Small cap stocks (IWM) have cleared their warning as of the close today (11/19/13). I’m still seeing weakness in some of our other indicators and the underlying tweets, so I’d wait for a break to new highs before giving the all clear signal.
Profit Taking Continues
Much of the same conditions I mentioned last week are still in place. Rotation and profit taking are still the major theme. Our market health indicators mostly fell last week, but didn’t deteriorate enough to change our core portfolio allocations. Our Twitter sentiment indicator for the S&P 500 Index (SPX) fell sharply over the past week. The daily indicator didn’t produce any strong readings even on days the market rallied. The initial jubilation from traders on Twitter when SPX pushed above 1730 has quickly dissipated. Smoothed sentiment painted a negative divergence with price into the last peak which suggests traders were taking profit and shorting into that rally. Then a small drop in price caused a steep drop in sentiment indicating that others started to pile on to the trade. That behavior was expected given the fact that SPX had a large volume of tweets projecting a top at the 1775 level. The tweets lead price by two weeks and acted as a magnet to pull prices higher. Once 1775
Consolidation Warning for Nasdaq 100
A consolidation warning was issued for the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) at the close on 10/29/13. Smoothed sentiment has been painting a negative divergence with price for over a month. The last rally in price did not bring with it significant tweets cheering the move. The selling in some of the momentum stocks has been weighing on QQQ as well. Please note, this isn’t a sell signal, rather fair warning that QQQ may need a bit of time to consolidate before moving higher. This consolidation warning comes a week after the small caps (IWM) warned. Since that time IWM has been trading sideways even as the S&P 500 Index (SPX) has continued to move higher. This adds weight to the other indicators I’ve been seeing that suggest rotation out of the stocks that rallied over the summer into stocks that consolidated during that time. Although SPX is moving higher it is painting a negative divergence with sentiment from both Twitter and StockTwits. They haven’t issued consolidation warnings yet, but the negative
Profit Taking as the Market Moves Higher
Over the past week we got enough weakness in our measures of market quality to cause a shift in our portfolio allocations. Both of our long/cash portfolios are now 80% long and 20% cash. Our hedged portfolio is 90% long and 10% short (using SH). As the market moves higher I’m seeing profit taking in the momentum stocks that had strong runs through the summer. Take a look at the charts of some of the stocks that are currently in the Twitter Top 10 Portfolio and you’ll see some very choppy tops. As money moves out of the momentum stocks it is finding its way into stocks that consolidated across the summer. This rotation is creating an improvement in market breadth which indicates that money managers are expecting a year end rally, but are getting more selective in the high fliers. One thing of concern is that some of the stocks that are rallying are defensive in nature or have high dividends which indicates a rotation to safety. Our investor
Twitter and StockTwits Sentiment Turning Back Up
Both Twitter and StockTwits sentiment for the S&P 500 Index (SPX) turned back up yesterday. Since the previous two lows in Twitter sentiment (smoothed) weren’t quite three weeks apart I’ve redrawn the trend line connecting it from the August low to Monday’s low. We now have an uptrend line to follow. If sentiment falls below that line it will suggest that more consolidation and price weakness is ahead. The US Government shutdown hasn’t caused large negative prints in sentiment on a daily basis. It appears that market participants prepared themselves for the event and are now simply waiting for a resolution. The tone of tweets on Twitter is more mocking than worried. The daily indicator is showing a positive divergence from price which suggests that we could see the market drift to the top of the current range (1700 on SPX). For now smoothed sentiment from Twitter continues to confirm the uptrend and indicates that higher prices should be ahead. Traders on StockTwits are even more comfortable with the shutdown.
Starting to See Some Buy Signals From Twitter Sentiment
During the recent consolidation in the market we became concerned that we weren’t seeing a lot of positive divergences or buy signals from Twitter sentiment. Unlike the small dip in April which created several good long setups, the larger consolidation and retracement rally in May and June didn’t produce any. Our concern was that the general market was moving higher, but actively traded and momentum stocks weren’t being bought with conviction (as evidenced by sentiment on the Twitter stream). That situation now appears to be resolving itself. Over the past few days we’ve had three long setups. Those setups come just behind a reconfirmation of the uptrend from sentiment for the S&P 500 Index (SPX) and the Russell 2000 index (RUT). This is a positive sign for the market going forward as it shows widely held individual stocks supporting the rally. Below are charts of the three recent buy signals (green vertical lines indicate the setup date). All of them are now getting extended and close to their all time
Leading Stocks Hold Up Amid Selling
On Monday we gave our thoughts on where the market would bounce. Today we got a price low near 1600 and also got the bounce we expected. The question now is, “Will the bounce hold?” Tomorrow brings the all important payroll report so it would be foolish for me to make predictions ahead of it. Especially since all I have to do is wait and I’ll know everything I need to know tomorrow. Regardless of my instincts to wait until after the payroll report I’m going to do what I always do and take the data I have available now to make my decisions…because I know that when tomorrow comes I’ll still be wanting for more information. In Monday’s post we mentioned that if/when the S&P 500 Index (SPX) fell to 1600 we would be watching to see how leading stocks react. We believe that leading stocks give good indications of the direction of the market so we look at them along with other technical indicators for guidance. For the
15 Most Bearish Stocks on Twitter
Below are the stocks with the most bearish intensity (volume and scores) on Twitter for both the past week and past month.
Most Active Stocks on Twitter
Below are the stocks with the highest intensity (volume and scores) on Twitter for both the past week and past month.
Traders are Chasing and Nervous
For the past few months Twitter sentiment for the ETFs that track the Nasdaq 100 Index (QQQ) and the Russell 2000 Index (IWM) have been painting a pattern that shows indecision by traders. Each move up in price is met with high sentiment and each move down garners a lot of negative tweets. This is causing our smoothed Twitter sentiment indicator to mirror price. When sentiment mirrors price it shows us that traders are chasing. Their tweets are reacting to price rather than predicting it. Smoothed sentiment for QQQ and IWM are currently showing very wide swings from bullish to bearish. This uncertainty is not a normal condition for actively traded and tweeted stocks. Instead, as momentum builds for a stock, Twitter sentiment starts to trend with the stock in a well defined range. Traders show confidence in their positions with a majority of tweets confirming the trend. In up trends, down days don’t show large negative prints in daily sentiment which helps smoothed sentiment continue to rise (and confirm
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