Friday, April 07, 2006
Is Today the Key Reversal Day in the S&P 500?
Today the S&P 500 index made a key reversal bar,making a multi-year high and then trading below a couple of days of lows.We look at the indicator more conservatively,if it would have closed below four previous days lows then we'd think it's a valid key reversal(but it didn't).The fact that it didn't close below 1294.71 means there was some late day support in the market.Having said this,today's non-farm payroll number of up 211,000(which was greater than expected) which means it's virtually certain the Fed will raise the Fed Funds target rate on May 10 to 5.00%.If the S&P 500 trades below 1294.71 four closes in a row expect an intermediate high in the stock market.Major support in the S&P is 1291.84.Plus, this is historically the time of the year when the stock market makes a prominent high.People have less money around tax time and this affects mutual fund flows.Anyway,with gold approaching $600 an ounce,the Fed has to be concerned about long-term inflation expectations.The 30 Treasury Bond chart is rather bearish with no bottom in site.The yield on the 30 Year Bond is now over 5%.The trend in mortgage rates should be higher.The new Fed Chairman has to prove he's a tough guy on inflation.Raising rates is not a bad way to achieve this goal early in his term.Definitely a tougher market for housing speculators and home sellers.