Dec 5, 2022
Log-in here if you’re a member with access to the Closer.
Looking for deeper insight into markets? In tonight’s Closer sent to Bespoke Institutional clients, we start out tonight with a look at the huge swings in breadth over the past year (page 1) followed by a look at a handful of technical indicators (page 2). We then take a look at the latest PMIs (page 3) and factory sales (page 4). Next, we review the latest mortgage delinquency data (page 5) before wrapping up with a rundown of the latest Commitments of Traders data (pages 6 – 8).
See today’s full post-market Closer and everything else Bespoke publishes by starting a 14-day trial to Bespoke Institutional today!
Dec 5, 2022
Please click the image below to view our December 2022 market calendar. This calendar includes the S&P 500’s historical average percentage change and average intraday chart pattern for each trading day during the upcoming month. It also includes market holidays and options expiration dates plus the dates of key economic indicator releases. Click here to view Bespoke’s premium membership options.
Dec 5, 2022
Front-month lumber has fallen through critical levels of support at the past few months lows. In the first year of the pandemic, lumber had a brief time in the limelight as the thinly traded commodity posted massive gains from mid-2020 to mid-2021 on tight supplies amidst strong housing demand. After peaking in the spring of 2021, it has erased all of its pandemic gains. So far in December alone, it has fallen over 8% with current levels (red dotted line) down to the lowest since June 2020.
Lumber’s shaky technical picture has poor sentiment data to boot. Recent data from the Commitments of Traders report from the CFTC has shown an overwhelming share of open interest is positioned bearishly in lumber futures. As shown below, a net 48.29% of open interest is short, slightly off the lows last month but still down around some of the most pessimistic levels on record.
As we do each Monday, in tonight’s Closer, we will provide a more complete rundown of the positioning in other assets per the CFTC data.
Given it is a key input for construction, the decline in lumber prices has largely been a result of weakness in the housing sector (which we discussed in aggregate in last week’s Matrix of Economic Indicators). Like lumber, the charts of various construction/housing-related areas leave something to be desired. For example, front-month copper is running up to and failing to take out the past year’s downtrend line while Weyerhaeuser (WY)—a publicly traded American timberland company—does the same. Meanwhile, stocks in the S&P 1500’s homebuilder and building and products industries have both run into resistance at their summer highs. Click here to learn more about Bespoke’s premium stock market research service.
