HPQ update

hpq may 23 2014 bHPQ  May 23 2014

We did do well recommending this stock at about $12.50, but sold too early (as always) and still made a gain of about 40%. That could have been 300% but that is water under the bridge and we did mention that the possibility of much higher prices existed.

Today we are approaching the 62% retracement level on the “good” news that the company might fire another 11 to 16,000 employees. Presumable these employees were just twiddling their thumbs all day without any contribution to the bottom line.

The EW pattern is decidedly ambiguous. For the moment we will assume that the high back in 2010 was the real top and that , from there, the stock traced out an initial 5-wave sequence down followed by an a-b-c back up. There are potentially a few dollars left to go but we are inclined to sell now. Both the RSI and the MACD are, and have been for a long time, pointing down.

DJT update

DJT may 21 2014 arithDJT may 21 2014 log

These two charts are both of the Dow Jones Transportation Average, a.k.a. the rails. It consists of 20 companies in the rail, trucking , air transportation and parcel delivery business. Marine transportation is barely represented. As you can see at first blush, Janet Yellen is perfectly right to claim that there is no bubble or anything remotely indicating that markets might be overvalued. Looking at the arithmetic chart on the left, you can see that the DJT climbed almost 6000 points in the last 5 years. That is 500 points more than its entire one hundred and ten years existence!! Also, on both arithmetic and semi-log scale charts, the DJT is now well above its channel of the past 25 years!! However, long term maybe not;

djt may 21 2014 big

The chart does not go to today but we are presently about where the X is at around 8000. Another 3 to 4000 points up is entirely consistent with the present 110 year old channel. All we will need is a constant flow of fed comments every two days or so for the next two or three years.

CAC encore

cac may 13 2014 vb

Here is little encore for the CAC 40. We like this chart because it encompasses precisely what we though – on the basis of EW – the markets would do. The “diagonal” at different degrees from the lows of 2011 is clearly visible. However the exact subdivisions may differ from the 5-wave sequence shown. It does have to be 5 waves but there may be a small triangle in the fourth wave position that would allow more time before completion. Notice, however, that we are closing in on the 62% retracement level which has always been the preferred level. It is worth while here to point out that from the beginning of 2010 to now, 4 years and 5 months , 30 trillion of worldwide QE, lower corporate taxes and a lot of direct propping up has accomplished a gain of less than 500 points or roughly 10 %. Perhaps it is because the French go to the École nationale d’administration , not Harvard and their central banker, unknown to most, never bothered to become an alumni of Goldman Sachs. Vive la difference!

The AEX, Amsterdam, is no different;

AEX may 13 2014

It has the exact same structure and is also at the 62% retracement level.

CAC, Paris

CAC may 12 2014

The FTSE has still to make a new high, now from exactly a year ago. In the mean time the CAC40, Paris exchange, has traced out an examplary  wedge which,if correct, has just a little further to go before it should dive down. We will see. Below is how it fits in the bigger picture, a big C wave withe 3 individual A-B-Cs.

cac may 12 2014 b

See also previous blogs under CAC40.