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Stock markets are bullish to mixed. Interestingly, the unfashionable and old-fashioned Dow Jones Industrial Average is outperforming other US indices like the NASDAQ 100 or the S&P 500. Trend traders will have been long here for a few days.
Precious metals such as Silver and Gold are looking bearish again in line with their respective long-term trends, at least in terms of short-term price action. Gold, notably, is still being held by a long-term descending trend line which currently sits at about $4,238. I do not short commodities, but if I did, I would be short of these two precious metals.
Crude Oil continues to bounce weakly after touching a new 7-month low, with WTI trading below $70. I never short commodities, but those trend traders who do will likely still be short here. It is quite possible that the price of crude is not going to go meaningfully lower than what we have already seen, although a major bullish reversal is far from clear. However, if you believe the Gulf will heat up again in the coming months, you have to believe the price of crude is going to go higher. Recent hours saw the Iranian regime fire on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, and that may help firm up the bid here.
Bitcoin is taking a bearish turn and making a potential bearish top chart pattern just below $65,000. There is a long-term bearish trend which is encouraging in line with the signal, but I think the rejection still looks two temporary and not fully built yet, so I am suspicious of entering just yet. If instead the price pushes higher and gets established above $65,000, that would be a bullish sign.
The USD/JPY currency pair remains in focus after regaining much of its value lost immediately after the Japanese financial establishment intervened to try to prop up the Yen last week. The Japanese Financial establishment is trying to hold back a tide and that is a hard thing for any central bank to achieve. It is easy to weaken your currency but not so easy to strengthen it. One approach for traders might be to wait for intervention to drive the price substantially lower, and then to go long here when the price starts rising - this would have been very successful after the last intervention. Alternatively, trend traders can buy the breakouts and control their risk - it is unlikely that the Yen could rise by more than 3 long-term daily ATRs in a day, or at least, not by much, so don't be too intimidated by these threats if you are using a wide stop loss. I am already long here, like most trend traders.
Yesterday's release of US Services PMI data came in just a fraction below expectations, having no effect on prices.