Saturday, January 26, 2013

Market musings - Interest rates



US 10 year treasury yield closed at 1.9434 and is almost on the verge of a break out. Readers may remember that I wrote a post on 19th December 2012 indicating that yield had broken out.  Yield will face minor resistance at 2.00% and then it should move higher towards 2.5%, 3.0% and eventually towards 4.0%





The second chart is yield chart of Italy. As we can see that Yield has almost moved towards the lower end of the pattern and should take support at 4.0% levels and may bounce back from there.
 



Similarly when we see Spanish 10 year yield chart we can see that yield is trading in an expanding triangle formation and it will find support at around 4.50% and may not move down from here but may reverse. 







Now if I connect all three dots I come to the following conclusion.

1.       If US 10 year yield is going to move up sharply then there is no reason why Spanish or Italian treasury yield won’t go up.
2.       Rise in yield may be the result of three factors, inflation expectations are going to move up, credit risk is going to increase or Yield currently are at abnormally low levels and they will swing upward to adjust for that. (Just like Yen)
3.       If yield goes up it will be counterproductive for equity markets. 

At this moment we may feel that yield will not move up due to QE done by ECB, but charts suggest otherwise and I have always been surprised how well technical analysis works. When yield were trading at 7.0% at the upper end of the formation I felt that it would be next to impossible for yield to move toward lower end of the formation but that happened. Therefore it will be appropriate for readers to be prepared if this scenario fructifies before the end of this year. 

Secondly if we see forecast for Equity market almost everyone is very bullish on markets, Markets have already completed 4 years of bull run and most of the major indices are trading near their all time highs which is a major resistance area (This is not to say that they will not go higher as currently there are no bearish patterns on charts).  

If we look from the perspective of behavioral finance, I feel that everyone now believe that there is only one way for the markets and it will go up.  Therefore lot of dumb money is already flowing into the markets. 

If we couple these observation with probability of central banks globally reducing the quantum of QE due to improved prospects of economy and reduced earning power of stocks due to shrinking operating margins,  it is entire possible that a big correction in equity markets is round the corner. 

My own gut feeling is that we may see some kind of intermediate top in global markets in next 3 -4 months and from there we may see a 25% correction. But before that the last leg of the bull market has to happen which is usually characterize by runaway rallies and culminates into a buying climax. 

All in all, Keep a sharp eye on yields.

Friday, January 25, 2013

Apple Prophecy - fulfilled.



O n 21st October 2012 I wrote “It seems that Apple may correct up to 450 – 500 levels dragging index with it.” 

Today Apple has fallen 10% today and such gap up or gap down often occurs nearing the end of the trend. When we look at the monthly and quarterly chart of apple we can see that it is nearing the support of trend line. Since this uptrend started in 2003 it would be difficult for this stock to break below the trend.

More over the stock has already corrected 246 USD or 35% from its high of 700 USD. Therefore a good pull back rally is inevitable. If we look at retracement in apple 50% retracement happens at 380 USD levels.
I think Apple will bottom out at 430 – 450 USD and may make a panic bottom at 380 – 400 USD. I think this is a very good time to buy Apple using the following strategy.

Strategy 1
Buy 33.33% stock at CMP of 455 USD,
Buy 33.33% stock at 430 USD
Buy last tranche of 33.33% at 400 USD

The average cost of buying would be 424 USD, place a stop loss of 375 on weekly closing basis (13%) and target of around 600 USD (41.5%) in next one year

Strategy 2
Alternatively one can also buy one year call expiring on 18th January 2014 by paying a premium of 28 USD.  Average out calls at 430 and 400 Level and keep a stop loss of 375 on weekly closing basis.
I think both these strategy have potential to give 30% – 50% returns in next one year.   




Other post on Apple

Disclaimer:-

This blog is for information purpose only. Any decision based on my blog is solely your responsibility. Kindly consult a qualified financial adviser before acting on any information mentioned in my blog

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Tech Musings - Apple



Since my initial post on Apple on 21st October and update given on 11th November, Apple corrected further and made a low of 480 USD. Apple behaved exactly as expected the pull back in Apple was strong and the stock went up from 500 to 600 levels and again fell sharply from there. 


If we look at long term chart of apple it is still in a bull run. Therefore readers may choose to buy apple at around 430 – 450 levels with a stop loss of 380 and target of 600 – 650 in next 12 months.
 



Apple monthly chart shows support at around 435 levels.


 
 Apple quarterly chart shows support at around 450 levels.