By Nigam Arora
To gain an edge, this is what you need to know today.
OECD Warning
Please click here for a chart of S&P 500 ETF (SPY) which represents the benchmark stock market index S&P 500 (SPX).
Note the following:
- The chart shows rally attempts so far have fizzled.
- The chart shows the stock market is again approaching the top band of zone 1 (support) in the early trade.
- This morning, there is selling in the stock market on the lack of progress in the Iran war as the weekend approaches. The concern is that unless President Trump makes positive statements about the Iran war, institutional investors will sell tomorrow to reduce risk ahead of the weekend.
- This morning, regarding the Iran war, the following are upsetting the markets:
- President Trump is telling Iran to “get serious soon, before it is too late.”
- The U.S. military is planning a “massive” final blow to Iran.
- The U.S. now has over 50K troops in the area and 10K more on the way.
- On the positive side, President Trump is saying that private comments from Iran are different from their public statements. President Trump said, “They are ‘begging’ us to make a deal.”
- This morning, the stock market is also paying attention to a warning from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). OECD is issuing a warning on the impact of the Iran war on the economy. Here are the key points:
- The forecast for U.S. inflation is now 4.2% in 2026.
- Annual GDP growth in the U.S. is forecast to fall to 1.7% in 2027.
- G20 inflation is forecast to be 4.0%.
- Global GDP growth is forecast to fall to 2.9% from 3.0% last year.
- We previously shared with you that the weak 2-year Treasury auction was a reality check. The 5-year Treasury auction was also weak, adding to the reality check. Here are the details:
- $70B 5-year Treasury note auction
- High yield: 3.980% (When-Issued: 3.966%)
- Bid-to-cover: 2.29
- Indirect bid: 61.9%
- Direct bid: 22.5%
- For those wanting to learn how to properly read Treasury auction data, listen to the podcast titled, “TREASURY AUCTION DATA: IGNORE THE MOST POPULAR.”
- The $44B 7-year Treasury auction is ahead.
- Rising yields and rising oil prices this morning are also bringing selling in the stock market.
- Initial jobless claims came at 210K vs. 210K consensus. The data shows the Iran war is not impacting the jobs picture so far.
- As an actionable item, the sum total of the foregoing is in the Arora Protection Band, which strikes the optimum balance between various crosscurrents. Please scroll down to see the Arora Protection Band. The Arora Protection Band is one of the large number of unique edges that are available to members of The Arora Report.
Magnificent Seven Money Flows
Most portfolios are now heavily concentrated in the Mag 7 stocks. For this reason, to get ahead and get an edge, investors need to dig below the surface of the Mag 7 stocks. It is equally important to rise above the noise of daily news on the Mag 7 stocks. The best way to get an edge, dig below the surface, and rise above the noise of the daily news is to pay attention to early money flows in the Mag 7 stocks on a daily basis. When there is significant news in the Mag 7 stocks that rises above the threshold of noise and impacts your entire portfolio, it is covered in the main section above.
In the early trade, money flows are negative in Amazon (AMZN), Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG), Meta (META), Tesla (TSLA), and Apple (AAPL).
In the early trade, money flows are negative in S&P 500 ETF (SPY) and Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ).
Momo Crowd And Smart Money In Stocks
The momo crowd is *** (To see the locked content, please take a 30 day free trial) stocks in the early trade. Smart money is *** in the early trade.
Note for new members: Smart money often sells into the strength generated by momo crowd buying and buys into the weakness generated by momo crowd selling. Over a long period of time, investors come out ahead by adopting smart money’s ways. The exception is in a raging bull market – for very short term trades, consider following the momo crowd and not smart money. Smart money is an important indicator but is only one of hundreds of indicators that go into determining the Arora Protection Band and signals. Please click here and here to understand how signals are generated.
Very Very Short-Term Indicator
The Arora Report’s proprietary very, very short-term early stock market indicator is *** but can quickly turn on news and rumors about the war. This indicator, with a great track record, is popular among long term investors to stay in tune with the market and among short term traders to independently undertake quick trades.
Gold
There is selling in gold in the Middle East, India, and China as their economies are negatively impacted by the Iran war.
The momo crowd is *** gold in the early trade. This is reflected in gold ETF (GLD), silver ETF (SLV), gold miner ETF (GDX), and silver miner ETF (SIL). Smart money is *** in the early trade.
For longer-term, please see gold and silver ratings.
Oil
The momo crowd is *** oil in the early trade. Smart money is *** in the early trade.
For longer-term, please see oil ratings.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC.USD) is seeing selling.
On the positive side, Fannie Mae will now allow buyers to use bitcoin for down payments on houses.
Markets
Interest rates are ticking up, and bonds are ticking down.
The dollar is stronger.
Trading futures is not recommended for most investors. The purpose of providing this information is to give an indication of the premarket activity that usually guides the activity when the market opens.
S&P 500 futures are trading at 6580 as of this writing. S&P 500 futures resistance levels are 6600, 6780, and 7000 : support levels are 6481, 6322, and 6256.
DJIA futures are down 410 points.
Gold futures are at $4431, silver futures are at $67.67, and oil futures are at $94.46.
Arora Protection Band And What To Do Now
It is important for investors to look ahead and not in the rearview mirror. The proprietary Arora Protection Band from The Arora Report is very popular. The Arora Protection Band puts all of the data, all of the indicators, all of the news, all of the crosscurrents, all of the models, and all of the analysis in an analytical framework that is easily actionable by investors.
Consider continuing to hold good, very long term, existing positions. Based on individual risk preference, consider holding *** in cash, Treasury bills, short term fixed income, or allocated to short-term tactical trades; and short to medium-term hedges of ***, and short term hedges of ***. This is a good way to protect yourself and participate in the upside at the same time.
You can determine your protection bands by adding cash to hedges. The high band of the protection is appropriate for those who are older or conservative. The low band of the protection is appropriate for those who are younger or aggressive. If you do not hedge, the total cash level should be more than stated above but significantly less than cash plus hedges.
A protection band of 0% would be very bullish and would indicate full investment with 0% in cash. A protection band of 100% would be very bearish and would indicate a need for aggressive protection with cash and hedges or aggressive short selling.
It is worth reminding that you cannot take advantage of new upcoming opportunities if you are not holding enough cash. When adjusting hedge levels, consider adjusting partial stop quantities for stock positions (non ETF); consider using wider stops on remaining quantities and also allowing more room for high beta stocks. High beta stocks are the ones that move more than the market.
Traditional 60/40 Portfolio
Probability based risk reward adjusted for inflation does not favor long duration strategic bond allocation at this time.
Those who want to stick to traditional 60% allocation to stocks and 40% to bonds may consider focusing on only high quality bonds and bonds of five year duration or less. Those willing to bring sophistication to their investing may consider using bond ETFs as tactical positions and not strategic positions at this time.
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Nigam Arora
Nigam Arora is known for his accurate stock market calls. Nigam is a distinguished master of the macro. He is a popular columnist with over 100 million page views, an engineer, and nuclear physicist by background. Nigam has founded two Inc. 500 fastest growing companies and has been involved in over 50 entrepreneurial ventures. He is the developer of Theory ZYX of Successful Change Management and is the author of the book on Theory ZYX, as well as the developer of the ZYX Change Method for Investing.
