Trader’s Narrative

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Man does not live by bread alone.

And neither is the US stock market the only market out there.

But we usually tend to act as if it was the only one that counts. One of the many lessons I learned from Weinstein’s excellent book: Secrets for Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets, is to monitor global indexes. Cheesy title, but excellent book - if you don’t have it, get it today.

This takes on extra importance at important inflection points - which are difficult to spot in the moment, as you’ve no doubt noticed. While the US market is probably the most important in the world, due to the interconnectedness of our world, it can not decouple from the rest. So by comparing it to the others, we can gain insight into bull and bear markets.

So with that in mind, below is a (not so random) walk through the world’s major stock markets. First, let’s take a look at the European exchanges, then Toronto and the South American Indexes and finally, Asia.

Since looking at so many charts can be dizzying, I’ll keep tabs on a couple of specific technical criteria. For example, the slope of the moving averages as well as whether price is uptrending or downtrending (making a higher high and a lower high or vice versa).

FTSE (England)

• made a new low in March 2009 (still downtrending)
• yet to break above January 2009 highs
• slope of 200 day moving average is down
• 50 day moving average is below price & climbing

CAC 40 (France)

• made a new low in March 2009 (still downtrending)
• yet to break above January 2009 highs
• slope of 200 day moving average is down
• 50 day moving average is below price & climbing

Continue reading ‘A Walk Through World Stock Markets’

Here are the top 10 cities for traders, according to Trader magazine:

1. Chicago
2. London
3. New York
4. Dubai
5. Miami
6. Boston
7. Dublin
8. Los Angeles
9. Toronto
10. Sao Paolo

Cities were ranked according to amenities, nightlife, taxes, and other relevant factors. I wasn’t surprised to see Chicago or the other American cities. But Dubai? C’mon. Who wants to live there? Visit, maybe. The place is museum set of what happens when you have gobs of money but no taste. Dubai actually makes Trump look elegant. In any case, as the magazine confesses, Dubai made it on the list because they have no taxes whatsoever - no personal income tax, not capital gains, etc. But on that score, why not put tax havens like the Turks & Caicos on the list? Complete and utter balderdash.

On the other hand I’m glad to see Toronto on the list. Although a relatively small city on a world wide scope, it is the largest city in Canada and has one of the best lifestyles. Especially if you’re a single professional. The other Canadian city on the list was Montreal, but it came in at #24. Montreal is a very cool place, probably the most European city you can get without crossing the pond.

And lastly, Sao Paolo. Yes! Brazil rocks. Finally people are beginning to realize it. The country has come a long way in the past 20 years. Although you still have to be cautious when it comes to crime, it is an amazing place to live and work. If you’re a male, unattached professional, the night life is beyond this world. And no, you don’t need any game. As cliche as it sounds, you can just be yourself. Even the most gorgeous Brazilian girls are friendly, approachable and they don’t play mind games nor waste time.

Of course, if you’re living in one of these cities, you need to be hooked up with the markets via a prop firm. Here’s a complete list of proprietary trading firms. Although most are based in the US, almost all of them allow remote trading.

As a regular reader of Darren Rowse’s ProBlogger it would be an understatement to say that I’ve learned much from Darren’s blog. So imagine my surprise and delight to find out in the nick of time that the b5 media team was holding a ‘meet-up’ just a few blocks away from me!

The Irish Embassy

Darren and his trusty SLR

Thanks to b5 media for being a great host! It was fun and interesting to talk to so many new bloggers

For those who wanted to trade while picnicing in the park or sipping a cappucino at your favourite cafe, Toronto Hydro Telecom is offering free Wi-Fi blanketing Toronto’s downtown core. The service is free from September 6th 2006 to March 6th 2007. Afterwards you can purchase a monthly subscription for $29.

I’m glad to see such an option available but I ask myself who in their right mind would go for it when the temperature drops and the snow starts falling? I know you can use it indoors also but then what advantage does it have? Why wouldn’t you just keep your regular ISP connection?

The other concern that I have is the speed and reliability. Toronto Hydro Telecom says you can reach 7 megabits but that smacks of a theoretical. I wonder what the average user would get. Probably much, much less than that. But hey, its free so give it a try. Here are the simple instructions.

The Toronto Composite Index has been whacked with the double whammy of a general market drop and a commodity pull-back (oil and gold). The result has taken the index down from almost 12,500, in mid-April, to around 11,800.

Previously, I wrote about my unique take on % of stocks above their moving averages, and below you can see it applied to the TSX index:

As you can see, the ratio is fast approaching levels which have marked significant market bottoms. I don’t think we’re necessarily there yet, but the situation does deserve to be closely watched.