I think we can all agree, it was an interesting week last week in the stock market, to say the least. For the week, the Dow was down 2.9%, the SPX was down 3.9% and the Nasdaq was down 3.8%. All three indices closed below their 200 dma. It can be argued that, on a short-term basis, the stock market is “oversold” using the MACD as an indicator. However, it appears that hedge fund algos are being re-programmed to start selling the “V” rallies that have characterized this stock market for the last ten years – something I suggested in a previous SSJ would eventually happen.
An argument can easily be made that the stock market could be cut in half from the current level and still be overvalued. I made this argument in 2007 to friends and colleagues. Back then the SPX dropped from 1,576 to 666 – more than cut in half (57%). And if would have fallen farther if the Fed and the Bush/Obama Governments had not intervened. If the SPX drops 57% this time around, it would take the SPX down to 1,274. I believe it could easily fall farther than that.
Despite the abrupt nature of the sell-off over the past month, the stock market potentially still has a long way to fall:
The chart above is a weekly time-frame that encompasses the 2007-2009 decline. The stock bubble this time around is significantly more extreme than the previous bubble. In fact, by many measures, this is the most overvalued stock market in history. I included the MACD to illustrate that, on a weekly basis, the SPX is not even remotely oversold. I sketched in a white line of “support.” While I’m sure every market analyst their favorite “technically-based” area of support, the line I drew is around the 2,550 area on the SPX. Below that line, there’s about 400 points of “air.”
The above commentary is an excerpt from the latest Short Seller’s Journal. Some of my recent home run shorts include Tilray, Wayfair and Netflix. The issues includes strategies for shorting Tesla, Amazon and several semiconductor stocks. You learn more about this newsletter here: Short Seller’s Journal information.
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