About

Ahead of the Curve provides you with analysis and insight into today's global financial markets. The latest news and views from global stock, bond, commodity and FOREX markets are discussed. Rajveer Rawlin is a PhD and received his MBA in finance from the Cardiff Metropolitan University, Wales, UK. He is an avid market watcher having followed capital markets in the US and India since 1993. His research interests includes areas of Capital Markets, Banking, Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management and has over 20 years of experience in the above areas covering the US and Indian Markets. He has several publications in the above areas. The views expressed here are his own and should not be construed as advice to buy or sell securities.

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Time Series Analysis with GRETL

This video shows key time-series analyses techniques such as ARIMA, Granger Causality, Co-integration, and VECM performed via GRETL. Key dia...

Sunday 21 February 2016

Market Signals for the US stock market S and P 500 Index and Indian Stock Market Nifty Index for the Week beginning February 22

Indicator
Weekly Level / Change
Implication for
S & P 500
Implication for Nifty*
S & P 500
1918, 2.84%
Bullish
Bullish
Nifty
7211, 3.29%
Neutral**
Bullish
China Shanghai Index
2860, 3.49%
Bullish
Bullish
Gold
1227, -0.96%
Bearish
Bearish
WTIC Crude
31.96, 10.13%
Bullish
Bullish
Copper
2.08, 2.29%
Bullish
Bullish
Baltic Dry Index
315, 8.25%
Bullish
Bullish
Euro
1.111, -1.30%
Bearish
Bearish
Dollar/Yen
112.64, -0.50%
Bearish
Bearish
Dow Transports
7286, 3.37%
Bullish
Bullish
High Yield (ETF)
32.38, 1.19%
Bullish
Bullish
US 10 year Bond Yield
1.75%, 0.0%
Neutral
Neutral
Nyse Summation Index
-467, 30.06%
Bullish
Neutral
US Vix
20.53, -19.17%
Bullish
Bullish
20 DMA, S and P 500
1893, Above
Bullish
Neutral
50 DMA, S and P 500
1954, Below
Bearish
Neutral
200 DMA, S and P 500
2031, Below
Bearish
Neutral
20 DMA, Nifty
7307, Below
Neutral
Bearish
50 DMA, Nifty
7532, Below
Neutral
Bearish
200 DMA, Nifty
8000, Below
Neutral
Bearish
India Vix
20.92, -15.23%
Neutral
Bullish
Dollar/Rupee
68.71, 0.88%
Neutral
Bearish


Overall


S & P 500


Nifty

Bullish Indications

10

10
Bearish Indications
5
7
Outlook
Bullish
Bullish
Observation
The Sand P 500 and the Nifty bounced back last week. Indicators are bullish.
Markets are back at resistance. Looking for a retest of the recent lows.
On the Horizon
Japan - CPI, Euro zone – German CPI, U.K – GDP, U.S – Consumer confidence data, Durable goods, Trade balance, GDP, Personal consumption data
*Nifty
India’s Benchmark Stock Market Index
Raw Data
Courtesy Google finance, Stock charts, FXCM
**Neutral
Changes less than 0.5% are considered neutral

The US market and Nifty rallied last week. Signals are bullish for the upcoming week. The markets are back at resistance and are likely to continue major breakdowns in 2016, looking for a retest of the recent lows. The critical levels to watch are 1940 (up) and 1900 (down) on the S & P and 7300 (up) and 7100 (down) on the Nifty. A significant breach of the above levels could trigger the next big move in the above markets. You can check out last week’s report for a comparison. You can also check out snapshots of the S and P 500 and Nifty Indices. Love your thoughts and feedback.


Tuesday 16 February 2016

All is not Well with Global Financial Markets

It does appear that all is not as rosy as it used to be in the global financial market landscape:

First and foremost global shipping activity appears to have come to a screeching halt, as pointed out by Jeff Berwick via the Market Oracle and this likely has recessionary implications:



Secondly when a single bank's derivative exposure exceeds the GDP of a country or region you know you are bound to have problems as ETF daily news rightly points out the case of Deutsche Bank:



Thirdly as QuandaryFX points out via Seeking Alpha the S & P 500 starts turning down when manufacturing starts to turn down like we are seeing off late:



Last but not the least the Safehaven plunge into Gold,Treasuries & the Japanese yen is clearly taking hold as pointed out by Chris Vermeulen via CNA Finance:

Chart 6
USD/JPY (USDJPY=X)

Saturday 13 February 2016

Market Signals for the US stock market S and P 500 Index and Indian Stock Market Nifty Index for the Week beginning February 15

Indicator
Weekly Level / Change / Significance
Implication for
S & P 500
Implication for Nifty*
S & P 500
1865, -0.810%
Bearish
Bearish
Nifty
6981, -6.79%
Neutral**
Bearish
China Shanghai Index
2764, 0.00%
Neutral
Neutral
Gold
1239, 5.49%
Bullish
Bullish
WTIC Crude
29.02, -6.39%
Bearish
Bearish
Copper
2.03, -2.68%
Bearish
Bearish
Baltic Dry Index
291, -2.02%
Bearish
Bearish
Euro
1.132, 1.49%
Bullish
Bullish
Dollar/Yen
113.27, -3.10%
Bearish
Bearish
Dow Transports
7049, 1.52%
Bullish
Bullish
High Yield (ETF)
32.00, -0.93%
Bearish
Bearish
US 10 year Bond Yield
1.75%, -5.41%
Bullish
Bullish
Nyse Summation Index
-668, -19.37%
Bearish
Neutral
US Vix
25.40, 8.64%
Bearish
Bearish
20 DMA, S and P 500
1885, Below
Bearish
Neutral
50 DMA, S and P 500
1967, Below
Bearish
Neutral
200 DMA, S and P 500
2034, Below
Bearish
Neutral
20 DMA, Nifty
7361, Below
Neutral
Bearish
50 DMA, Nifty
7592, Below
Neutral
Bearish
200 DMA, Nifty
8028, Below
Neutral
Bearish
India Vix
24.67, 36.20%
Neutral
Bearish
Dollar/Rupee
68.12, 0.35%
Neutral
Neutral


Overall


S & P 500


Nifty

Bullish Indications

4

4
Bearish Indications
11
12
Outlook
Bearish
Bearish
Observation
The S and P 500 and the Nifty fell hard last week. Indicators are bearish. Market is oversold. A short term tradeable bottom may emerge soon.
On the Horizon
China - CPI, Japan – GDP, Euro zone – ZEW survey, U.K – CPI, U.S – CPI, Canada – CPI, Australia – Employment data
*Nifty
India’s Benchmark Stock Market Index
Raw Data
Courtesy Google finance, Stock charts, FXCM
**Neutral
Changes less than 0.5% are considered neutral


The US market and Nifty fell last week. Signals are bearish for the upcoming week. The markets are in oversold mode and are gearing up for another bounce, looking for a short term bottom to emerge soon near the 1800 mark on the S & P. The multi week up move in the transports is indicating a bounce maybe forth coming. The critical levels to watch are 1880 (up) and 1840 (down) on the S & P and 7000 (up) and 6800 (down) on the Nifty. A significant breach of the above levels could trigger the next big move in the above markets. You can check out last week’s report for a comparison. You can also check out snapshots of the S and P 500 and Nifty Indices. Love your thoughts and feedback.

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My Asset Allocation Strategy (Indian Market)

Cash - 40%
Bonds - 20%
Fixed deposit - 20%
Gold - 5%
Stocks - 10% ( Majority of this in dividend funds)
Other Asset Classes - 5%

My belief is that stocks are relatively overvalued compared to bonds and attractive buying opportunities can come along after 1-2 years. In a deflationary scenario no asset class does well other than U.S bonds, the U.S dollar and the Japanese yen, so better to be safe than sorry with high quality government bonds and fixed deposits. Cash is the king always. Of course this varies with the person's age.