Market View; World Stock Indexes; Trading Journal

The banking sector will continue to be the protagonist of the European session. Until last week Italian banks had been chosen as a representative sample of the sector, but at this stage that role was taken over by Deutsche Bank. The bank’s activity has been penalized by restructuring costs and the legal costs associated with the various processes in which the bank is or was involved, the costs associated with greater regulation and also by the low levels of interest rates. In addition, investors will monitor developments in the oil and also the testimony of Janet Yellen in the Senate (15:00).

At a time when many investors and economists fear a potential recession in the global economy, the publication of the preliminary reading of the Eurozone GDP gains greater relevance. Compared to the previous quarter, the Eurozone economy will have grown 0.40%, which would put the annual increase in 1.50%. Underpinning this growth was essentially domestic demand and to a lesser extent investment. These items should have offset the slowdown in exports due to the weakening of China and other emerging economies. For 2016, estimates point, on average, for an increase between 1.50% and 1.80%, helped again by domestic demand, which should be underpinned by low interest rates and the fall in unemployment and fuel prices. The main risks are the economic slowdown in emerging countries, especially China, geopolitical tensions and volatility in financial markets.

At a time when many investors fear about the growth of the American economy, because of the weakness of other economies, the signal given by retail sales is comforting for two reasons. The first is that retail sales account for about a third of private consumption, which in turn corresponds to 70% of GDP. The second is that after several months, the American consumer seems to have a greater propensity to consume, justified by the increase in wages and the positive effect of fuel price drop in their disposable income.

If several central banks engage in negative interest rates, we will be able to watch a currency war in which each country tries to devalue the most of their currency in order to gain a competitive advantage in terms of exports.

A freeze on production will not generate a profound change in the supply/demand relationship for crude, but is a stabilizing base to its price. However, many investors argue that this agreement was less than expected (it was agreed a freeze in production but its not a cut), and they also had shown skeptical if this freeze will be extended to other countries and if it will be fully met. Despite all this engaging, at this stage, European investors seemed more focused on the banking sector yesterday which was once again penalized. Last week, Deutsche Bank had been a kind of “health” barometer of the European banking system, but surely doesn’t seem to be a reliable sample of this same system.

In recent days there has been a stabilization of the factors that had worried investors in recent weeks: the Chinese authorities have shown they don’t want the yuan to depreciate sharply, the Chinese stock markets stabilized and the oil price has recovered. This improvement has also contributed to diminishing fears in relation to bank stocks.

Despite reduced yields, the propensity of institutional investors to purchase bonds increased. Fears of a recession does not extend to Europe, which should continue to grow. If the stock market indices continue to be valued, the mentioned investors will have to follow their benchmarks and will have to allocate liquidity to the purchase of shares.

The main fear of global investors is that the US economy may come back into recession as a result of the slowdown of the global economy. Thus, besides following the signals given by economic indicators, investors will also monitor the S & P’s behavior, which will again dictate the evolution of other indexes.

Because of fears about the US economy, the S & P should lead the movement of other indexes. Yesterday, the index closed in the early resistance zone (1940-1950). While this index does not overcome this resistance is unlikely that the DAX overcome conclusively the 9560 level. Therefore, it is most likely to occur some profit taking for today and tomorrow the S & P may try a new test to the resistance zone.

So far, about 58% of the DJ Stoxx 600 components have reported their quarterly accounts. Although a slight majority have managed to surpass analysts’ forecasts in terms of profits, with respect to revenues only a minority has been able to exceed forecasts.

US markets ended with contained variations, managing to recover from early losses justified by the sharp fall in oil and the weakness of the US markets. The Dow Jones was losing 266 points and closed with a rise of 53 points. Oil price suffered a selling pressure, with investors showing their disappointment at the fact that Saudi Arabia eliminate the possibility of a cut in production and some skepticism regarding the freeze on production capacity to balance the relationship demand / supply . The session key moment occurred when the Department of Energy revealed that the oil reserves in the US rose by 3.5 million barrels last week compared to the envisaged increase of 2.42 million. However, the sharp drop in petrol stocks (-1.6 million barrels vs 0.73 M million) contributed to compensate the early fall. Additionally, the Association of American Railroads reported that crude oil transported through this route declined for the third consecutive week, confirming recent evidence that US oil production continues to decline, albeit slowly. Last year, in face of oil price fall, shale oil extraction companies adopted a series of measures in order to protect their business. These measures include the closure of oil wells with lower productivity, reduction in non-operating costs, renegotiation with banks of borrowing and the implementation of financial hedging strategies, which protect the oil price fall. However, at this stage, the potential of reducing costs both financial and non-operating is limited and the use of financial instruments for protection against a further drop of crude oil is very expensive. Thus, in recent months there has a closure of many oil fields, especially smaller ones.

An excellent trading week.
The forum is a great help.
Which you all a nice weekend.

At the macroeconomic level, household consumption increased to 0.50% in January, exceeding the forecast of 0.30%, supported by rising wages which boost household spending. The increase in house prices also contributed to an improvement in consumer confidence. The approach of the preferred measure of inflation from the Fed to 2% raised some concern in many investors but the money markets, which are an excellent barometer of the reference rates, assign a probability of 57% to a rise in interest rates in 2016. The US GDP for the 4th quarter was revised upwards from 0.70% to 1%, against economists’ forecasts of an increase of only 0.40%. In addition there has been a minor fall in investment and a decrease in the trade deficit. Domestic consumption, which represents 70% of the economy, was less dynamic than expected (2% vs 2.20%) due to lower sales (in value) of fuels (due to falling prices) and clothing as a result of mild weather in November and December. The trade deficit increased from 61500 M.USD in December to 62200 M.USD in January. This was the highest level since June. The confidence index of consumers, as measured by the University of Michigan, reached 91.7, above the first reading (90.7) but lower than the 92.0 recorded in January. From a technical point of view, today’s session and probably also tomorrow will be particularly relevant. If these days, the S & P can not be located convincingly above the zone of 1940/1950 then is increased the possibility of a short-term correction.

Stimulus boosted stock markets, emerging currencies and metals.

Main European indices such as the DAX and the CAC, broke their resistance zones, even before the S & P. With this move strengthened the probability of these indices to test new resistance (9900 in the DAX and the CAC in 4423/4466) in the coming days. One should notice that due to high volatility the occurrence of erratic movements in an underlying trend should occur frequently.

In recent weeks, the position of hedge funds has been changing. Until mid-February, these funds mainly held selling positions on oil, but in the last two weeks not only the pace of closure of these positions increased as some hedge funds began to get long on crude oil, which reinforced its upward movement.

At this stage, the money markets allocate a modest probability (63%) to a rise in interest rates in 2016, which has given some encouragement to equity indices. In conclusion, the ideal for the equity markets would be that the indicators describe an American economy far from precipitating a recession but not so dynamic to raise a sharp rise in interest rates.

American indices closed higher, as investors reacted positively to the employment report, which described a very dynamic labor market but that implies an increased risk of a rise in interest rates. The employment report allayed, at least temporarily, investors’ fears in relation to a US recession scenario. In February, the US economy generated 242,000 jobs, which add up over 30,000 resulting from the upward revision of the readings from December and January. The unemployment rate stood at 4.90%, recording no change facing January. Economists had anticipated the creation of 195,000 jobs and an unemployment rate of 4.90%. However wages fell 0.10% in February. In this context, where rising wages in recent months is interrupted, the decline recorded in February may lead the Fed to take more caution before raising rates. Another consequence of the employment report was that some economists began to revise upwards the estimates for the 1st quarter of this year. Generally, this period is the least dynamic of the year. According to the econometric model of the Fed Atlanta, US GDP is expected to grow 2.20% in the 1st quarter instead of the 1.90% previously estimated.

The most recent economic data in the US exclude the scenario of a recession in the country, so there is no risk of an abrupt descent. On the other hand, despite a flexure in the first months of the year, the European economy continues to grow, sustained by domestic demand, and fuel consumption shall not decrease.

Investors are positioning themselves for the realization of the ECB meeting tomorrow. This position will be seen in the stock market as well as in the currency and bond markets.