Trader’s Narrative

One of my favorite breadth charts is the Bullish Percent Index. It isn’t as common as advance decline measures because it is based on point and figure charting.

Point and figure charting itself is based on pure price action and ignores both time and even small price movements. In P&F charts the X represents demand (or bid or buying) and the O supply (or selling). Unlike candlestick or bar charts, it is perfectly normal for a point and figure chart to not need to be updated (when price doesn’t move beyond a threshold either up or down). This is the great advantage of point and figure charts.

Other than that, the basics of technical analysis such as support and resistance apply to point and figure charts. Also, point and figure charts can provide systematic buy and sell signals - something that ‘normal’ charts leave open to the traders discretion. The simplest buy signal is the chart to the left - when price breaks above a previous high (without the column of O’s breaking below their previous low).

So to calculate a Bullish Percent Indexes, we simply take a look at each and every stock compromising an index and track how many of them out of the total constituents are in a point and figure buy signal. If, 120 out of the 500 stocks in the S&P 500 index are in a buy signal for example, then the Bullish Percent Index for the S&P 500 for that day would be 24%.

Doing this by hand would be extremely cumbersome, but thankfully we have computers that can do the calculations in a fraction of a second. Here is the chart of the Bullish Percent Index for the Nasdaq Composite:

According to the traditional interpretation, a Bullish Percent Index of 70% and higher is considered overbought. And if there it experiences a 6% (or more) decline, it will offer a sell signal. Personally, I prefer to not wait for the sell signal. Once you know that the market has weak legs, you can use other indicators to give you more short term guidance.

Right now we are seeing almost every single measure of the market provide extreme breadth levels from the Bullish Percent Index. Normally seeing the bullish percent indexes for so many markets and sectors reaching this high in synchronicity would be a red flag. However, there is an argument for such strong momentum to be a signal of a protracted rally.

This was the same concept that I shared earlier this week about incredibly powerful thrusts measured from the advance decline breadth. These short busts of powerful buying are usually precursors to lasting uptrends. Think of it as a turbo booster on a rocket which lifts it through the heavy atmosphere before it can glide easier through the thin air of space.

Consider that the last time the Nasdaq composite BPI was this high was back in 2003-2004 during a powerful bull market. It is the same case for the NYSE, and the Nasdaq 100 index. This is how oversold can become meaningless.

Bullish Percent for Major Indexes:

• NYSE Index — 77%
• Standard & Poor’s 500 — 83%
• Nasdaq Composite — 70.55%
• Nasdaq 100 Index — 90%
• Dow Jones Industrial — 77%

Bullish Percent for Sectors:

• Financial — 86%
• Consumer Discretionary — 79%
• Consumer Staples — 73%
• Energy — 60%
• Healthcare — 79%
• Technology — 87%
• Industrial — 71%
• Materials — 85%
• Telecom — 56%
• Utilities — 62%
• Transportation — 75%

Yes, today’s decline was yet again another Lowry’s 90-90 day and it took us perilously closer to the ledge. Or over the ledge, depending on which index you’re looking at and how thick you draw your support lines. Weinstein’s support level is still not breached, for whatever that’s worth. Is everything lost? I turned to an ancient way of looking at the health of a market.

You already know how to use bullish percent indices to time the stock market. Although they are usually shown in point and figure charts (those X’s and O’s), I prefer to look at a line chart because it moves in tandem with time and the market proxies like the NYSE index, Dow Jones and S&P 500.

But the original way that bullish percent charts were interpreted was to gauge where we were along a continuum of bull or bear market. The short version is that when the NYSE bullish percent index moves up above the 70% line and closed below it, the market is on notice. Similarly, when the NYSE bullish percent index moves lower than 30% and then breaks above it, there is an indication of underlying health, and a portent of a nascent bullish rally.

Looking at a very long term chart of the NYSE bullish percent index, it is easy to see the efficacy of this measure of market internal health:

Recently though, the NYSE bullish percent index has been breaking down through the 30% level not only often but to such a degree that it has fallen lower than it did after the Black Monday crash of 1987.

Here’s a chart zooming into the past two years to show more detail:

Each successive piercing of the 30% “maginot line” brings about a weaker and weaker counter rally from the market. Until in July, the market barely manages to plateau before falling again. So what’s up? Why is this once solid indicator start to sputter and fail so badly?

My hunch is that what changed over time was the inclusion of non-equity securities on the big board. Right now half of the securities traded on the NYSE are closed-end funds, ETFs, ADRs, municipal bond funds and other funny pieces of paper that do not represent fractional ownership of a public company as it used to when traders started pushing paper under the Buttonwood tree.

This is why Lowry Research service started to keep “operating company only” NYSE data. Speaking of Lowry’s, I went to a presentation by one of their analysts last night and will share the details with you tomorrow.