Howestreet.com - the source for market opinions

ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR INVESTMENT PROFESSIONAL BEFORE MAKING ANY INVESTMENT DECISION

June 4, 2020 | Are Wild-Eyed Speculators About to Make Mr. Market’s Day?

Rick Ackerman

Rick Ackerman is the editor of Rick’s Picks, an online service geared to traders of stocks, options, index futures and commodities. His detailed trading strategies have appeared since the early 1990s in Black Box Forecasts, a newsletter he founded that originally was geared to professional option traders. Barron’s once labeled him an “intrepid trader” in a headline that alluded to his key role in solving a notorious pill-tampering case. He received a $200,000 reward when a conviction resulted, and the story was retold on TV’s FBI: The Untold Story. His professional background includes 12 years as a market maker in the pits of the Pacific Coast Exchange, three as an investigator with renowned San Francisco private eye Hal Lipset, seven as a reporter and newspaper editor, three as a columnist for the Sunday San Francisco Examiner, and two decades as a contributor to publications ranging from Barron’s to The Antiquarian Bookman to Fleet Street Letter and Utne Reader.

 

The shockingly powerful rally from March’s bombed-out low has stalled in a very unshocking place, three ticks beneath a secondary top recorded just before stocks really fell apart.  So far, the pullback has been shallow, implying bulls are sizing up the challenge presented by all-time highs achieved in mid-February.  Getting there would be quite a feat, considering the global economy is probably no better than a 50-50 shot to avoid a full-blown depression. We’re more interested in the technical aspects of the rally, however, since an ‘impulsive’ thrust exceeding the peak by even a penny would refresh the bullish energy of the daily chart.

How Not to Be Fooled

If this happens it could always be a fake-out, not that that would necessarily fool us as long as we diligently monitor the strength of corrective abcd patterns on the intraday charts. My gut feeling is that the maniacs driving this epic short-covering rally have come too far to leave the offending secondary peak unbloodied, and that’s why we ought not be too aggressive betting it will hold. Once the futures are decisively above it, however, a dose of skepticism will be warranted, given the obvious challenge of all-time highs that Wall Street’s wack-jobs will see as a dare. Mr. Market will be watching, of course, presumably wanting the sunniest optimists to make his day.

STAY INFORMED! Receive our Weekly Recap of thought provoking articles, podcasts, and radio delivered to your inbox for FREE! Sign up here for the HoweStreet.com Weekly Recap.

June 4th, 2020

Posted In: Rick's Picks

Post a Comment:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All Comments are moderated before appearing on the site

*
*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.