Thanks,

Travis

I wrote the following & sent to friends & clients in my “Looking Forward to 2008″ statement at the end of December 2007:

“While some people are expecting a further rally in the mkt this yr of 20%; AT THIS POINT IN TIME, i do NOT see such a scenario. I believe that the mkt is vulnerable to quite the opposite at some point this yr…perhaps/probably as early as in the first quarter of this yr. This 5 yr bull market is very long-in-the-tooth & very vulnerable to such a deeper decline.”
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On January 14, 2008 I wrote (in part):

6) Down Novembers are usually followed by up Decembers. But this past Nov (07)was followed by a down Dec. While unusual, i couldn’t find the statistical significance online although i’m sure that i heard it on CNBC.

My version of an old saying is “If Santa Claus doesn’t come to Broad & Wall, then a bear will surely come to call.”

7) Nasdaq was down the first 8 days of the new year. Again while unusual, i couldn’t find the statistical significance online although i’m sure that i heard it on CNBC. Either this or the Nov/Dec decline, i believe i heard, was the first time in 32 yrs.

(NOTE: #7 was factually incorrect. The Nasdaq had declined from Dec, 26, 07 (the day after Christmas) til Jan 8, 08 - 8 trading days but NOT the FIRST 8 days of the new year as i had stated. However, not a good sign at the time in a seasonally bullish time.)

The 10 down Octobers are not INconsistent with what i’m looking for. However, the pertinent question to me is where does that pullback begin (from). It’s one thing if it started from somewhere near where we are now; it’s another thing if it started from substantially higher.

I’ve always been a fan of your work because i believe that mkts are 45% psychology; 45% physics; 20% macro economics (yeah, i know that’s 110%, LOL). The first expanded comments of yours that i recall were many 100 pts lower & i thought “Whoa, this is powerful stuff.”

You should combine several of your submissions; expand them a bit with rationale, etc & submit them to http://www.mta.org/EWEB/dynamicpage.aspx?webcode=charlesdowaward

You do really good work, Wayne.

Much thanks & regards,
dave

There were actually two nasty 4th quarters after Up September, 1973 and 2007. Both of those led to severe downturns the following year.

If we are fortunate enough to rally into the end of the month and finish September up by more than 5%, the fourth quarter stats are 5-0 with an average gaudy gain of 9.24%.

Thanks to my BFF Dave for the heads up.

In Yale Hirsh Stock Traders Almanac, He refers to September as a Reverse Barometer, but I think he is looking at the 12 mt outlook, and gives some stats. The opposite of the January effect. Your article suggest ow. at least for eoy. I will double check. I was thinking about running the numbers for October today, given Sept performance. I will run the numbers on the end of the year performance as well, to substantiate your article.

One of the frustrating things for people who miss the first rally in a bull market is that they wait for the big correction and it never comes. The market just keeps climbing and climbing. It feeds on itself in frenzied fashion and propels prices considerably higher for six mts or so, and sometimes longer. I work with people who now admit that we are in a bull mkt, but were waiting for a 10% correction to get in. Now they are looking for a 5% correction. Eventually they have to throw in the towel.

I am of the growing opinion, that at the end of the year, a lot of people who do their once a year portfolio assessments, will sit down, look at their accounts, and say, you know, the market is up 50%, I still have $100,000 sitting in my 401K drawing 0.1% interest, I probably should get back in the game. Possibly the next big push.

The Sept options expiration are 15-15, but the last 5 have been up. Expirations in up wks, have slight upward bias.

Let me research the end of year stats, be back later today.

May, June, early July looked like an ABC wave 2.

Aug, early Sept looked like an ABC wave 2 of a lesser degree.

That would put us near the beginning of a 3 of 3. Even a somewhat mild, brief shakeout would not change that. IF ANYTHING, a brief shakeout just before embarking on a 3 of 3 would be VERY BEFITTING. The train doesn’t leave the station with everyone onboard.

And surpassing/closing > 43.60 Q’s would go hand-in-hand

This perspective would not have been apparent before the Sept pullback (& subsequent rally) because the 2nd ABC wave 2 of a lesser degree did not exist yet.
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Something important happened last Weds 9/9 (and the tone of the mkt has changed since then).

When the Q’s closed @ 41.09, they closed above the low on 3/17/08 (41.05) which was the bottom of wave 1.

Many who have been bearish since the March low have been looking for a new low (THIS year).

One hard & fast rule of EW is “W 4 never enters the price territory of W 1″ p 21.

By closing above the bottom of Wave 1 that would deductively label the March low as 5 complete waves to the downside.

Also, RUT joined the Q’s Monday as having surpassed 50% RT of their bear mkt decline.

However, surpassing 61.8% Q’s (next) is a really big deal … a game changer.

If anyone thinks this view is idiotic, please send the hate mail to Wayne because i’m deaf.

Posting this here (trying to keep it current rather than burying it in the older post).

Am not familiar with “the Reverse September Barometer”, but this http://www.kirkreport.com/09/battleforsept.gif caught my eye recently (which is quite odd since i seldom look at all those listings on that site because i think trading & managing is more important than reading 50 articles a day).

Trading is constantly learning something new, but reading 50 articles a day is IMO beyond the law of diminishing returns.