I think volatility is here to stay.”

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However, there is one reason and one reason only why the US equity markets are off the Monday lows.

The moving average is the most ubiquitous and simplest technical analysis tool used by discretionary and system traders, market analysts and those pestering algos. The 200 moving average, the king of moving averages is used on a daily chart to determining the overall long-term market trend over the last 40 weeks.

Discretionary and system traders, market analysts and those pestering algos also use moving averages for support and resistance. For example, in February and April of 2018, the 200 moving avg. (yellow line) served as support for the Market.

In October of 2018, the same thing happened.

And again this week,

Whether you trade cryptos, stocks, forex, but don’t have the 200 moving average on your daily chart, consider plotting it on your daily chart as it might offer you an additional edge to accompany your trading strategy.

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.

Silver Gets No Love…Until Now

Silver prices on surged more than 4% on Wednesday, this highest one day return in three years and in the process breached the key psychological $17 level.

although I’m very bullish on Gold,

but I think the red headed step child, Silver will perform better than Gold over the next several years.    The gold/silver ratio is simply the amount of silver it takes to purchase one ounce of gold.  And when this ratio hits 80, it reverses. 

Since the mid-1990s, the ration has hit 80 four times.  And when it reversed, silver outperformed gold over the next several years. 

The Smart Money is recognizing what’s going on.  They just bought over 85, 000 of the September call options, $17 strike price in SLV. 

SLV is the iShares Silver Trust which seeks to reflect the performance of the price of silver. However, I think SLV is just beginning.

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.

The SPDR Gold Trust ETF, GLD…Broke Out

This past Monday, while the DOW dropped over 800 points, gold rose 1.5% and in the process hit a six year high.  The gain yesterday is on top of the 15%+ gain since December.  Gold has a lot going for itself these days.  We are on the brink of a currency war between the US and China, the British pound may collapse if England leaves the EU and the addition tariffs imposed by Trump isn’t helping the global economy which is slowing down.

The best thing to do in these trying times is to obtain some hard assets if possible in form of gold / silver coins. The next best alternative, besides bitcoin is to invest in funds that mimic the performance of gold.

The 800 lb gorilla gold electronic traded fund is GLD.  It’s the largest fund in the space with over $32 billion in assets under management.

Five month ago I talked about GLD and laid out my projected price action for GLD.

Gold…The “Trade Of The Century”

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Although gold hasn’t broken out yet, from its recent consolidation,

the GLD has broken out.

But don’t chase price, usually breakouts return to origin of the break out. So for those who don’t have any exposure to gold, the chart suggests to go long on the pull back.

This post is my personal opinion. I’m not a financial advisor, this isn’t financial advise. Do your own research before making investment decisions.