Quote Critique

"There have been three great inventions since the beginning of time: The fire, the wheel and central banking." -Will Rogers (American humorist and showman, 1879-1935)

Being a man of the times, I'm more partial to Bic lighters, bicycles and the Internet. Nevertheless, I can't deny that central banking is good to those who run the show; three cheers for fractional reserve lending! Corruption and politics aside, I love the Fed because their Reserve Notes smell good, look pretty under UV, and are accepted in any Banana Republic or war zone.

Ratios to Reason $SPX

In an effort to create more structure for this blog, I'm re-posting 5 charts that depict various trends within the $SPX. In the future this selection will be posted during the weekend.

$BPSPX:$VIX = 139.61

$BXM:$SPX = 68.88

$CPMKTE:$CPMKTB = 41.34

$SPXA50R:$VIX = 122.16

$SPXHILO:$VIX = 10.9

Why am I regurgitating this mass of pretty but confusing information? The charts represent aspects of the market that are not revealed by the price of the SPX. 3 of the 5 graphs relate percentage:volatility, and currently they are bearish, trading in downtrends towards 0. If you're buying stocks, it's prudent to wait for a growing number of bullish stocks trading above the 50dma making new highs.

The other two illustrations are a bit more conventional. One measures the spread between a buy write strategy and the underlying index, creating an inversely correlated derivative of the SPX. Lastly, $CPMKTE:$CPMKTB is the relation between US Equities and US Bonds, useful for discerning the appetites of investors. Both of these indicators are signaling more downside to come.

In time, I hope to find a better method of aggregating the information presented in these graphics. Any suggestions towards such an end would be greatly appreciated.

Today's Twittered Tickers $AA $C $FAZ $SRS $USO

Here are the tickers making noise on StockTwits

Alcoa is pulling back into support, and technically remains in an uptrend. This may be a good long candidate once the market stabilizes, but stay away until another X gets printed.

Time for a wholly spurious prediction. Citi will go to three and announce there is no problem because their financial position is sound. The next day they will be bought by (insert remaining bank here) for the price of a Snicker.

FAZ looks like a strong candidate FTW as we enter another wave of financial obliteration.

I've been shorting IYR rather than buying SRS because I'm a huge pussy. That will stop now that the bears are back. This looks like a smoking long.

USO is getting slammed into its final level of support. I'll get long once I see an X printed, but if we break 27, look out below.

If you're searching for a bounce, try looking at SPY from November 20th to January 6th. Boing! My indicators say we're heading lower, so I'm selling the rips as I suspect we're due for a retest of the November lows.