Sunday, July 12, 2009

ChartsEdge (U.S. equities) map for the intraday cycles on Monday, 7/13

Market Map for Jul13

Posted: July 12th, 2009
Author: Mike Korell
Filed under: One-Day Market Map
Comments to ChartsEdge »

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Thanks once again, Mike and ChartsEdge!

Folks - if you haven't worked with these ChartsEdge forecasts before, then remember to visit their site (use links above, and/or in the sites list at right), and I've also got much of that explanatory information at my "No Bull No Bear No Bias" site (also in links at right). We always have to remember to use the maps and forecasts more for timing, and not necessarily for price levels. For swing traders - from an Elliott Wave perpsective, I've got to wonder if we see a small second wave pullback up - will be surprised if it gets above a .382 or .50 retrace to 932 (although .618 is theoretically possible) - and then we've got the levels at 880, 888/889, 902/906, and 912 to consider.

I'll be posting some other things including Andre Gratian's weekend update soon, but will try to come back by morning to change the time stamp for this post so that it displays easily "at the top" in time for tomorrow's intraday trade. As always, good luck and be careful out there, and happy market navigating!


Update 10:42 pm - I've changed the time stamp on this post so the daily map can be more easily seen intraday Monday.

Also - for those following Terry Laundry's T Theory, you already know that the S&P 500 fell under the 55-day moving average that was his midline support. Terry Laundry has updated his T Theory work and SPX chart at his T Theory website today, and you'll want to see that and also listen to his audio comments posted there.

Technical analysis update of the S&P 500, including indicators, cycles, trendlines and Fibonacci: with Turning Points by Andre Gratian

Folks, here is Andre Gratian's weekend update - he's the analyst who combines trendlines, cycles, Fibonacci projections and technical indicators on the S&P 500. His website is Market Turning Points (always included in the list of "other sites of interest" at the right side of the page here), and he makes available a free 4-week trial of his daily/intraday analysis comments if you contact him at ajg@cybertrails.com. You can find his previous weekly newsletters and reports using the "Turning Points by Andre Gratian" label in the labels list at right. So let's see what he's saying today:
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July 12, 2009
Week-end Report
Turning Points


By Andre Gratian

A 3-dimensional approach to technical analysis
Cycles - Breadth - Price projections

“By the Law of Periodical Repetition, everything which has happened once must happen again, and again, and again -- and not capriciously, but at regular periods, and each thing in its own period, not another’s, and each obeying its own law … The same Nature which delights in periodical repetition in the sky is the Nature which orders the affairs of the earth. Let us not underrate the value of that hint." -- Mark Twain

Ever since it touched 956, the S&P 500 (SPX) has been in a declining pattern which, so far, has reached 869.32 in two distinct phases, and appears to be trying to hold before starting another uptrend. If it holds at this level, it has a chance of being a corrective a-b-c.

I had anticipated longer-term cycles to support prices into the end of the month or early August, but it looks as if they peaked earlier. Let’s analyze the daily chart (below).

I am not very optimistic that the index can get back in an uptrend, even for a short period of time, but there are enough “green shoots” existing or appearing in the indicators, that I have not totally given up entirely on getting some sort of a rally before we move lower. What green shoots, you ask? In the momentum indicator, the histogram of the MACD (top oscillator) is showing some faint positive divergence to the price. In the lower indicator (breadth) the
divergence is a little more pronounced, but not much. Finally, the middle oscillator is oversold and ready to turn up.

In order to give a buy signal, these oscillators would have to turn up immediately and decisively, price would have to climb above 885, and continue above the 50-day moving average (DMA) . Considering the almost total absence of interest by buyers in the past couple of weeks, it would take a sudden change of sentiment to achieve the above.

The index has moved down to a support level (dashed red line) in a fairly shallow channel. If it is going to hold, it must start moving up right away and go challenge the top of the channel. Breaking below the channel line would be a negative, indicative of a steepening of the downtrend.


Another reason that I am not entirely convinced that we are ready to go into the tank is because the Nasdaq (NDX, below) looks very much like the SPX, except stronger. In late May, it broke above its 200-DMA and the correction has brought it back down to rest on it. The 50-DMA has broken above the 200-DMA and the price is trying to remain above both.


Note that for both indices I have drawn a potential larger channel which represents roughly twice the width of the initial channel. If we cannot hold at the current level in both indices, it is likely that both would decline to meet the support provided by the wider channel.

We’ll also take a look at the hourly charts of the SPY and QQQQ (below). These are representative of the SPX and NDX. At first glance, the charts are not bullish. Both have come down to the bottom of the larger channel where they found support, they have had a bounce that has taken them outside of the smaller channel which depicts the “C” wave, (if this is what we are doing) and they have come back to test the lows and are attempting to move back up. The last few hours on Friday were not strong and indicative of a move up on Monday, but if we are going to resume the uptrend, we will have to open up on Monday, and keep moving high enough to clear the previous top and the 50-hr MA (blue line). That’s a lot to expect of an index whose momentum oscillator is already in the overbought range.

Unless we start tomorrow with some bullish incentive which gets us moving to the upside, we’ll either have more sideways moves inside the larger channel until the indicators have corrected and are ready to move up again, or we’ll break the support level and move lower.

A couple of cycle analysts see short-term cycles continuing to decline until the end of the month. I also have the 20- week cycle bottoming on the 28th of July. Moving down into that time frame would present an alternative to holding at the current levels. As stated previously, if we break below the 870/80 support level, I have a projection down to 840.


Monday could turn out to be a pivotal day for the short-term trend.

Andre

The above comments about the financial markets are based purely on what I consider to be sound technical analysis principles. They represent my own opinion and are not meant to be construed as trading or investment advice, but are offered as an analytical point of view which might be of interest to those who follow stock market cycles and technical analysis.

Real estate (commercial), Residential real estate, and REITs: Three "R's" confirming Recession far from over?

Will the real estate sector pull us down again? Analysts are beginning to talk about commercial real estate being the next shoe to drop (hmmm, are these many shoes dropping from a centipede?! LOL) that can explain another round of weakness in banks, especially regional banks. As well as real estate in general on the verge of completing a counter-trend bounce that will roll over to another leg down. An interview on Bloomberg TV just a short while ago this evening featured the growing problems in commercial real estate. And another one yesterday featured one of the new online services that basically helps people "barter" their homes by trading their house for someone else's house. I tried to find that online service with a Google search, but turned up so many hits that I don't know if I can find it - but it's obvious this idea is growing in popularity. I've already commented a few times in the past that I think the convergence of bartering, and the Web with cheap or free online services, will be part of the deflationary force as we enter closer to the long-wave downturn lows still ahead. The good thing is that the Web enables the free exchange of communication that will help people weather the downturn lows relatively well - with information (learn how to cook and avoid expensive restaurants! exchange your home if you cannot sell it and buy another! keep up with family and friends online and save the old costs of photography, shipping packages, etc. etc.!).

So whether we welcome these new technologies as being part of deflationary forces, or as devices to help us get through deflationary times more easily, we've got to recognize that one of the sectors that's still in a downtrend is real estate, including commercial real estate.

The folks at "Chart of the Day" weighed in on this with their weekly free chart, so let's take a look - it's below, along with their text commentary:
Chart of the Day
For some perspective on the all-important US real estate market, today's chart illustrates the 2004 to 2009 trend of the Dow Jones Equity REIT Index. As today's chart illustrates, the unwinding of the real estate/credit bubble initially (early 2007 to mid-2008) occurred at a fairly moderate pace. That pace accelerated (mid-2008 to early 2009) as major financial institutions began to collapse. When all was said and done, the peak to trough decline of the Dow Jones Equity REIT Index ended up being 75.8%. Since the trough of early 2009, REITs have rallied and are currently up 38% (though remain 66% below the 2007 peak). As today's chart illustrates, the Dow Jones Equity REIT Index remains within the confines of a moderate downward sloping trend channel and currently trades near resistance.

Chart of the Day is provided without warranty of any kind and accepts no responsibility for its accuracy or for any consequences of its use. Journalists and bloggers may post the above free Chart of the Day on their website as long as the chart is unedited and full credit is given with a live link to Chart of the Day at http://www.chartoftheday.com/.

Well it's pretty evident that if the REITs fail from the resistance line shown on that chart, and if commercial real estate pulls down the banks some more ... and furthermore, the higher vacancy rates and the lower rents being negotiated are another clue that the overall economy is continuing to weaken, and there's no recovery in sight for residential real estate ... You cannot fault me for seeing these as signs that the financial markets outlook continues to be bleak!

Below is my weekly chart of IYR, which I constructed about a couple of months ago. Today I added some comments for this post. This also explains why my stake in SRS (short real estate) has been doing all right over the past two months. Given how things are looking, I do not see any reason to let go of that unless it reverses and takes out its lows of two months ago; and we should keep an eye on the IYR chart to see if it takes out the upper trendline resistance. Right now, IYR is riding on its Bollinger Band midline with moving average support, so it could bounce again to test that trendline. Taking out the moving average support will of course signal that another test lower lies ahead.

ChartsEdge forecasts for the week ahead look like an early start on the cycles views of Puetz, Armstrong, and other cycles analysts

Here are the weekly forecasts generated by Chartsedge based on their neural-net "crunching" of the market cycles in this time frame, for equities and gold. ChartsEdge conducts its own analysis, so I am not suggesting that they base the work on the cycles work of Tim Wood, Stephen Puetz, Martin Armstrong, or others. But, my title for this post does indicate my own personal thought, that this week-ahead forecast looks like an initial step toward what the work of many cycles analysts is currently suggesting. I'll continue to address the cycles analysis of such other sources separately (and Tim Wood's Cycles News & Views is always in the list of "other sites of interest" as is the ChartsEdge site; and Stephen Puetz' new book and forecasts are discussed in the free audio posted at FinancialSense.com, I gave the link in my prior post here this morning.)

So, below are the free week-ahead views (subscribers also receive the month-ahead and calendar quarter-ahead views - all of which Mike Korell re-runs and re-generates through the calculations each week):
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Saturday, July 11, 2009

Dow Theory reminds us to stay bearish unless the Dow betters its January high (and now, the lower June high is resistance); also market cycles views

Here's a way to look at the basics of the equity market "big picture" now (especially with my charts at the bottom of this post). And, students of market cycles, take note: Financial Sense Newshour this weekend is featuring cycles, including having Tim Wood as the advisory technician during the first audio segment (and there's another cycles analyst featured during the second audio segment, Stephen J. Puetz, author of "The Unified Cycle Theory: How Cycles Dominate the Structure of the Universe and Influence Life on Earth" including electromagnetic influences) - at FinancialSense.com weekend audio. UPDATE - Schaeffer's Research has issued their Monday Morning Outlook: Traders Raising the Bar for Earnings, Economic News -SPX breaches one support level; others at risk, by Todd Salamone (7/12/09). As Schaeffer's summarizes this article:
The initial excitement about a potential second stimulus package evaporated when Wall Street realized that the need for such a package might mean that the U.S. economy is further away from a second-half rebound than originally thought. Confirming those fears, last week was riddled with shaky economic data, which helped to overshadow the emergence of a major Detroit automaker from bankruptcy protection. Looking ahead to next week, Todd Salamone, Senior Vice President of Research, examines support and resistance levels for the S&P 500 Index (SPX), as well as potential concerns on the sentiment front and the SPX's 20-day historical volatility. Then, Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White takes a closer look at Bollinger Bands, the SPX's current 80-day streak of trading between them, and what an eventual breakout in one direction or another could mean for the market. We wrap up with a look at some key economic and earnings reports slated for release this week. Continue reading...

Tim Wood featured at FinancialSense is the cycles master who also applies Dow Theory, McClellan Oscillator and other technical indicators in his coverage of stock indices, gold, oil, bonds and the dollar at Cycles News and Views (link in the other sites of interest at the right side of the page here). He occasionally posts public articles at Financial Sense (he's the one I mention because I consider his work consistently reliable), and this audio feature at FinancialSense.com weekend audio is another way for non-subscribers to get a glimpse into - listen to - what he is seeing.

Now Bud, this one is for you! You challenged me to make one clear-stated explanation why we should be bearish. One of the plain and simple points that I will borrow from Tim Wood is, as Tim repeatedly states to explain being bearish, is also based on classic, good old-fashioned Dow Theory. Specifically, that the Dow Jones Industrial Average (the Dow) remains in bearish mode so long as it remains under its January high! Despite all the conflicting information out there, this fact is simple, clear and important - the Dow has never yet pushed above the highest point it reached in January, half a year ago. In fact, that is true not only for the standard Dow (Dow Industrials), but even for the Dow transports.

Notice that the Dow high last month did not go above the Dow January high. And now, the Dow even has to go above its June high to give some hope of being bullish again! So keep your eye on that - the Dow must be viewed as a "sell" unless and until:
1. if it can get above last month (June) high
2. AND then, above the high of 6 months ago, back in January.

The basic rule is that bearish is lower lows and lower highs. After the high of January, the Dow plunged to a new low at about 6469. The only thing that can break the cycle of lower highs and lower lows, is a higher high - higher than January in the Dow. So unless and until that happens, it remains bearish and another new low remains possible.

It is possible to make the analysis more complicated. But that really is not necessary, and can be too distracting. Actions speak louder than words. So we will let the Dow prove to us whether - or not - it can make these higher highs. And meantime we will remain bearish (especially if the Dow loses the 8,000 level, and then doesn't get back over 9,000).

Here are my two charts - the first a daily chart to illustrate the basic point of Dow Theory; the next a monthly chart with 20 years of the Dow to show graphically the tenuous position it is in (click on an image to see it larger/more clearly):

Article: Negative Interest Rate adopted in Sweden - Cumberland Advisors - Market Commentary

This article, http://www.cumber.com/commentary.aspx?file=070909.asp&n=l_mc (7/9/09) explains the Swedish bank's action. Tony Caldaro had mentioned it a couple of weeks ago but this was the first other mention I've seen. The concept is one that the deflationists have suggested, so it is interesting to see this occurrence. If deflation takes more serious hold, then we may see more examples (and will also be noticing lower commodities and equities prices too).

This article suggests that the action may, whether directly or indirectly, cause more strengthening in the dollar. Certainly the dollar is on our radar screen! It has not rallied much, but might be coming out of a cyclic low without having made a new low in the dollar index ($USD, measured against a basket of currencies, and looking very inverse to the euro).

This is one of the reasons why we continue to observe the currencies. Even if you do not trade currencies, you can consider them as if they are another technical indicator suggesting the path of equities. And if the dollar strengthens from here - and interest rates lower, and even go negative - that does not look good for equities markets.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Objective Elliott Wave count of the S&P 500 and updates for oil, gold, bonds and currencies: Tony Caldaro

Folks, Tony Caldaro has issued his weekend update already (and you can always find his daily and weekend updates and additional information and services at his Elliott Wave Lives On website, included in the "other sites of interest" listed at right):

the ELLIOTT WAVE lives on
Market analysis using proprietary Objective Elliott Wave techniques

July 10
weekend update

REVIEW
This week was highlighted by downtrend confirmations in most of the US indices and many foreign ones as well. Of the ten countries we follow only China and Hong Kong remain in uptrends. For the week the SPX/DOW were -1.8%, and the NDX/NAZ were -2.1%. Asian markets were -3.5%, with the largest decline in India (BSE -9.5%), and only China rose (SSEC +0.8%). European markets were -1.9%, and the Commodity equity markets were -4.3%. Bonds gained 1.6%, Crude lost 10.4%, Gold dropped 1.4% and the Euro lost 0.5%. On the economic front again it was a quiet week. ISM services rose, weekly Jobless claims declined, as did the Consumer credit contraction and the Trade deficit. Yet, Consumer sentiment dropped to 64.6% from 70.8%.

LONG TERM: bear market
During the strongest (+289 SPX points), longest (3 months) and best performing (+43%) uptrend of this entire bear market. We heard a lot of media noise about "green shoots", the economy has turned around, and the recession is over. While following all the economic data on a daily basis even before this downturn began. One can agree with the media in one regard. It no longer looks like a recession is underway. It looks more like a depression. International trade has fallen off a cliff. Banks are failing nearly every week. Real unemployment is between 16% and 20%, and some of those that are employed are having their hours cut back and/or taking pay cuts. Housing prices, in some areas, have fallen over 50%. The eight largest economy in the world, California, started the month by issuing over $300 million in IOU's. On top of all this, States have been raising fees and taxes to increase revenue. Also there is word that the government has something similar in the planning stages. Last but not least, the mega banks, which have been the major recipients of cash infusions, asset swaps and loan guarantees, have been building excess cash reserves to astronomical levels. Historically excess cash reserves have been about $20 billion, currently they are over $800 billion. Either the banks have a lot more bad assets than are being reported, and/or the economy is a lot worse than most expect. Dark clouds are still coming over the horizon.

Technically, the stock market continues to look vulnerable to downside surprises. From the Oct 07 bull market high at SPX 1576, to the Mar 09 low at SPX 667, we counted a zigzag (5-3-5) Primary wave A. This was defined by three Major waves: Major A Mar 08 (SPX 1257), Major B May 08 (SPX 1440) and Major C Mar 09 (SPX 667). A few days after the low we anticipated the start of Primary wave B. For three months (Mar- Jun) it had been underway as the SPX rallied to 956, for a 43% gain. This was a bit short of the typical 50% gain often associated with Primary B waves. Nevertheless, nearing the high we counted a completed zigzag pattern and warned of a potential top. Over the past two weeks the major indices SPX/DOW/NDX/NAZ all confirmed new downtrends, affirming that completed pattern. Now that Primary wave B has completed, and Primary wave C is underway we see two potential scenarios unfolding over the next many months. The first would be a five wave pattern down to the Mar 09 lows at SPX 667, to complete an elongated flat. The second would be another extended zigzag pattern breaking through that low and bottoming in 2010 in the neighborhood of SPX 400. It is too early to tell which scenario will unfold. But this remains a treacherous stock market.

MEDIUM TERM: downtrend
Now that the downtrend has been confirmed, a review of the previous downtrends in this bear market is in order. Every downtrend, and there has been seven of them thus far, has taken the form of a impulsive five wave structure. This new downtrend should also exhibit this structure. If not, then the alternate DOW count would come into play. The range of the completed downtrends has been between 139 and 572 points, with the mean between 240 and 253 points. If we apply these last two numbers we arrive at a potential downtrend low between SPX 703 and 716. These levels fall right in line with the OEW long term pivot at SPX 717. Every uptrend and downtrend of this bear market has ended near or at a long term pivot. The recent uptrend ended at the OEW 961 pivot, as it topped at 956. We are going to continue to apply the same labeling pattern as we used during Primary wave A, labeling each trend as an Intermediate wave until the market forces a change. Lastly, it should be noted that every downtrend of this bear market has made a new low. Therefore, we are taking a risk that this downtrend will be the first exception. Keep this in mind as it unfolds.

SHORT TERM
Support for the SPX remains at 848 and then 789, with resistance at 912 and then 935. Short term momentum was slightly oversold at Friday's lows and finished the day at neutral. Thus far from the uptrend high at SPX 956, we're comfortable counting the decline to SPX 889 as Minor wave 1, and the rally to SPX 932 as Minor wave 2. The decline from SPX 932 has made a lower low to SPX 869 signalling that it is indeed Minor wave 3. However, the internal wave structure is not as well defined as of yet. Keep in mind that these downtrends are impulsive looking waves in a bear market, and not the more defined impulse waves of a bull market. Should the SPX rally back to Thursday's high at 888, then we'll label 869 as Minute 1, and 888 or so as Minute 2, of Minor wave 3. If not, we'll just have to continue to track Minor wave 3 as it unfolds. The hourly RSI continues to track the short term moves quite well. Best to your trading!

FOREIGN MARKETS: The Asian markets dropped 3.5% on the week. Most are in downtrends with the exception of China and Hong Kong.
The European markets dropped 1.9% on the week. Both Germany and England are in downtrends.
The Commodity equity markets dropped 4.3% on the week. Both Brazil and Canada are in downtrends.

COMMODITIES: Bonds gained 1.6% for the week as Bond yields continued to decline. Expecting the 10YR to touch just under 3% before ending the downtrend.
Crude dropped 10.4% on the week as its downtrend intensified. It appears to be in a third wave down, similar to the stock markets.
Gold dropped 1.8% on the week. It's downtrend continues, but it appears to be getting close to a completed wave pattern.

CURRENCIES: The Euro (-0.5%) was the only loser on the week as the US Dollar (USD) was flat and the YEN +3.7%. Expecting more upside in the USD.

NEXT WEEK: A busy economic week kicks off on Monday with the Budget deficit at 2:00. Tuesday we have the PPI, Retail sales, and Business inventories. On Wednesday we have CPI, the Empire index, Industrial production and the FOMC minutes. Thursday we have weekly Jobless claims and the Philly FED. Then on Options expiration Friday, Housing starts and Building permits will be released. No speeches yet posted for the FED. Best to your weekend and week.
CHARTS: http://stockcharts.com/def/servlet/Favorites.CServlet?obj=ID1606987

Perspectives on financial markets with comments for the week of July 13, by Raymond Merriman of Merriman Market Analysis

Folks, Raymond Merriman has issued his public weekly comments for next week - here they are, and you can always find them along with his other information, at his http://www.mmacycles.com/ website (always included in the "other sites of interest" at the right side of the page):

Weekly Comments for the week beginning July 13, 2009
Written by Raymond Merriman

Review and Preview
They don’t want to go up. But at the same time, equity markets don’t crash either. Yet how good of a sign can it be if stock markets around the world drift downwards – instead upwards – as we complete the second of three passages of the 13-year Jupiter-Neptune conjunction? Jupiter and Neptune are supposed to be euphoric and optimistic at best, but the investment community is anything but euphoric and optimistic. Instead, it continues to act like it is lost, confused, and uncertain, which are the lower states of mind associated with Neptune. Volume is anemic, and the daily trading ranges are small. Let’s see if things change now that this second passage is completed.

Last week saw a slow evaporation of optimism in most stock indices. In fact, since Uranus turned retrograde on July 1, the value of nearly all stock indices have continued to shrink. Not severely, mind you, but enough to frustrate most traders. In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average continues to find support just above 8000, which is important because that is where the 25-week moving average comes in. As we look at the char as of most indices, we note that the high of the season occurred June 11-12, which is close to the midway point of the first two passes of Jupiter and Neptune (May 27 and July 10. We anticipated that most stock indices, as well as crude oil, could make significant highs in between these two passes in the special webcast we presented on May 2. Since those highs, equity indices have declined almost 10%, in spite of the secondary top that formed on July 1.

As disappointing as stock indices have been, the commodities markets have been even more disappointing for the bulls. Crude oil declined below $60.00/barrel this week On June 30, less than 2 weeks ago, they were trading as high as 73.38. That’s a decline of nearly 20%. Silver prices have fallen from 1626 on June 3 to a low of 1251 on Friday July 10, a loss of 23%. Soybeans, Corn, and Wheat have also declined substantially, while Treasuries have soared to new cycle highs. It is what investors call “a flight to quality.” But under Jupiter and Neptune, you have to wonder about the wisdom of these pundits. I am not so sure I would consider U.S. Treasuries such a “flight to quality” when the entire central banking system of the USA is under questioning, and when that very central bank is probably one of the largest buyers of those Treasuries. It seems that by buying up the U.S. treasuries, the FED may be leveraging its future in the political games that might start unfolding this autumn when Saturn and Pluto come into their square aspect, creating a powerful configuration known as a T-square with the Sun-Pluto opposition in the chart of the Federal Reserve Board (created December 23, 1913).

Short-Term Geocosmics
This week is void of any major geocosmic signatures. It seems it may be a cosmic break following all the intense planetary activity of the past few weeks leading into the second Jupiter-Neptune passage of Friday, July 10. On Saturday, Mars will enter Gemini for the next six weeks, which may provide some stimulating discussions, but also may pose a risk of turning into confrontational and heated exchanges. Mars in Gemini is a quest for facts and knowledge, but it can also be argumentative. It's the following week when geocosmic activity returns that correlates to changes in stock indices. From July 18 through August 1 there are six important geocosmic signatures taking place. Many involve Venus, which will make a translation to both the Saturn-Uranus opposition (July 21-28) and the Jupiter-Neptune conjunction (July 26-28). Since Venus rules assets, it would appear to be an important time for both equity and currency markets.

Longer-Term Thoughts
I ask questions, and I get answers. Thanks to several subscribers, especially R. Burris of Albuquerque, NM and M. Furbush of Holderness, NH.
In prior reports I asked who could possibly audit the Federal Reserve Board. Who would Congress accept? I received a report that the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) in Switzerland had already initiated a proposal to do exactly that. However, I don’t think the U.S. Congress would accept BIS - another rather secretive banking enterprise – as the auditor of U.S. bank transactions. In an article published by Reuters on July 9, referring to the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009, sponsored by Republican Ron Paul of Texas, there is movement to give this task to GAO, the Government Accountability Office. But there is a problem. According to the article, “… (the) bill would explicitly repeal a provision of law that prohibits the Government Accountability Office, a government watchdog agency, from auditing monetary policy decisions.” In other words, GAO currently is prohibited from auditing the FRB because the FED makes monetary policy decisions.

The FED doesn’t want GAO to have the ability to audit it, for as FED Chair Ben Bernanke explained in Congressional testimony given June 25, "My concern about the legislation is that if the GAO is auditing not only the operational aspects of our programs and the details of the programs, but is making judgments about our policy decisions, that would effectively be a takeover of monetary policy by the Congress.” That’s the point. And it is a good one.

So there you have it. The battle lines are being drawn between the independence of the Federal Reserve Board and the groundswell in Congress, who wants to take away that power and independence of the FED. And it is unfolding as Pluto crosses the FRB natal Sun, in opposition to its natal Pluto. At the same time the chart of the Federal Reserve Board is besieged by Pluto, so too are the charts of the United States and its President, Barack Obama. Both find their natal Venus posited in early Cancer, right on the FRB Pluto, and in opposition to the transit of Pluto today in early Capricorn. Pluto represents power struggles, and the threat of termination, especially when forming a hard aspect to one’s natal Sun. In a corporation, the Sun represents its leader (i.e. Ben Bernanke). Venus (as in Obama and the USA chart) represents money and assets. So you see, from the viewpoint of Financial Astrology, the USA - as represented by both the White House and Congress - are on a collision course over “who controls the money.” And in January 2010, Bernanke’s position is up for re-appointment by Barack Obama, who so far suggests that he supports Bernanke. But does he and will he? After all, he is the King (Leo), and in some circles, the man with the most power is the one who controls the most money.

Obama may have the power over the Federal Reserve Board’s future. He has the ultimate power over the people’s’ money through his choice this January. The question he has to determine is: Who will best handle that money? The Federal Reserve? Congress? Or himself, i.e the White House or his cabinet, which includes Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner?

Announcements
The SOS Global Stock Markets Report came out to subscribers of this report last week. If you didn’t get it, please contact our offices at once. This report highlights the long-term cycles labeling for the DJIA, NASDAQ Composite, XAU Gold and Silver mining indices, German DAX, Netherlands AEX, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, and Australia’s All Ordinaries indices. It also covers the short-term outlook for these same indices, plus special coverage of geocosmic signatures in effect.
I will be hosting another special update gathering for subscribers to our MMA daily, weekly, and/or monthly reports at the end of the year and in early 2010 on the East Coast. I will be celebrating my birthday (solar return) in New York City this year, which is on Christmas Day. So I will come in early to meet with subscribers on December 22. I haven’t decided whether to host this meeting in my hotel room, or perhaps the home of one of our subscribers. But if anyone wishes to celebrate Christmas in New York City this year, I will be there and you are welcome to meet with other subscribers and myself to discuss current economic and market conditions. And the last week in February I will be giving the “Forecasts 2010” talk in Boston at the NCGR conference. I will take the opportunity again to meet privately with subscribers just after that talk – either that evening or the next, depending on location chosen to meet. If there are any subscribers who would wish to host that meeting in their home, kindly let me know. I can say this without any hesitation: the most exciting meetings for me are those with my subscribers. They understand the language I use, and they add great value to these discussions. In fact, it is through these discussions that I gain great clarity to my own views. For me, they are incredibly important and valuable. And I do believe subscribers who have attended these meetings feel the same way.

This is a good time to sign up for the ISAR 2009 conference, as a window for a wonderful discount closes July 25. For those interested in learning or improving your understanding of astrology, this fantastic conference in Astrology is going to take place August 19-24, 2009, at the luxurious Oakbrook Hills Marriot Resort, just outside of Chicago (not far from O’Hare Airport). This will be the ISAR (International Society for Astrological Research) 2009 conference, featuring over 80 professional astrologers from all over the world, including Jeff Jawer, Rick Levine, Michael Lutin, Claude Weiss, Nick Campion, Verena Bachmann, and several Financial Astrologers like Christeen Skinner, Robert Hitt, Grace Morris, Roy Gillett, and myself. There will be a whole track on Financial Astrology, and I will be giving a one-day workshop on Financial Astrology, specializing in the Stock and Gold markets, on Monday, August 24. For more information, and registration, please go to http://www.isar2009.com/.
If you are an active short-term trader, you may be interested in our Weekly or even Daily Market reports with short-term trading recommendations. It is the only way I keep in touch with traders on a daily or even weekly basis. These reports give in-depth analysis of the DJIA, S&P and NASDAQ futures, Euro currency (cash and futures), Swiss Franc, Dollar/Yen cash and Yen futures, T-Notes, Corn, Soybeans, Wheat, Gold and Silver. The daily reports cover all stock indices listed above, as well as futures in Euro, T-Notes, Soybeans, Gold and Silver. Subscription to the daily report also includes the weekly report. For more information, go to http://www.mmacycles.com/services, or call our offices at 1-248-626-3034. In the words of one of our subscribers: “I recently subscribed to your weekly report and am finding it to be excellent and a very useful companion to the MMA Cycles Report. I can't imagine now managing my investments without them.”
Stay tuned to these pages for an announcement on the annual pre-publication special offer for the Forecast 2010 book, coming in the next few weeks. Once the announcement is made, we will begin to take orders for this book that has sold out the past three years. Order early and make sure you get next year’s Forecasts!
We are pleased to announce our new official Japanese web site at http://merriman.jp/. Here you can read our free weekly report in Japanese every week. You can purchase several of our books and subscription reports in Japanese, including or new weekly Gold report, Cash Currencies report, and both the MMA Cycles and MMA Japanese Markets Cycles reports. If you read Japanese, please feel free to check out this new site, created by Toshi Nippou Ltd. of Tokyo.

We are also pleased to announce the formation of our new Weekly Cash Currencies Report in English, to start the first week of June 2009. This report will cover our weekly analysis of cash Euro Currency, the Dollar-Yen, and the Euro-Dollar markets. For further in formation on this new subscription report, please visit www.mmacycles.com, and look under SERVICES.
The German version of “Merriman on Market Cycles: The Basics” is now in print. It is also a revision of the earlier work in English. For more information on this book, please go to our German web site at http://www.mma-europe.ch/.
We have added a valuable new feature to our web site. Now, on the very front page, you can get a daily update on the weighted values of the Solar-Lunar cycles for the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Silver market, via the studies conducted in “The Ultimate Book on Sock Market Timing Vol 4: Solar-Lunar Correlations to Trading Cycles,” and “The Sun, Moon and Silver Market: Secrets of a Silver Trader.” These are the studies I use personally for short-term trading of stock index futures, ETFs (like DIA and Silver fund), and Silver futures. Anything over 100 means it has an above-average correlation to reversing from an isolated high or low if it forms that day. The higher the value, the more probable the reversal. To see these daily values, please go to http://www.mmacycles.com/, and just check it out on the top of the page.

Disclaimer and statement of purpose:
The purpose of this column is not to predict the future movement of various financial markets. However, that is the purpose of the MMA (Merriman Market Analyst) subscription services. This column is not a subscription service. It is a free service, except in those cases where a fee may be assessed to cover the cost of translating this column from English into a non-English language.
This weekly report is written with the intent to educate the reader on the relationship between astrological factors and collective human activities as they are happening. In this regard, this report will oftentimes report what happened in various stock and financial markets throughout the world in the past week, and discuss that movement in light of the geocosmic signatures that were in effect. It will then identify the geocosmic factors that will be in effect in the next week, or even month, or even years, and the author’s understanding of how these signatures will likely affect human activity in the times to come. The author (Merriman) will do this from a perspective of a cycle’s analyst looking at the military, political, economic, and even financial markets of the world.
It is possible that some forecasts will be made based on these factors. However, the primary goal is to both educate and alert the reader as to the psychological climate we are in, from an astrological perspective. The hope is that it will help the reader understand these psychological dynamics that underlie (or coincide with) the news events and hence financial markets of the day.
No guarantee as to the accuracy of this report is being made here. Any decisions in financial markets are solely the responsibility of the reader, and neither the author nor the publishers assume any responsibility at all for those individual decisions. Reader should understand that futures and options trading are considered high risk.
Copyright MMACycles 2007-2009; you may link to this site or page, but you may not distribute these texts in any way (by email or otherwise).
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Please note: This is not the same as our service titled "MMA Weekly Comments and Recommendations on Financial Markets" which is available by subscription only.

Suggestions for reading going into the weekend

Here are some suggestions for articles, comments and news reports to help get you started for weekend reading. Not that this should slow you down from celebrating your Friday evening! Have a great weekend all, and we'll "see you later" with more analysis during the weekend!

Technically these first two are "RT" re-tweets from GreenLightAdvisor's GreenLite on Twitter but I don't know how to re-tweet yet, LOL (if these links don't work then just go to the first link just above for GreenLight (also in my sites list at right):
Bill King: Automated front-running on an unfathomable scale http://bit.ly/sGFvf (funny, it reminds me of the situation in UNG and people asking if it really needs to get to $12 - I wonder if there could have been some funny activity with the low at 12.11 being slightly above limit orders at 12.10? well the way UNG is acting it probably does need to get to $12, might end up digging a bit under, and then we can finally see a true reversal pattern)(I'm not saying this does have anything to do with UNG! it just makes one wonder).
- Re-read Raymond Merriman's comments from last weekend, and even the comments from him during the past several weeks - we already knew there would be such stories coming out, at least we knew in general concept. Will be interesting to see what Merriman's got to say this weekend!
- We're lucky we don't need sophisticated high-frequency trading software, we can just use good ol' Fibonacci and other techniques, in any time frame!

Rosenberg interview: Cold truth about the economy and markets http://bit.ly/CrPbA

And some more:

What Commodity Prices Are Telling Us (7/10/09, at Brett Steenbarger's TraderFeed blogspot)

Freaky Friday Potpourri: The Calm Before the Storm (Todd Harrison) and Five Things: The Eventual Upside of Risk Aversion (Kevin Depew), today at Minyanville News & Views

Last Quarter Is Going To Be Hard To Beat (7/10/09) at Bespoke Investment Group

So Where, Exactly, Did Lehman's $130 Billion Go? by Yves Smith, and Guest Post: Jersey's Jitters: An Omen For Public Plans? (7/10/09) at Naked Capitalism

Ben Bernanke Back Into The Populist Spotlight by Tyler Durden (7/10/09) at http://www.zerohedge.com/ (Zero Hedge's new home - though maybe they'll also stay at http://zerohedge.blogspot.com/, I don't know).

Tony Caldaro's Friday evening update at Elliott Wave Lives On.

ChartsEdge (U.S. equities) map for 7/10

Market Map for Jul10

Posted: July 10th, 2009
Author: Mike Korell
Filed under: One-Day Market Map
Comments to ChartsEdge »



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Thanks once again, Mike and ChartsEdge!

Folks - happy Friday! remember to get yourself into position by the end of this afternoon, so you can enjoy your evening and weekend with your family and friends! That may mean one thing for daytraders, and something different for swing traders - you have to know your own time frame and style. Trading, like anything else, is a part of and supports life - not the other way around. So let's keep our priorities in order.

Having said that, if you are new to the ChartsEdge forecasts (weekly and daily), then read up on the information they provide at their site about them (links above, and always at the right side of the page here), and I've also posted much of that information at my "No Bull No Bear No Bias" site (links at right also, in the welcome paragraph and in the sites list). We don't use them on a "set it and forget it" basis, but as a great adjunct - mainly for timing (not so much levels) to consider along with your other trading tools.

I don't know about you, but I continue to find Raymond Merriman's comments interesting, particularly as they provide ways to think about what's going on with markets and society. I just re-read portions of his public comments for the week we're closing today, which you can also see posted here, Geocosmic hopes vs. technical weakness in the markets: Comments for the week of July 6 by Raymond Merriman (7/3/09, use the "MMA Comments by Merriman" label in the labels list) and at his MMA site in the list at right. These are interesting times.

Looks like the S&P 500 has continued to have trouble with the area around 878-800 ... well I'm not sure how much more I can say about it - plus of course, Andre Gratian is analyzing it, and Tony Caldaro at his own Objective Elliott Wave is doing his work with it - and there are others doing good work, many of which I've got included in my sites list. If as we think the SPX is working on a third wave down, then I as a swing trader prefer to stand back and let it do its thing once I'm in, without doing too much anticipation of where it finishes except looking for the trendlines and technicals as I showed yesterday, and keeping an eye on the internal subwaves for early clues. Certainly, underneath the "H&S" neckline, the targets are lower so we'll see, within that framework I posted here last night; while daytraders surf with the intraday movements. So, as always, be careful out there, and happy market navigating!