This Could Get Ugly
Cyprus was again the issue of the day, with EUR/USD falling sharply even with a stronger than expected ZEW survey. Downside momentum accelerated once it was reported that the ruling party in Cyprus would abstain from the vote, thereby guaranteeing its defeat. This saw EUR/USD bounce off its lows
The headline risk continued with a a brief bounce back above 1.2900 as the ECB stated it would continue to provide liquidity was but is not sustained. Equity markets too were focused on Cyprus, but closed off the lows with the DJIA actually scraping a marginal increase on the day. Predictably, Treasuries rallied.
To me, absent the losses in EUR/USD and other FX pairs, equity markets seem largely unfazed. Yes, they are off last week's highs but this news from Cyprus, to me at least, is potentially a lot more nasty than what is being seen in the media. Trust has been broken plain and simple. Stock bulls and media cheerleaders have already concluded that Cyprus is contained, even as the exact details of the bank deposit confiscation are worked out.
Maybe they are right - but I doubt it. However, with nearly 20-years under my belt I have seen similar situations in the past. Let's review:
- The sub-prime crisis was deemed 'contained'
- Housing prices were not in a bubble and of course bubbles can never be known in advance.
You get the point - it pays to think critically and keep the business channels on mute. Cyprus has all the hallmarks of yet another unfolding mess and that is all you need to know. We cannot know what comes next but to blindly whistle past is insane.
So, to me, the best way to move forward for the next day or so is to keep a bearish bias. The charts suggest this as does the overall tone of the news flow. Today's updates in both the FX Top 5 and the Futures Alerts intra-day updates - showed that the S&P's were pretty easy to isolate turning points and downside targets.
Here are the updated charts that should serve as a good barometer for the next several hours: