Daily Stock Market Update & Forecast, May 20th, 2024 – A

5/20/2024 – A mixed day with the Dow Jones down 196 points (-0.49%) and the Nasdaq up 109 points (+0.65%) 

Today’s top on the Dow Jones, being just a few points away, works as well as the top we saw on Thursday.  In both price/time and with a bit more follow through to the downside. That is to say, considering our overall forecast and our May 17th (+/- 2 trading days) TIME turning point, we likely saw the top today. We are now seeking further market confirmations.

No other changes to our weekly update……

Let’s first review what had happened in March/April, where we are now and what we anticipate to happen next.

For months, and in the case of the Dow Jones, for 18 months, we have maintained the following price targets.

      • SPX: March 25th (+/- 2 trading days), PRICE Target 5,200 (+/- 100 points).
      • Dow: March 25th (+/- 2 trading days),  PRICE Target 40,000 (+/-  500 points)
      • NDX: March 25th (+/- 2 trading days), PRICE Target 18,300 (+/- 200 points)

On March 30th we issued the following short-term update (see last week’s update).

We believe we might see the final top on the Dow Jones in the first 60 minutes of trading on Monday (April 1st). Please check our Intraday update on Monday as we might reverse position from long to short at that juncture. 

We did get a direct hit on the targets above and the market began to sell-off. Yet, as we have indicated at the time, the sell-off wasn’t structurally sound. The indices left behind a number of structural gap downs that suggested at the time we would get a bounce that would close them all.

This week all indices resolved their respective gaps lower and most primary indices pushed to slightly higher highs. Although, the Dow Futures remain below their April 1st high trigger.

Further, we are now sitting on top of a powerful May 17th (+/- 2 trading days) TIME turning point that should mark a top of this bounce.

So, what are we to make of all of the above?

Recent new all time highs on some of the indices complicate the technical picture a little bit, but not our Time/Price calculations or TIMING metrics. For the time being all indices remain at their targets and well within their respective margins of error. For the time being we have to assume this is a simple short-term double top formation.

Further, today’s high makes sense in terms of being the top of this bounce. If the market begins a structurally sound sell-off over the next few trading days, we would begin to get confirmation that the top of this bounce is indeed in. And once that happens we simply revert back to our original forecast.

Having said that, if the market begins to push higher once again, pushing above 40,300 on the Dow, we would begin to question our original forecast. In an attempt to figure out what is actually happening and why the market is not doing what it should. Until that happens, our forecast remains fully intact.

As a result, both our short-term and long-term portfolios are now 100% short at an average entry point of 39,325. Our stop loss is at 40,500. 

In summary, thus far, we have had a perfect hit on the top projection we have been discussing for a very long time. In case of the Dow since October of 2022 bottom.  We will now wait for further confirmations that the top is in. And once we do get them, we will begin discussing downside projections.

Yet, as we have been saying for just as long…..once the said top is put in place, the market should shift its gears into a severe bear. We need to re-calculate our bottom projections again, but if I recall correctly, a re-test of 2020 bottom is probable. We can wait for this until the market confirms the top.

End Of Update————-