Category: Invest with Alex

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Greenspan The Oracle

Bloomberg Writes: Greenspan Says Stocks Are ‘Relatively Low’ and Headed Upward

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Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the stock market has room to rise from record levels.

“In a sense, we are actually at relatively low stock prices,” Greenspan, who guided the central bank for more than 18 years, said in an interview with Sara Eisen on Bloomberg Television today. “So-called equity premiums are still at a very high level, and that means that the momentum of the market is still ultimately up.”

Greenspan said the stock market is “just barely above 2007” and the average annual increase in stock prices “throughout the postwar period” is 7 percent, which leaves room for a rise.

Read The Rest Of The Article Here

I am not sure why anyone even listens to this guy anymore.  Greenspan only has one gear. To lower the interest rates and to flood the market with cheap credit. Let’s take a look at just some of his accomplishments.

  • 1998 Asian Bubble/Crisis
  • 2000 Tech/Stock Bubble and Crash
  • 2006 Real Estate Bubble/Collapse
  • 2007 Financial Collapse
  • Current Developments

Do I blame Greenspan for all of that? Absolutely. That’s what happens when you flood the market with cheap credit. You start a perpetual cycle of bubbles and crashes. The money has to flow somewhere and when it does, it creates a bubble. That bubble eventually pops and wrecks havoc on the entire economy. That leads Greenspan or Bernanke to flood the market with even more money/credit until it recovers and creates another bubble. So on and so forth until the whole thing blows up.

Greenspan has always claimed that you cannot sport bubbles. I disrespectfully disagree, but him claiming that stocks are cheap is nothing short of adding insult to injury. Anyone listening to Greenspan in this matter is likely to see their money vanish.

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How China Lost Faith In The US Government

Bloomberg Writes: Foreigners Sold U.S. Assets as China Reduces Treasuries

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Foreign investors were net sellers of U.S. long-term portfolio assets in August as China reduced its holdings of Treasuries to a six-month low.

The net long-term portfolio investment outflow was $8.9 billion after a revised $31 billion inflow in July, the Treasury Department said in a statement today in Washington. Net sales of U.S. equities by official holders abroad were a record $3.1 billion, and China lowered its holdings of U.S. government debt for the second time in three months, the department said.

Today’s report showed China remained the biggest foreign owner of U.S. Treasuries in August even as its holdings dropped $11.2 billion to $1.27 trillion.

Read The Rest Of The Article Here

In my previous posts I have argued that the biggest impact of the US Government shutdown will not be any sort of a default, but a shaken confidence of foreign investors.

No one in their right mind, not the Chinese nor the Japanese, would trust the fiscal future of their nations to a government that acts like little children fighting over a toy.

As predicted, we are now beginning to see the consequences associated with shutting down the US Government with China cutting their US Treasuries buying.  While this outflow doesn’t make a trend, just yet, it is certainly something to watch over the next couple of years. I guarantee you that China and Japan both are discussing the issue at the highest levels. Their confidence has been shaken and they can no longer trust the US Government to the extent that they have in the past.  

The result? Very simple. Lower demand for the US Treasury, higher interest rates, slower growth,  a substantial decline in economic activity, much lower financial markets, a decline in real estate and auto sales. Not a good picture.  

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The Secret To Predicting The Future Of The US Economy

Bloomberg Writes: The Enduring Mystery of Financial Markets

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Unfortunately, decades after the three economists had their groundbreaking insights, the crucial question remains unanswered: Can policymakers know with any certainty when markets are dangerously out of line, and is there anything they can do about it?

Economists can’t be expected to predict the future. But they should be able to identify threatening trends and to better understand the conditions that can turn a change in prices into a financial tsunami.

Read The Rest Of The Article Here

Once again, I do not understand why everyone claims that it is so hard to do. The Economy and its bubbles are very easy to see and predict.  For example, you could have looked at 2002-2007 period and have easily determined or came to a conclusion that there was a huge real estate and mortgage finance bubble developing.  When it would collapse, it would take down the entire economy, multiple financial institutions and our financial markets.

No crazy or complicated economic models needed. This is fairly basic and common sense stuff. Same thing applies to today’s environment. While the majority of the economist do not see any present issue either in the economy or the financial markets, they are there.  The majority of economic growth and market recovery over the last couple of years has been driven by an insane amount of credit pumped into our economy by the Fed through a multitude of channels.

Now the economy and the financial markets will have to pay for such a mismanagement by dropping over the next few years (as my timing work indicates). As the Fed perpetuates this cycle of boom and bust by dumping a lot of credit into the economy I remain puzzled why it is so hard to see by most economist and others participating in the financial markets. If you take conflict of interest out of the picture, this becomes very basic. 

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What Everybody Ought To Know About The US Dollar

Daily Ticker Writes: Why the Dollar Will Always Be the Reserve Currency for the World

USD

On Friday morning the U.S. dollar came close to its lowest point of the year against the euro, according to The Wall Street Journal, on expectations that the Fed will have to continue its easy money policies for longer than first forecast thanks to the government shutdown.

“I’ve never been very worried about this,” he asserts. “The reason for that is there really is no alternative. The Chinese are not going to offer – and they cannot, given where they are in development, I think, for a decade or more – a genuine competitor for the dollar.”

Read The Rest Of The Article Here

I tend to agree with the premise of this article. As of right now there is no clear alternative to the US Dollar. The Chinese Yuan cannot be that alternative as it is technically not even a freely traded currency.  It will be decades before Chinese Yuan approaches the point of even being considered as an alternative to the US Dollar. The Euro? Well, there are too many structural issues in Europe.

There is a real possibility that Euro won’t even survive over the next decade. The majority of European economies (well, almost everyone except Germany) are in a big fiscal mess that is not getting any better. If anything, it is getting a lot worse. With the upcoming worldwide recession over the next few years (I discuss in my previous blogs posts) there is a real possibility that it might force some countries out of the EU and out of the Euro.  

That is one of the reasons of why I am so bullish on the US Dollar for the time being. No doubt that the US has some serious economic and structural problems. Yet, that in itself doesn’t determine the value of its currency.

It is quite possible for the currency to appreciate significantly even under dark economic circumstances and that is what I foresee for the US Dollar. Be aware of that.    

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Why I Hate Financial Media


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The only time I really enjoy watching financial media is during the time when financial markets melt down. It is fun to watch their blank faces and their dumb expressions repeating the same two questions “Where is the bottom?” and “How come no one saw this coming?”.

Today was a little bit different, but just as fun.  No one could figure out why the market was surging in the morning. There was no real breakthrough or any concrete type of a debt deal coming out just yet.

Quite the opposite, their Armageddon debt default clock was counting down to a “technical” default with just a few hours left. Why was the market surging? I think everyone of them was spinning doom and gloom, yet the market kept surging.

Here is why.  As I have said many times before, the stock market doesn’t follow the news. It doesn’t care about the US Government nor if it defaults on its debt. The market has an exact mathematical structure that it must trace out. It is a future discounting mechanism, not a reactionary one. It has already discounted what has happened or will happen in Washington a long time ago.

Can it get it wrong and drop down big time if the Government doesn’t pass the bill. Sure, but it will be within the range of the overall trend and not the trend change in itself.

In my future writings I will outline the exact mathematical structure of the stock market discussed earlier to prove once and for all that news have no impact on the financial markets.  

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Buffett Agrees…..How US Politicians Just Destroyed America

Reuters Writes: Buffett calls threat to not raise U.S. debt limit a ‘political weapon of mass destruction

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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Warren Buffett, chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway (NYS:BRK-A – News), said Wednesday that the threat of not raising the U.S. debt ceiling is a political weapon.

The idea that Congress could fail to raise the $16.7 trillion U.S. borrowing limit is a “political weapon of mass destruction,” Buffett told cable television network CNBC.

Buffett said Berkshire Hathaway owns short-term Treasury bills and is “not worried” about the bills being paid, despite concerns about the U.S. debt ceiling.

Of course Mr. Buffett is correct. What happened in Washington over the last couple of weeks is nothing short of a disaster. An absolute disaster. What Mr. Buffett forgot to mention is that this “political weapon of mass destruction” has already gone off.

Surely, the US will not default on its debt. In my previous posts I have clearly stated that neither the market nor should you care about that. The damage has already been done and will be eventually felt on a different front.  This front has to do with our creditors.  I bet you my left leg that this situation was very closely watched and analyzed by both Japan and China (two of our biggest creditors). 

Their conclusion will be very simple. Washington is being run by idiots who have no problem putting the wealth and the future of our countries at risk. Therefore, we should diversify.  I bet you my right leg that these countries will start to lessen their US Debt exposure (if they haven’t started already) as soon as possible. Interest rates will go up and that will cause a significant slow down in the US Economy and a substantial DROP in the financial markets.

BOOM. Thank you Washington.  

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Secret Structure Of The Upcoming Dow Decline

Dow Jones Long Term Chart

 

The chart above represents the Dow Jones between 1986 and today. It is clear from the chart that the bear market started at the 2000 top of 11,800 and continues on today even though we have already set two higher tops. Typically the bear/bull markets alternate in a 17 year cycles, so we have another 3-4 years to go before this bear market is over.

However, that is a side point to my main point. What I want you to observe is the structure of the declines between 2000-2003 and 2007-2009. The decline we had in early 2000’s was a more orderly decline with lots of ups and downs, plenty of time (2.5 years) and not to much directional energy. The move in 2007 was quite different. It was directional, it was short (1.5 years), it was high energy and it was violent.    

What’s the point of all of this? First, my work clearly indicates that we are about to start a 2-3 year bear market. All of my technical, fundamental and mathematical work confirm that fact. 

So, what kind of a move should we expect? 

My mathematical work shows that the bear market over the next 2-3 years will be almost identical to the 2000-2003 move. A lot of volatility, overall downtrend, but not too much downside energy. That is not to say that the market will not go low, it is to say that the move over the next few years will not be a violent one. I hope this helps. 

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Who Else Wants A Huge Pile Of Cash?

BusinessWeek Writes: Corporations Are Swimming in Cheap Cash. So Why Aren’t They Investing?

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The difference is that back then, businesses were actually spending that cash they were able to borrow so cheaply, buying equipment and building factories and hiring workers. Today they’re just hoarding it. The pile of corporate cash on the balance sheets of nonfinancial companies has grown to $1.48 trillion, according to Moody’s. That’s an 81 percent increase since 2006. “Corporations are flush with cash coming off a huge profit cycle,” says David Rosenberg, Rosenberg points out that despite this abundance of cheap money, “we’re in the midst of one of the weakest investment cycles ever.”

Until Congress parts the clouds and gives businesses some bit of certainty as to spending and tax rates, let alone an assurance that the U.S. won’t default on its debt and the government won’t shut down, expect more of the same. Slow growth, weak demand, and more and more cash being piled onto corporate balance sheets.

Read The Rest Of The Article Here

The article claims that the lack of US fiscal clarity is the biggest culprit behind corporations not investing their huge cash piles and/or borrowing at cheap rates and investing it.

I respectfully disagree. First, the notion of huge stockpiles at corporate level are highly questionable at best.  Now, in terms of borrowing and investing, the issue has nothing to do with US Fiscal clarity and everything to do with the fact that everything is significantly overpriced and there is technically nothing left to invest in.

What I mean is, due to a flood of readily available cheap capital over the last decade, most corporation have already heavily invested in and have streamlined the majority of their production capacity. When most of them look around today, there is literally very little for them left to do or invest in. This is the synopsis of the problems I have been talking about here this entire time. 

Too much credit, overcapacity and slowing velocity of credit.  Even though credit is readily available it will have even less impact on propping up our economy going forward.  Just another falling vital sign of a dying patient.  

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The Secret Of The Dow Chart

BusinessWeek Writes: Hedge Fund Chart Guru Tom DeMark Sees Dark Days Ahead

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“The market’s going to have one more rally, then once we get above that high, I think it’s going to be more treacherous,” DeMark says. “I think it’s all preordained right now.” He feels this is probably irrespective of how and when the crippling impasse in Washington is resolved. “If you look at the new highs and new lows on the [New York Stock Exchange],” he says, “every time we made a higher high, there were fewer stocks in the index participating in that high. It’s getting narrower.” And once that happens, you typically get a collapse. The opposite looks to be true for gold, which he expects is making its low right now and should start to move up dramatically.

Read The Rest Of The Article Here

I tend to agree with Mr. DeMark to a certain extent as my own work confirms parts of his analysis. There is no doubt in my mind that we are approaching a major top here in most financial markets. Now, it is just the matter of hard work to pin point it. As I accelerate my timing work over the next few months I should have an exact answer for you by the end of the year.

With that said, there are only two possibilities here (based on my work).

1. The market has already topped. Triple tops are notoriously dangerous and tend to mark the end of a bull market. We have already set 3 tops and as I have suggested before the market finds itself in an exciting spot. We either confirm a bear market here by breaking down below recent lows over the next 4 weeks or….

2. The market will top out in March of 2014. This type of a scenario resembles Mr. DeMark’s forecast above.

Either way, we are approaching the end of a bull leg and you should begin thinking about reallocating your capital in order to avoid losses during the bear market.

Will we experience 1929 type of a decline as Tom suggest? My work doesn’t show that. It shows a slow yet volatile decline into the 8000-9000 range on the DOW over the next 2-3 years. 

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Warning: Real Estate Red Alert

Reuters Writes: Nobel Prize U.S. winner warns of ‘bubbly’ global home prices

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(Reuters) – One of three American economists who won the 2013 economics Nobel prize on Monday for research into market prices and asset bubbles expressed alarm at the rapid rise in global housing prices.

Robert Shiller, who shared the 8 million Swedish crown ($1.25 million) prize with fellow laureates Eugene Fama and Lars Peter Hansen, said the U.S. Federal Reserve’s economic stimulus and growing market speculation were creating a “bubbly” property boom.

This was the case in the collapse of the U.S. housing market, which helped trigger the 2008-2009 global financial crisis. Markets are at risk of committing the same error now, Shiller told Reuters after learning he had won the Nobel prize.

“This financial crisis that we’ve been going through in the last five years has been one that seems to reveal the failure to understand price movements,” Shiller said.

“When asset prices are getting way out of line it should be cause for alarm. The monetary authorities should lean against extreme asset price movements,” Shiller said.

The bubbling housing market is not mainly the result of central bank policy, but reflects a shift toward “a more speculative attitude,” Shiller said. “We cannot expect monetary policy to cure all of these problems.”

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I have a lot of respect for Mr. Shiller and I am happy that he won. My respect is not necessarily based on his economic work(even though it has been accurate), but on his ability to take sides. Most economists don’t do that. Most talk out both sides of their mouth without as much as saying anything worthwhile. That is academia for you.

I agree with everything Mr. Shiller states in the article above. Indeed, we are in the midst of a “Global Real Estate Bubble”. This is a unique situation that we haven’t seen before on such a massive scale. The culprit is easily identifiable here as well. Cheap financing on a global scale perpetuated by the FED. The outcome is clear as well, an eventual collapse in credit, real estate and financial markets on a global scale. Anything other than that would defy the laws of physics. For now, it is only a matter of time.

In my previous post I Am Calling For A Real Estate Top Here, I have made a gutsy call that we are indeed topping out here.  I firmly stand by that analysis as we continue to get more concrete evidence that the real estate market rally from the 2010 bottom has indeed peaked.

As such, I once again caution you against speculating in real estate at this time. 

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