weeklypreviews.gif (1443 bytes)
updated 24th March 2008  

N.B. Above Chart is abstracted from NextView Program

Last week we said that, "With Dow Jones Industries dropping almost 200 pts last Friday, we could expect another sell off in Asia market on Monday. However, that does not mean the end of the Bulls, rather I am seeing the final battle between the Bulls and the Bears should come to the final stage by end of next week! At current stage, many analysts including some famous one like Richard Russell (of Dow Theory) are predicting that the end of the current wave may be coming soon or had already happened. Of course there are some long term Bears like Bob Precther (of Elliot Wave International) are seeing another big sell off coming soon. For me, I believe come next week we will have a clear picture on the mid term direction of the market. With Bear Stern and some broking firms results to be announced early next week, the FOMC meeting on Tuesday and some important economic data to be announced next week , such as Monday's National Association of Home Builder index for March, Tuesday's New Residential Construction in February, Wednesday's PPI, Thursday's weekly jobless claims and leading indicators for February, we could expect a very volatile market next week. Nevertheless, this will be a final battle between the Bulls and the Bears. The winner will determine the intermediate market direction in the next few months. So, ladies and gentlemen do stay tight and wait for the final show down. Expect market to continue selling down on Monday and may start to move up by Tuesday. For Dow Jones Industrial index, it needs to clear above 12300 to resume its bullishness. However, if it breaks below 11730 a further sell down may start." Well, we were right to the dot! After some selling in early Monday, Dow Jones Industrial index began to surge before another sold down on Wednesday and a strong rallied on Thursday to close the week for Good Friday with a first weekly gain after four weeks. We also said that, "As for STI, we could expect a gap down on Monday opening and that STI may test the recent low of 2746 this week. However, so long as the support at 2746 did not break, there still have chance for the Bull to fight back. So do stay tune and wait for the result on this battle between the Bull and the Bear." Again, we were right to the dot again! STI did go down to exactly 2746 last Monday before a rebound occurred. So, have we seen the bottom? Had the Bulls eventually won the game last week? What should we do now under such volatile market?

First I must say that I am very pleased to see a strong close in Dow last Thursday. This has at least given a first positive step that we may have seen a bottom. Second, a strong rally in US$ and a plunge in oil, commodities and gold last week, had further supported the possibility that the worst in stock markets may be over. Third, there is a rumor saying that Federal Reserve and some European counterparts are in the mid of discussion using public money to buy mortgage-backed assets. If this is true, there would be a strong boost to the market in the coming week. Fourth, despite a news last Thursday that commercial-finance CIT Group would need to tap its $7.3 billion credit line to repay debt sent its shares plunging over  20% but didn't prevent the stock market from rallying on Thursday. These have further supported our view that we may have seen a bottom that will at least last for a few months. Technically, markets are very oversold and there are some divergence in indicators, suggesting that we may begin to see some day light soon. Ideally if Dow Jones can break above 12800 next week, it will strongly confirm that a medium term bottom has in place. There are series of economic data coming in the pipeline next week. Starting on Monday's Existing home sales for February and Chicago manufacturing survey for March. Tuesday's consumer confidence number for March, Wednesday's new home sales for February, Thursday's GDP and jobless claims and last but not least Friday's consumer sentiment. All these will have influence to the market. Hopefully by then we can see Dow Jones breaks above 12800 and that global market starts its multi months rally! As for STI, we could expect a rally this coming Monday to test its resistance at 2915. If STI can manage to stay above 3000 by end of the week then we can safely say that a mid term rebound has started, with a possible target of 3600 by end July! At this juncture, if you are long term investor you may want to continue buying some more shares, giving that the prospect of immediate rally has improved. As for traders, you may have to switch from short selling to going long for most of the trades, for the underlying sentiment may have changed. For STI, the 2746 will remain very important support for the Bulls and that if STI can break above 3000 the Bull run may begin. The following are the support and resistance to watch for Dow Jones, Hang Seng and Nikkei next week.

                       Dow Jones      Hang Seng     Nikkei
Resistance       12460            23750            13070
Support             12000            20570            11690

As for STI the resistances and supports are as follow:
Resistance:      2850, 2930, 2950, 3020, 3050, 3100, 3130
Support:            2746, 2650, 2580

Events To watch For The Coming Week:

  1. The movement in Dow Jones Industry and NASDAQ..
  2. The movement in currencies, oil and commodities price.
  3. The economics data, such as Monday's Existing home sales for February and Chicago manufacturing survey for March. Tuesday's consumer confidence number for March, Wednesday's new home sales for February, Thursday's GDP and jobless claims and last but not least Friday's consumer sentiment.
  4. The rumor that Fed and some European counterparts said to be in discussion using public money to buy mortgage-backed assets..

The following are two possible wave counts on STI as at to-date:

  1. Preferred Count (60% probability)-- bullish count
    My preferred count calling for a top at 2502 (on 7/1/2000) as wave ((1)), it then follow by a two year sell off on wave ((2)) to 1197 (on 28/9/2001). The index had then entered into an  impulsive wave ((3)) that ended at 3906. We are now in the development of wave ((4)), of which we expect it to be a big triangle formation that take about one to two years to complete. The recent sell down is the first leg of wave ((4)), which will take a form of a-b-c and reaches the potential target of 2770, as the wave (a) of ((4)). The index will then continue to develop the (a)-(b)-(c)-(d)-(e) triangle formation.
     
  2. Alternate Count (40% probability)-- bearish count
    My alternate count calling for a top at 2502 (on 7/1/2000) as wave ((1)), it then follow by a two year sell off on wave ((2)) to 1197 (on 28/9/2001). The index had then entered into an  impulsive wave ((3)) that ended at 2666 in May 2006. The index had then entered into wave ((5)) that ended on 3906 in October'07. We are now in the downtrend bear market, which will last for a few years! Although this count remains as the least chance as compare to my preferred count. If the index breaks below 2776 convincingly on very high volume, the odd on bear market will significantly increase.

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