US stocks have plunged this week from the high of the week of 10/01 which has been the biggest rout since February. Meanwhile, investors remain jittery, to put it mildly, and confused as people try to attach a fundamental reason for the decline mixing in the recent jump in interest rates and the potential harm tariffs could cause tech companies. But our sources overseas are more concerned about politics. The Democrats are vowing to raise taxes and lower health care costs which they created in the first place.

The NASDAQ peaked in August and our model had called for an August high would be followed by a low into this period. So nothing unusual has transpired other than foreign buyers have backed off concerned about what happens if the Democrats take the House. The S&P500 peaks in September and the Dow peaked in October with the dollar illustrating once again the international capital flows are different from domestic.

The interest rates have been rising since the 4th quarter of 2015. To suddenly claim that is the reason for the decline merely reflects the problem that they need to point to something to explain a move that cannot be attributed to anything but the political uncertainty on the horizon.

We will update Tonight on the Private Blog with the specific numbers.

Interest Rates have been on the rise since 2015.75 4th quarter. All of a sudden, the headlines claim U.S. stocks took a dump to close sharply lower because investors spooked by rising bond yields sold equities in all sectors. The Nasdaq Composite Index (COMP) fell 315.97 points, or 4.1%, to 7,422.05, its biggest decline of 2018. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 800 points and the S&P 500 had its worst day since February as technology stocks went into a freefall.

This really begs the question – Did everyone suddenly notice interest rates? No, the market peak on the target week in the Array of 10/01 so it is simply all about the market getting tired. The vast majority are bearish and the most fascinating thing is what happened to the Flight to Quality? Normally, the stock market crashes and you run to bonds. But if the stock market is crashing and bonds are crashing, is this a completely new type of flight?

We will be providing an update tonight on the private blog.

QUESTION: Hello Mr Armstrong
I have been following you now for a couple of years, since the movie the forcaster, it showed me exactly whats is happening in the world and how little I know about finaces and trading. I am a blue collar worker in Canada with a small pension, how can I or where should I go to learn how to trade? Better yet how to use Socrates or someone who can help me or invest for me?
Your work has opened my eyes and also scares the hell out of me for what is coming.
Please can you help me and the other little guys who not as educated?
Thank you

ANSWER: What you want is not to short-term TRADE but to be a position trader. People who try to trade back and forth usually get caught up in emotions and end up losing money. What you want is to POSITION TRADE for the long-haul.  Here is what happens just using the Long-term Reversals only – not even every single one. Sure, you leave some on the table. The important thing is to reduce the number of trades and your confidence will increase and you will actually make more at the end of the day.

Right now, we are still in this consolidation phase, yet this is still a cycle inversion. We have not elected any Monthly Bearish Reversals at all so you just stay with the trade. The exit point keeps rising as the market rises. You can use the Weekly to Exit after a long bullish run. But for now, just hang tight. We may have the greatest trade on the century knocking on the door very soon.

QUESTION: Hello Mr Armstrong,
I read your blog since many years (i live in France) and i’m really impressed by Socrates … You have said that the $ will going to rise against the € and it’s exactly what’s happened !!
You have said that the Dow Jones will rise into 26 000 points and will go on into 40 000 points and the Dow rise since the elction of Trump and we are going to live what Socrates has predicted !!
INCREDIBLE because all the interview and news that i have seen were going to explain that it will be the contrary. Is it the slingshot which is going to happen ? Are we waiting the rise of the Gold before to have the final signal ?
You have always said that the Gold, the $ and the Dow will rise together when the slingshot will begin … are we to this moment ? or is it too early ?
Thanks Mr Armstrong and good things to you and your team.

LB

ANSWER: Absolutely everything is connected. If you get one right, then the rest must follow. It is really impossible to have one market moving opposite of everything else. It is sort of like the world is in a Great Depression and it is impossible for one politician in one country to reverse the trend of the world. So the world economy is very much like a set of dominoes. It is impossible to reverse the trend and it just has to play out. We are not yet ready on the gold. As you can see, gold has been declining in dollars as well as euros. The markets have been consolidating waiting as people are trying to figure out if this the big crash or not. The majority keep calling for the end of times. This has been the MOST hated Bull Market in history. They keep calling for the crash ever since 2009.

QUESTION: Hi Marty,
Can you help us better understand the dynamics of the sovereign debt crisis as it relates to US Treasuries? I know we are in a global debt crisis, which will also impact US Treasuries but it seems like short treasuries is the current consensus (I believe they are currently at the biggest net short position in recent history). Since most people need to be wrong, does this suggest that as global debt unwinds that perhaps US Treasuries may still have another rally in them before the final crash?

Thank you for any insight into what we know to be the greatest bubble.

Looking forward to the WEC!
SB

ANSWER: We have to always look at markets collectively from a global perspective, and also separating the long-term from the short-term trend. It is sort of the saying you can win the battle, but lose the war. This is the same thing. In the case of interest rates, the long-term is clearly staring at higher rates square in the eyes. However, then we have shifts in trend within the short-term. For example, domestically, you have this pervasive hatred of the stock market and as an evergreen tree, they have been perpetually bearish since 2009. They have not wavered in that forecast because they have blinders on and make forecasts solely upon a flat model limited to patterns and domestic analysis at best. Therefore, there will be these bouts of flight to quality sell stocks and buy bonds. We have NOT yet crossed the Rubicon in interest rates. We still have not yet elected the 4th Monthly Bearish Reversal. When we do, the 30-year will signal the debt crisis is in full gear.

Now we have to look at this market from a Hedge Fund Manager’s world. My decision has to be made on a global scale – not domestic. This boils down to you are a prince and your father compels you to ask one of the three ugliest girls in town for a date for political reasons for the realm. So, you choose the prettiest of the three ugly sisters as they say. This is what happens internationally. You have to have money in debt because you are trying to also be diversified (I do not always agree with that strategy). Hence, the euro looks like death warmed over, political chaos is brewing, so you have to push money out the door to other currencies. Hence, the dollar keeps rising and the political rhetoric against Trump is desperate to hide the trend that his strategies have been working on bringing capital home and renegotiating NAFTA. So with the dollar strong, euro in crisis, you have no choice but to buy Treasuries even if for short-term plays.

Consequently, you can be correct that the long-term trend is UP UP AND AWAY for interest rates. However, the devil is lurking behind every rock along the path. You may be correct on the war, but lose a fortune of the short-term corrections. Hence, we have not yet crossed the Rubicon. When we do, it will be time to shout very loud so our readers will hear. We can see that the chart patterns between dollars and euro in the 30-year Treasuries is as different as night and day.

QUESTION: As an avid reader of your daily BLOG, I’m well aware of the attempt to abolish cash, potential freezing of bank accounts, years of negative or near zero interest rates and “helicopter money” from the government are all likely scenarios in the near to distant future. Without compromising any of your business or proprietary agreements, positions of interest, or ethics, can you suggest or provide some alternatives as to measures to take to avoid this historical “train wreck” we a doomed to experience.
May GOD have mercy on our souls!
BEF

ANSWER: I get a lot of inquiries on this subject. It is much more than I can relate in just a blog post. So I flew to Germany to do another documentary on this subject matter. I believe it will be released in a matter of weeks. I am also putting the finishing touched on a book on inflation and hyperinflation. I am also desperately trying to get this out also before the WEC this November which I hope will put forth a completely new approach to understanding inflation not just for the individual, but to central bankers and politicians as well

We have to come to the reality that from 2019 onward, we are headed into a Pension Crisis that will be serious. Many are starting to yell about the debt crisis. They lump on private debt and yell its a bubble. What they miss entirely is the fact that we face more than a decade of crises that would have been avoidable, had governments been actually managers and central bank had not tried to keep using Keynesian Demand Side Economics that even Paul Volcker warned back in 1978 had failed.

This is by no means prophecies of doom and gloom. Unfortunately, they are prophecies not even of a pessimist, but only facts that are comprehensible simply using a pocket calculator and not even a computer. The Pension Crisis is the end of Socialism. Promises that were made which were never sustainable but were a scheme to win votes. Then the money needed to pay the pension required 8% interest annually. Then the central banks enter the game and mess everything up even more. Instead of DIRECTLY aiding the economy, they lower rates and HOPE that the banks will pass it along. They never did. The banks parked the money at the Excess Reserve Window that the Fed has still not closed.

The cost of pensions is currently stifling Western society beyond belief. Europe itself is ahead of the curve and will crack before the United States. Europe already has between  30% to 40% of the population who have already retired or are about to leave the labor market. They have used the old Roman pension system of the army which was earning an average of 20 years service to qualify for a pension. It was the pensions which contributed to the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.

We have to realize that government state pensions are the real crisis. Like California, their solution is always to raise taxes to pay for government pensions. The amount of social insurance contributions and taxes is determined by the cost of providing retirement benefits. The Fed is trying to raise rates, but they fear raising them back to 8% too fast will disrupt the economy. The pressure is building on the ECB in Europe behind the curtain to stop this nonsense of Quantitative Easing that has failed to start with and is now the cause of a massive Pension Crisis for the next 10 years. This condition of a shortfall cannot change immediately and raising taxes to try to solve the problem will only lead to further economic decline.

QUESTION: Hello Martin

I wish all the best for you. The work you make every day to rise up our understanding about the world is amazing and make me feel a huge respect. it is very inspiring. I’m a small customer of your private blog. I don’t know if you answer that kind of request.

I want and I need to understand WHY the dxy was in bull market between march 2000 and feb 2002, from 102 to 113.

you are unbelievable when times come to understand economic history. I can’t find any explanation about this period
M2 supply decreased softly the twin deficit stood around 2% with no hope of getting better and it reversed after 2002 to 8% !!!

Interest rates were declining stock indexes were very bear from the tech turnmoil

Gold was bottoming from 420 to 380 with a reverse pattern during summer 2001. the dxy rise more than 3% after the bottom of gold in 1 year !
how could this DXY get up 10% higher in 2 years ??? what is the secret of history I miss ???? I believe there is something to learn with that period !
kind regards

CD

ANSWER: While the Euro began really in 1999, the physical notes did not come into circulation until 2000. The euro hit its all-time high shortly after its launch at the start of 1999 at that point in history which marked the euphoria of the talking heads on TV and how the Euro would crush the dollar. As always, they talked everyone into buying the high. As we say, buy the rumor and sell the news. That is an INCREDIBLY good market rule.

But The Euro began to slide thereafter, falling to a record low of 82.3 US cents in October 2000. However, both the euro and sterling then recovered at the lows when rumors began that an intervention by the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan was imminent. In late afternoon trading that day, one euro bought 82.74 and one pound was worth $1.4329. They also spread rumors that Iraq would soon start to price its oil exports in euro and abandon the dollar.

The entire rally has absolutely NOTHING to do with the economic numbers in the United States. The capital inflows to the USA began over FEARS of the Euro. One major central bank was leaking inside info to us to get it out because we were NOT mainstream press and the info was going DIRECTLY to the real institutional money. They were deeply against the Euro because of the faulty design. It was a political creation that nobody in their right mind would have created such a currency under this structure. So the capital fled Europe and this was one of the reasons why the DOT.COM bubble was so big. It was aided by foreign capital fleeing Europe, to begin with.

The economic numbers are nice. But they are NEVER the entire story. Capital can flee one region because of events there and they may be going to a place that is not up to par, but still, it is the best alternative. Capital Flow Analysis which we developed is by far the only way to grasp the full extent of the economy.