06Jan2016 Market Update: DOW Down 200 Points, Session Trending Sideways, Indicators Bearish, Investors Obviously Concerned And Worried About A Further Decline

Written by Gary

Fear and greed are running the markets today as the averages trend sideways from a seriously negative opening. Crude fell 3% last night, but has remained relatively stable today at the current low prices (mid 34’s). Volume is moderate and the Spooze is trading right at the ‘S2’ (1,996.50) which also represents a substantial support that the bulls do not want to see penetrated.

Some excellent trading opportunities are shaping up.

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money

What Is Moving the Markets

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	Monsanto trims outlook, reports smaller-than-expected loss (Reuters) – Monsanto Co, the world’s largest seed company, said it expects 2016 earnings to be in the lower half of its previous forecast but reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss as soybean sales rose in Brazil.
	JPMorgan’s Dimon, others defeat Madoff fraud appeal NEW YORK (Reuters) – JPMorgan Chase & Co shareholders cannot pursue a lawsuit to force Chief Executive Jamie Dimon and other officials to pay damages to the largest U.S. bank for their alleged ignorance of red flags signaling Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday.
	AutoNation CEO warns automakers not to push sales by incentives LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – The head of the largest U.S. auto dealer group warned on Wednesday that automakers and dealers must avoid the problems in the years immediately following 2000, when lofty incentives kept sales volume high but cut profits.
	JPMorgan to pay $4 million for false statements about broker pay: SEC (Reuters) – JP Morgan Chase & Co’s brokerage unit will pay $4 million to settle allegations it misled customers about the form of compensation it paid to brokers, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Wednesday.
	Top Apple supplier plans rare holiday as output fears rattle investors TAIPEI (Reuters) – Foxconn, which assembles most of Apple Inc’s latest iPhones, will cut working hours over the week-long Lunar New Year holiday, a person familiar with the matter said, in a rare move that analysts interpreted as a sign of softening demand.
	Wall Street falls on China worries, steep drop in oil (Reuters) – U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday as fresh concerns over the impact of a slowdown in China on the global economy, a sharp fall in oil prices and heightened geopolitical concerns sent investors scurrying to safe havens.
	Oil slides below $35 on rising stocks, fading hopes of export cuts LONDON (Reuters) – Oil prices fell below $35 per barrel for the first time since 2004 on Wednesday, tumbling more than 5 percent as the row between Saudi Arabia and Iran made any cooperation between major exporters on cutting output even more unlikely.
	Valeant names interim CEO; timing of Pearson’s return unknown (Reuters) – Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc on Wednesday named board member and former Chief Financial Officer Howard Schiller as interim chief executive officer to replace Michael Pearson, who has been in the hospital with severe pneumonia since late December.
	10 Key Energy Trends To Watch For In 2016 Submitted by Nick Cunningham via OilPrice.com, Energy investors got clobbered in 2015, and are hoping for things to turn positive as we head into the New Year. What can we expect in 2016? Here is a rundown of some key trends to watch for: 1. U.S. oil production contracts. Oil output in the U.S. has declined by about 300,000 barrels per day to 9.3 million barrels per day (mb/d). Most energy prognosticators, including the EIA and the IEA, see U.S. production falling by around 0.5 mb/d in 2016. The decline could be steeper than that, however, given the plunging rig count, high depletion rates, and extraordinary capex cuts. Time will tell. 2. LNG supply up, prices down. While the oil market could be reaching for a bottom, LNG’s downturn could just be getting started. JKM prices, a maker for delivery in Asia, have fallen by two-thirds since the 2014 peak. February 2016 delivery cargoes are going for $7 per million Btu (MMBtu). But more global liquefaction and export capacity is set to hit the market in 2016, exacerbating the glut. The first export facility in the U.S. – Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass – will start up soon. Australia will see several large projects startup as well, including Chevron’s Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG facilities as well as Inpex’s Ichthys LNG terminal. China is not buying LNG at the rate that developers expected. With supply set to jump faster than demand, prices will remai …
	A Disturbing Warning From UBS: “Buy Gold” Because A 30% Bear Market Is Coming As Wall Street axioms (Santa rally, January effect, as goes January etc.) are rapidly falling by the wayside at the start of 2016, following a chaotic but return-less 2015, the UBS analysts who correctly forecast last year’s volatility are out with their forecast for 2016. It’s simple – Sell Stocks, Buy Gold. UBS Technical Analysts Michael Riesner and Marc MÃ¼ller warn the seven-year cycle in equities is rolling over. UBS expects S&P 500 to move into a 2Q top and fall into a full size bear market, with risk of a 20% to 30% correction into minimum later 2016 and worst case early 2017 “The comeback of volatility was the title of our 2015 strategy. Last year’s rise in volatility was in our view just the beginning for a dramatic rise in cross-asset volatility over the next few years,” Noting that while equities have had a good run, Risener and Muller warn, “we are definitely more in the late stages of a bull market instead of being at the beginning of a new major breakout.” Our key message for 2016 is that even if we were to see another ex …
	A Warning For The Bears: Gartman Calls It “This Is Now A Fully-Fledged Bear Market” Just when you thought it was safe to go short… Yesterday stock prices here in the States did little other than mark time, and following the material selling earlier this week the fact that the best that the market could do was this is ominous indeed. We used the term œbear market yesterday in our commentary for the first time in a very, very long while and we used it with intent, for in the past we’ve often said that we had turned œneutral of stocks noting that in a bull market the most bearish position one can have is neutral. This stems from our simple, but effective, notion that in a bull market there are only three positions one can and should have: Aggressively long; modestly long or neutral. But this is no longer a bull market. This is now a fully-fledged bear market and we do not say that readily, nor lightly. Nonetheless, given that our International Index made its high late last May at 11,186 and is now 1,888 points or 16.9% below that level and has been down for just over seven months, it is time to face this harsh reality. This is a bear market. Trend lines that have held in the past are failing. Lower lows and lower highs are more and more common. Fewer and fewer stocks are trading within 2-5% of their highs and more are trading 15-20% below those highs and the Advance/Decline lines here and abroad are collectively weak and weakening. We are, for the first time in years suggesting ¦ indeed, we are stating it rather clearly ¦ our belief that the global bull market that began in the spring of ’09 ended, in retrospect, in the very first days of summer of last year. We shall, henceforth, look to err bearishly of equities, holding long positions in some equities, but erring on balan …
	China Loses Its Grip on the Yuan The Chinese currency’s unexpectedly rapid fall in this year’s first week of trading is the latest evidence investors are losing confidence in Beijing’s ability to cope with recent market turbulence.
	November 2015 Manufacturing Declines Written by Steven Hansen US Census says manufacturing new orders declined. Our analysis says sales did improve but are still not good. Unadjusted unfilled orders’ growth remains in CONTRACTION year-over-year – but this is due to deflation in this sector..
	The Tell: Saudi Arabia can afford cheap oil, but i’s going to be a grind Saudi Arabia is tightening its budget as it hunkers down for a long oil price war. The kingdom can afford it, but it won’t be easy.
	The Fed: What time do the Fed minutes come out? The minutes from the landmark Federal Reserve meeting in which the central bank raised interest rates are due Wednesday at 2 p.m. Eastern.
	The Fed: Fed minutes may show cracks in central bank’s united front The Fed’s ‘all for one, one for all’ stance in December in raising interest rates for the first time since 2006 may not stand close scrutiny when the minutes of their meeting are released Wednesday.