Bear Pörn

I’m not feeling so great today and I hope the few of you who are not on vacation can forgive me if I make this one snappy. On the equities side not much has changed since the overnight ramp and from a trading perspective the current tape is rather uninteresting. I’m sure you’ve got better things to do and so do I. The futures and forex side look similarly lackluster – so instead I decided to indulge in a bit of bear pörn today. Which however comes with a disclaimer: Price continues to point upward and the LT bullish trend remains unchallenged – so take the following charts with a x-large helping of salt.

On a short term basis I’m seeing a healthy divergence on our GBP/JPY equities correlation chart. Thus far gravity remains suspended and the E-Mini has happily bubbled higher. If I was ST long I would probably take profits here in anticipation of a little shake out.

Long term I have been watching this divergence on the VIX:VXO ratio – as you can see front month ATM premiums have dropped quite a bit in comparison with the remainder of the front month option chain (thus pushing the ratio higher) and we are now seeing a little correction which started early this month. So far price has not responded and per prior examples it may be delayed. If this divergence continues I would get very cautious on a 1-week forward looking basis.

However a similar divergence is seen on the VXV:VIX which compares quarterly implied volatility with front month IV. That one should make anyone exposed to the long side a lot more nervous – and again if it keeps dropping then price will most likely respond eventually. However here I would expect a multi-week correction, once it happens.

A bit more subtle but supportive is the formation we find on the SPXA50 vs. the SPXA200. It seems breadth is diminishing after having reached a reversal zone near the 1.0 mark. Again price has ignored it this far and that’s not unusual given prior context. I wouldn’t worry too much here yet but keep an eye on this one. On its own it only has limited meaning but if the two prior charts remain in correlation over the next few weeks then we do have enough evidence to warrant caution on the long side. After all it has been while since we have seen a thorough medium term correction.

Bottom Line: If you are long then there’s nothing to worry about just yet – stick with price and trail your stops as your system dictates. We need to see more extreme measures until we would switch the bullish case into Defcon 3. But early signals are flashing and we ought to keep an eye on them. I leave you with this:

That’s right – no more Mr. Nice Bear!

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Cheers,