Tag Archive for Dow Theory

Sterling Weekly for the Week of October 1st, 2012 – 3rd Quarter Performance Report

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Since the previous edition of the Sterling Weekly, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 237.58 points or approximately 1.8% to close at 13,437.13 It has been a busy 6 months since I last published the Sterling Weekly, I am very happy to announce that during the last 6 months, my wife and I saw the birth of our 1st child, a very healthy baby boy that we are very excited to have in our lives. Over the course of that period of time the market has moved slightly higher. However the continued bond buying and quantitative easing policies of the Fed continues to cause me a great deal of concern; specifically that the Fed is creating a financial bubble unlike the world has ever seen before. I have concerns that when this bubble finally bursts there will be negative consequences that are devastating for the world economy.

We saw the end of the 3rd quarter last week. As usual, I like to take a look at the performance of the various sector indices I track and see what the market is telling us. I usually find these results somewhat interesting. I have published the results below for your review as well.

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Sterling Market Commentary for Monday September 24th, 2012

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A Few Thoughts on Monday’s Market: The major market indices and a large number of the various sector indices that I track are obviously benefiting from the Fed’s 3rd round of quantitative easing, otherwise known as QE3. However to be very clear, I consider QE3, and the previously quantitative easings’, QE1 and QE2, to be an unprecedented form of market manipulation that is not only ineffective, but one that has very serious, negative unintended consequences that are detrimental to the US Economy. Manipulating interest rates to artificially low levels will not make up for bad fiscal policy out of our elected officials in Washington, DC. Worse yet, these artificially low interest rates are creating a bubble in all bond classes as savers either search for higher yields or safety; these artificially low interest rates punish savers with reduced interest income, and create a sense of uncertainty that is holding back business development. It seams that the only group benefiting from these artificially low interest rates is the largest companies in the US and global economy. These are the companies that dominate the major market indices; and that is why these indices are doing so well, while the rest of the economy is seems to be disconnected from the stock market.

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Sterling Weekly for the Week of March 5th, 2012 – A Look at Bond Prices and Higher Rates

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Regular readers of the Sterling Weekly will recall that I have been voicing my concerns about the Fed’s manipulation of interest rates to abnormally low levels for quite some time. I have expressed my concerns that this is inflationary in nature, and that as a result we could see interest rates rise to levels not seen since the mid to late 1990’s when the 30-Year Bond yielded approximately 7.5%. (Sterling Weekly for September 26th, 2011) I thought it would be a good idea to take a look how an increase in interest rates would affect the price of current government bonds.

As of last Friday March 2nd, the US Government 5-Year Bonds was yielding approximately 0.85%, the 10-Year Bond was yielding approximately 1.99%, and 30-Year Bond was yielding approximately 3.14%. I have said for a very long time that I believe these bond yields are artificially low due to their manipulation by the Federal Reserve. I think that this is causing a bubble in the bond market that could have very disastrous consequence when it finally bursts, as all bubble ultimately do.

I think that it is very realistic to expect that we will see the price of US Government bonds return to their pre-2008 levels at some point in the reasonable future, by this I mean interest rate levels seen…..

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Sterling Market Commentary for Friday February 24th, 2012 – A Quick Look at Oil

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Also, it should be noted that despite the upward movement of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Transportation Index has been moving lower. For those who believe in the Dow Theory this is a negative signal for the overall market. My thoughts are that the Dow Transports are being pushed lower due to higher oil prices; additionally the Dow Jones Transportation Average is generally considered to be a fairly reliable indicator as transports companies ship goods and services, thus providing a good look at where the economy is going. If this trend continues, then the odds are that the broad market will follow the transports lower, not the other way around. ….

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Sterling Market Commentary for Tuesday February 21st, 2012

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In looking at the charts from Friday’s market, the vast majority of the stocks and various sector indices I looked at continue have upward chart patterns. This is obviously a busllish sign for the market. However, a point of concern is that the Dow Jones Transportation Average now has a negative chart pattern and appears to be headed lower. While the Dow Jones Transportation Average may reverse this trend and head back higher, my concerns are that the rising price of oil and other regulatory issues are going to put the earnings of the components under pressure and ultimately send the Dow Jones Transportation Average lower. However, if you believe in the Dow Theory, as I do, then

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