Why I can't be long term bullish on US Stock Markets...

I really, really, really want to be bullish. Truly I do. I love America. My sister was born on July 4th, 1976... my grandparents lived the grapes of wrath in moving out of the dustbowl of OK to a better life for themselves in CA. The values of working hard and getting your hands dirty to build a life, a business, and a community is in my blood. Perhaps it is for these reasons that I have a very hard time accepting the current uptrend of the US stock market as "real"... that is, as a real indicator of future growth and prosperity ahead of us rather than the result of crafty financial gamesmanship at the highest level of the land.

Am I biased? You bet I am! But I would be willing to place my bias aside if I could venture into the market index trends and find a reason that my bias should be rejected and shunned in my long term investment decisions. But each time the market rallies these days, I find myself venturing back to the long term charts just to make sure that my long term horizon viewpoint is still founded in good practice. Why not come along for the ride. First stop... the Dow Jones...

Arguably, this is the most bullish of the 3 main indexes I take a look at. 3 indicators I review... RSI (measure of momentum), volume, and price. Without getting into an elliott wave analysis, there are a few simple things that I can follow and that are very compelling to tell me what is happening. First, the momentum in the rally since 2009 is absolutely pathetic as compared to what existing at the top in 2008, and in 2000. In fact the top of RSI occured in the late 1990's. Also, if you zoom in a bit, you can see that momentum on the last leg of the rally from last years flash crash timeframe until today did not reach a new high while prices did. Volume is likewise diverging from price. Could we get a lasting bull market on successively lower volume? It is possible, but I can;t find one example to look toward in the indexes that would show me this is likely. In fact, the opposite is true... bull markets grow because more and more people buy into them over time. The rally from 2009 till today has less and less stocks changing hands. Does this mean the market will turn down tomorrow? Certainly not, but these divergences are profound and continuing to grow wider.

Next stop... Nasdaq...

Here too we have diverging RSI and volume, and in addition, we are rapidly closing in on an upper trendline formed by connecting the 2 lows of the index in the past decade, and by creating a parallel top trendline off the high point of 2008. Certainly the trendline is slightly up, but we are near the top of the trendline and still well below the all time top of the index in 2000. There are high probability elliott wave patterns in play here that help guide me to thinking a new low will be here eventually (perhaps after a test of the upper trendline), but I promised to keep elliott and his waves out of this post...

Last stop... S&P...

Different index, same story. Diverging RSI and volume. Trendlines heading down, and very close to testing the upper trendline.

The conclusion for me is simple. If I wanted to gamble on the market long term, today would not be the day. Should we break through the upper trendlines of the indexes with increasing volume and momentum, then I would absolutely change my mind and consider investing. Untill then, simply watching and waiting and working with my hands to build a better life for my family. Have a wonderful fourth of July. Take a moment if you can this weekend... between the BBQ's and fireworks, and really think about what you truly want from your country, and what you are prepared to do with your own hands to make it happen. We need more do'ers in this day of virtual everything. And doing comes from first sincerely putting some thought about what you want to change next.

Happy Birthday America!