Thursday, June 4, 2026

The Morning Call---A focus on the technicals

 

The Morning Call

 

6/4/26

 

The Market

         

    Technical

 

            Wednesday in the charts.

            https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/stocks-go-down-historic-win-streak-ends-us-macro-soars

 

Summary: Stocks and bonds ended the day in the red as oil rallied amid re-escalating MidEast tensionsrenewed tariff uncertaintycrude inventory drawdowns, and strong US macro. The dollar extended gains, pushing gold and bitcoin lower as MegaCap tech stumbled again. The (9-day) win-streak is over for the S&P 500 (just shy of its 1985 record) with all the majors closing in the red today. Small Caps were the biggest losers, Nasdaq was the prettiest horse in the glue factory.. Treasuries suffered their biggest drop (yield spike) in more than two weeks after a gauge of private-sector employment growth was in line with estimates, leaving intact expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates this year. The dollar rallied back to last week's highs as rates shifted hawkishly... ...and that weighed on precious metals with gold back below $4500...

 

            Wednesday in the technical stats.

            https://www.barchart.com/stocks/momentum

            https://www.barchart.com/stocks/market-performance

            https://www.barchart.com/stocks/sectors/rankings

            https://www.barchart.com/stocks/signals/new-recommendations

 

            The first cracks.

            https://www.zerohedge.com/the-market-ear/first-cracks

 

Summary: The AI melt-up remains firmly intact, but some of the first meaningful warning signs are starting to appear. Trend support is being tested, semis are showing signs of exhaustion, and volatility traders are becoming increasingly cautious. Nothing has broken yet, but the market is no longer as one-sided as it was a few weeks ago. The AI melt-up remains firmly intact, but some of the first meaningful warning signs are starting to appear. Trend support is being tested, semis are showing signs of exhaustion, and volatility traders are becoming increasingly cautious. Nothing has broken yet, but the market is no longer as one-sided as it was a few weeks ago.

 

            Update on breadth.

            https://www.marketwatch.com/story/s-p-500-climbing-for-9th-straight-day-but-breadth-sends-a-rare-warning-1577195d?st=8eZdM7

 

            A technical take on this record high rally.

            https://www.lpl.com/research/blog/technical-take-on-the-record-high-rally.html

 

            ‘Historical extremes’ haven’t ended well.

            https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/some-kind-record-btig-warns-these-historical-extremes-havent-ended-well

 

Summary: Despite the S&P 500 index looking set to end its historic daily win-streak today, if the week ended right now, BTIG Chief Technical Strategist, Jonathan Krinsky, notes that it would be the best 10-week gain (+44.6%) in the history of the S&P 500 Tech Sector which dates back to 1990. Krinsky notes that has only occurred on ten unique periods since 1990.Most recently June 2024, before that August 2020, and before that late December 1999. There were some positive outcomes (May '95 and July '97), but most of the other occurrences saw meaningful consolidations or drawdowns over the next 40 trading days. The only fear left is FOMO.

 

            Dispersion and correlation are screaming ‘overbought’.

            https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/dispersion-and-correlation-are-screaming-overbought-downside-hedging-cheap

 

            The Market has forgotten how to go down.

            https://www.zerohedge.com/the-market-ear/market-has-forgotten-how-go-down

 

Summary: The rally continues to defy gravity. Momentum remains powerful, investors continue to abandon protection, and the market keeps squeezing higher. The trend remains firmly intact, but signs of stretching are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Vol refuses to collapse. VXN has remained remarkably well bid despite the strong move higher in the Nasdaq. The problem with spot-up, vol-up regimes is that investors often become frustrated paying for protection and eventually abandon it. Ironically, that's usually when protection is needed most. Protection remains unwanted. Skew has spent months resetting as investors have grown increasingly comfortable selling or abandoning downside hedges. Today's uptick is modest, but it serves as a reminder: when everyone is naked the downside, small declines have a tendency to become larger ones. Momentum remains extraordinary, but the crowd is increasingly positioned for a world where every dip gets bought. That's rarely when risk is lowest.

 

Thursday morning setup: US equity futures are weaker, dragged lower by Tech after a disappointing outlook from Broadcom triggered doubts that the blistering rally in technology shares had gone too far, a move exacerbated by euphoric positioning. As of 8:00am ET, S&P futures dropped 0.4%, while Nasdaq futures slumped 1.2%. Broadcom, which added around $150 billion in market value just this week, slumped 13% in US premarket trading after its forecast for artificial-intelligence semiconductor revenue in the current quarter fell short of expectations. CrowdStrike shares also drop 10% after their revenue projection failed to impress investors. Semis are under pressure following AVGO’s earnings, while Mag7 are bid led by AAPL (+1%). Parts of Cyclicals and Defensives are bid as portions of the AI Theme are weaker pointing to a potential de-risking or the very early stages a rotation. Given the sell off in APAC and EU bid, it appears to be the former rather than the latter. Bond yields are lower as the curve bull steepens, and USD weakens. Commodities are lower as Energy sells-off on news that Israel / Lebanon will resume their conditional ceasefire within 24 hours (although Hezbollah was notably not mentioned); but, precious metals are a notable outperformer. Today’s macro data focus is on Challenge Job Cuts, Initial Claims, and Continuing Claims, with NFP coming tomorrow. 

 

 

    Fundamental

 

       Headlines

 

              The Economy

 

                        US

 

                          Weekly jobless claims totaled 225,000 versus consensus of 213,000.

                          https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/jobless-claims-jump-us-tech-firms-announce-most-job-cuts-2-years

 

Q1 nonfarm productivity advanced 0.3% versus projections of +0.5%; unit labor costs were up 1.8% versus +2.5%.

 

April factory orders were up 4.8% versus estimates of +4.6%; ex transportation, they were up 1.3% versus +0.8%.

 

The May services PMI was 50.7 versus expectations of 50.9; the May composite PMI was 51.5 versus 51.7.

 

The May ISM services index was 57.7 versus forecasts of 55.0.

 

The May ADP private payroll report showed a 122,000 increase in jobs versus predictions of +117,000.

 

                        International

 

                          April EU retail sales fell 0.4% versus consensus of -0.3%.

 

The May EU construction PMI came in at 43.7 versus projections of 41.5; the May German construction PMI was 42.4 versus 42.0; the May UK construction PMI was 38.2 versus 40.3.

 

                        Other

 

                          April median household income.

                          https://politicalcalculations.blogspot.com/2026/06/median-household-income-in-april-2026_02081741537.html

 

In Tuesday’s blog post, I included an article dealing with the impact of interviewees’ political views on the consumer sentiment index survey. Here is a study that could help adjust for that factor.

https://econbrowser.com/archives/2026/06/reassessing-the-relationship-between-consumer-sentiment-and-spending-with-a-new-composite-index

 

                          A weirdly decent jobs market.

                          https://wolfstreet.com/2026/06/02/and-more-data-showing-a-weirdly-decent-labor-market/

 

                          OECD says economic growth will slow even if oil prices peak soon.

                                                  https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/03/business/iran-war-oecd-economy.html?unlocked_article_code=1.nVA.M000.9enjGvNcNtlF&smid=url-share

 

                         EU could lose 1.3 million jobs due to energy price surge.

                         https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/eu-could-lose-13-million-jobs-due-energy-price-surge-iran-war

 

                          Update on Q2 GDP nowcast.

                          https://www.capitalspectator.com/energy-shock-looms-but-q2-gdp-still-looks-surprisingly-strong/

 

The latest Fed Beige Book doesn’t tell us anything that we didn’t already know.

https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/latest-fed-beige-book-underscores-k-shaped-split-us-economy

 

            Iran

 

             Overnight news.

            https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/oil-prices-fall-white-house-signals-will-maintain-ceasefire-iran-unless-american

 

     Investing

 

            Is this bull market only half over?

            https://www.carsongroup.com/insights/blog/is-this-bull-market-only-halfway-over/

 

            Update on valuations.

            https://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/2026/06/02/market-valuation-is-the-market-still-overvalued

                https://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/2026/06/02/q-ratio-and-market-valuation-may-2026

                https://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/2026/06/02/p-e10-and-market-valuation-may-2026

                        https://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/2026/06/02/regression-to-trend-s-p-composite-207-above-trend-in-may

 

            Risk management for retirees.

            https://www.advisorperspectives.com/commentaries/2026/06/03/risk-management-retirees-when-reduce-exposure

 

            Andrew Left’s conviction leaves Wall Street wondering ‘what are the rules?’.

            https://giftarticle.ft.com/giftarticle/actions/redeem/d097d67f-396a-4359-bd87-d54e33be6714

 

            Barry Ritholtz’s thoughts on the Market.

            https://ritholtz.com/2026/06/5-things-i-am-thinking-about/

 

            Ray Dalio’s thoughts on the Market.

            https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/pricking-coming-dalio-warns-ai-bubble-will-burst-dot-com-tech-will-endure

 

    News on Stocks in Our Portfolios

 

 

 

What I am reading today

 

            Congress wants to fix college sports. What could go wrong?

            https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2026/06/03/congress_wants_to_fix_college_football_what_could_go_wrong_1186392.html

 

            Reflections on Blackstone’s commentaries.

            https://www.cato.org/blog/reflections-blackstones-commentaries-natural-liberty-mankind

 

            Are you winning in life?

            https://kindnessfp.com/win-in-life/

 

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