Black Christmas and the Crash of the U.S. Stock Market; Gold and Oversold Sectors Offer the Best Trading Opportunities

The S&P 500 index dropped 2.64% yesterday and lost more than 20% of its value compared to the recent peak:

 

In previous articles, we described that crash-like conditions were developing. In our view, we are witnessing a slow-motion stock market crash that possibly forecasts a global economic slowdown.

Yesterday, the panic selling impacted almost all asset classes, with the exception of gold and Treasury bonds, which are traditionally viewed as “flight to safety” trades.

 

In our view, the most oversold sectors will likely bounce in the coming days and may offer a short-term buying opportunity to aggressive traders.

To identify the most oversold sectors, we use the Relative Strength Index (RSI) indicator. When the value of the RSI is less than 30, we regard the investment as oversold (denoted with blue circles on the charts). When the RSI is less than 20, the investment becomes highly oversold.

Out of the 11 largest U.S. sectors, the energy, the industrials, the consumer staples, and the financials dropped the most yesterday, while also triggering the highly oversold condition:

The real estate sector is oversold, as well, and we think that this sector also has the potential for a short-term rally:

 

View fund rankings at FidelitySectorReport.com for more information.

 

 

 

 

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The Stock Market Reacts Negatively as Fed Raises Interest Rates; Oversold Sectors are Ready for a Bounce

The broadly followed S&P 500 index continued its slide and it is now below the February low:

The Fed’s comments in combination with rising fears of a global economic slowdown negatively impacted the credit markets, as well. The chart shows that the ratio of the 5-year and 2-year U.S. Treasury notes is below 1 now. This condition is referred to as inversion of the yield curve, which may signal that the risk of a recession is higher than previously thought:

Almost all sectors show a negative performance for the last three months:

Gold miners and utilities are holding up the best:

We think that highly oversold sectors, such as banking and energy services, are ready for a bear market rally:

 

View fund rankings at FidelitySectorReport.com for more information.

 

 

 

 

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Will the Stock Market Crash? Natural Resources, Industrials, and International Markets are Already in Bear Market Territory

The S&P 500 index broke below its trading range Friday, which is the latest sign of the deterioration of the U.S. stock market:

Investor pessimism is driven by the slowing growth of the global economy, rising interest rates, trade wars, the Brexit negotiations, and several other geopolitical factors. We think that we are at an inflection point and crash-like conditions can develop quickly.

A worrisome sign for us is the lack of sector leadership. Gold is the only sector that shows a positive return for the last three months:

While the Fidelity Select Gold Fund (FSAGX) has outperformed recently, the chart does not show a bullish price pattern yet. FSAGX will have to break above the long-term trendline to start a new bullish trend:

On the other hand, the chart patterns of the weakest U.S. sectors, such as energy and industrials, are very negative:

In a previous article, we described the turmoil in global markets. European and Emerging Markets continued to deteriorate since then and do not offer investment opportunities at this point in our view:

 

View fund rankings at FidelitySectorReport.com for more information.

 

 

 

 

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