There is palpable fear in
the world and the urgency could be felt in the new strategy unveiled
Wednesday morning by the world’s major central banks to bolster the
financial system by increasing liquidity in the financial markets. In
response, stock markets surged with joy with the S&P up 4.3 per cent. The
move dragged down the dollar, bolstered the euro and pushed gold prices 2 per
cent higher to finish November with a 1.9 per cent rise.
In effect, the Fed will be handing money to other
global central banks at a lower rate than in the past and those central
banks, in turn, will be able to lend the dollars to banks in their own
countries. The hope behind this move is that it will prevent Europe’s
financial woes from undermining the stability of the global banking system.
The Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and central
banks in Canada, Britain, Switzerland and Japan said in a joint announcement
that they will lower the interest rate paid on “swaps,” used to
funnel dollars to the banking systems of countries where there is need. The
Fed will lend dollars to the other central banks, the European Central Bank,
for example, in exchange for euros. The ECB will pay interest, and in turn
will lend out the dollars to banks in the eurozone
that have obligations in dollars but are temporarily unable to borrow dollars
to meet them. Normally banks can borrow the dollars they need from other
banks, but in crisis mode, banks tend to hoard their cash and are fearful to
loan it out.
“The purpose of these actions is to ease
strains in financial markets and thereby mitigate the effects of such strains
on the supply of credit to households and businesses and so help foster
economic activity,” the banks said in a statement.
Earlier on Wednesday, China had its own declaration
that it is dropping its reserve requirement ratio for banks by 0.5% for the
first time in nearly three years. The move reduces the amounts that banks
must keep in reserve and frees up funds for lending, in effect easing
monetary policy, a signal from China that it wants its economy to grow and it
will accept more commodity imports. Both the coordinated central bank move
and the Chinese move are bullish fundamental factors for stocks and commodity
markets, including precious metals. Let’s take a look at the general
stock market chart below (charts courtesy by http://stockcharts.com.)
In the long-term S&P 500 Index chart, we see
quite a different picture. The situation is very bullish and similar to what
was seen in the middle of 2010. Two local bottoms at that time were followed
by a rally and we now see a similar pattern developing.
Back in 2010 we saw another move lower before prices
rallied. We cannot rule out a similar pattern this time. Even if this
materializes, it will not invalidate the bullish case. This is precisely what
seems to have taken place though probably invalidated by this week’s
sharp rally.
The trend now is to the upside and this is confirmed
by both: analysis of trading patterns and RSI levels. There is a strong
analogy with stocks’ mid-2010 price action and if this continues, the
S&P could move above 2011 highs and possibly to new all-time nominal
highs. In either case, stock prices appear to be poised to move to the
upside.
In the short-term SPY ETF, the next target level
appears close to the 2011 high and even though this may not be the final top
for this rally. It could in fact be an intermediate top with a period of
consolidation possible once reached.
In the Correlation Matrix - a tool which allows us
to see the impact of the currency and stock markets upon the precious metals
- the implications overall are positive for precious metals. Stocks are
positively correlated in the short term with the precious metals and the
bullish outlook for stocks is therefore positive news for gold, silver and
gold and silver mining stocks.
Meanwhile, in the short-term GLD ETF chart, we see
that gold has corrected about 61.8% of its September to November rally. This
appears to be a classic consolidation within an uptrend. Consolidations are
necessary to cool emotions and to build a base to for a bigger move to the
upside. Thursday’s pause after Wednesday’s huge rally is not a
bearish sign but rather quite normal after a sharp upswing.
Summing up, numerous signals from
analysis of charts this week indicate that the outlook is bullish for stocks.
This could further support the bullish situation for gold in the short,
medium and long term.
To make sure that you are notified once the new
features are implemented, and get immediate access to my free thoughts on the
market, including information not available publicly, we urge you to sign up
for our free e-mail list. Gold & Silver
Investors should definitely join us today and additionally get
free, 7-day access to the Premium Sections on our website, including valuable
tools and unique charts. It's free and you may unsubscribe at any time.
Thank you for reading. Have a great and profitable
week!
Przemyslaw
Radomski
|