Tag: Semiconductor sector

A Market Festivus

Posted on by Gary Tanashian

They say that Festivus is the “anti-Christmas”, but in this case we are going to call it the anti-Christmas Eve as the markets close out 2018’s Christmas Eve massacre.

“Many Christmases ago I went to buy a doll for my son. I reached for the last one they had, but so did another man. As I rained blows upon him I realized there had to be another way!”

This year markets are going another way.

Market festivus

We have been managing a potential Christmas Eve close-out sale in the stock market since SPX hopped the Bull Turnstile, negating topping potential and confirming bullish ascending triangles (not shown below as they appeared on daily charts) and its own major trends by breaking upward. Here is the most recent chart (from NFTRH 582) used to illustrate the situation.

Please consider this weekly chart for reference only. We had a lot of words in #582 about what I think is in play, but ultimately this public post is simply illustrating what is currently in play. And that is an upside extension (with associated sentiment readings to be updated this weekend in NFTRH 583) that would be roughly equal and opposite to the 2018 downside blow off (note: though the chart allows for higher levels, SPX has already qualified for a price and sentiment close-out, in the general spirit of the season). The blue box is the same height as the yellow shaded area. It’s more art than TA, but there you have it… some frame of reference. Continue reading "A Market Festivus" →

Semiconductor Sector; A Market & Economic Leader

Posted on by Gary Tanashian

The signals have persisted since the May lows in the Semiconductor sector and in the broad markets. Nominal Semiconductor (esp. Semi Equipment) stocks and the sector’s market leadership have remained intact into our window for a projected cycle bottom, which was the 2nd half of 2019.

This post shines a favorable light on the Semiconductor sector while at the same time acknowledging that may have little to do with the broad market’s fortunes as Q3’s reporting begins next month. In other words, while we have been projecting new highs for the S&P 500 on the very short-term, there are fundamental and technical reasons to believe the stock market could be significantly disturbed in Q4. But the Semi sector is an economic early bird. Let’s remember that.

Reference first…

Nearly $50 Billion in Fabs to Start Construction in 2020

By the end of the year, 15 new fab projects with a total investment of US$38 billion will have started construction and 18 more fab projects will kick off construction in 2020. Of the 18, 10 fab projects with a total investment value of more than US$35 billion carry a high probability. The other eight, with a total investment value of more than US$14 billion, are weighted with a low probability of materializing.

See also… Continue reading "Semiconductor Sector; A Market & Economic Leader" →

Semiconductor Sector - Watch The Early Bird In 2019

Posted on by The INO.com Team

As in January of 2013 (ahead of an economic up cycle) and Q4 2017-Q1 2018 (ahead of an economic ripple that began in 2018) the Semiconductor sector and in particular its Semi Equipment sub-sector are front and center in forming our analysis about coming events. Excerpted from the January 20th edition of Notes From the Rabbit Hole, NFTRH 535…

Semiconductor Sector – Watch the Early Bird in 2019

This one is special for me. I started my work life many moons ago as a participant with the Semi sector [circa 1983-1993], painfully learning first hand how violent the cyclical turns can be. Dialing ahead a couple decades, in January of 2013 NFTRH began a narrative that saw the then up-turning Semi Equipment bookings (this data is unfortunately no longer published) lead the sector, general manufacturing and eventually the whole raft of components that make up the economy into a cyclical upturn.

The prime Semi Equipment names we follow are Applied Materials (AMAT) and Lam Research (LRCX). Well over a year ago we used their failing leadership to the broad Semi sector as a leading indicator on the economy, and things finally came to a head in October 2018. We made note of how industry advocates have been lobbying hard for the Trump Administration to re-think its trade tariffs as relates to Semiconductors.

My question has been over the last year and still is… ‘is the Semi Equipment downturn a real cycle or just a cyclical interruption?’ Reference… Continue reading "Semiconductor Sector - Watch The Early Bird In 2019" →

Politically-Driven S.O.D. (Sons of Druckenmiller) To Lose Again

Posted on by The INO.com Team

By: Gary Tanashian of biiwii.com

You know who they are; they are the ones who denied and denied the ginned up bull market in US stocks that nearly tripled under the socialist regime, circa 2009-2016.  They are the ones who clung to gold well past the caution point last summer.  They are (yes, it’s another snappy buzz phrase to either entertain, bore or annoy you… ) the S.O.D., AKA the Sons of Druckenmiller, AKA politically biased and newly activated market participants.  Reference…

Druckenmiller:  Get out of the stock market, own gold (this helped load the boat full of ill-fated gold bugs in the spring).

The night Trump was elected president, Stanley Druckenmiller dumped gold (this signaled the beginning of reparations to gold’s sentiment profile).  He also became very bullish on the stock market; go figure.

Still feel like following the MSM and these media stars they shove down gullible peoples’ throats?

So the well known and much respected Druck was bullish on gold and bearish on the US stock market until he famously flipped his script literally upside down in a knee-jerked response to the presidential election, which cast off the commies and brought in a man who promised to ‘reshore’ America’s outsourced industries (folks, the smoke stacks are gone and they are not coming back, although more Robots may well be, in time).*  He has promised to cut taxes including especially, corporate taxes, and he has promised myriad other fixes to help the economy trickle down to the long-abused middle class. Continue reading "Politically-Driven S.O.D. (Sons of Druckenmiller) To Lose Again" →