Jan 1, 2019

  • market is currently in a natural rally of a down trend
    • continue to sell the rally and start to build shorts near resistance level
  • major driven themes
    • U.S. - China trade war
      • potential relief in Jan due to rising political pressure from market selloffs
      • improvement from trade discussion will temporarily lift market to perhaps resistance level
      • but mid-to-long-term trade tension continue to have negative impact on the market
      • failure in negotiation or breakout of trade war will tank the market
    • flattening and inverting yield curves
      • historically inversion leads recession for 12 - 24 months
      • historically market continues to rise for 12+% after first inversion
      • historically curve shifts downward after inversion -> long treasuries
      • this time might be different
      • hard hit for banks and REITs
      • more pressure for Fed to change course of tightening policy
    • concerning corporate debt
      • almost fattened 2x since 2008
      • many EBITDA unable to meet interest payments
      • credit spread widens when equity tanks and collaterals shrink
      • emerging trend contributing to next crisis
    • weakening USD
      • emerging trend, almost firm
      • may cause repricing for precious metals, oils and commodities
    • weakening CAD
      • softening housing
      • weakening oil
      • interest differential
      • watch for oversold and/or bottoming