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Breadth Summation index remains Bearish
The
Breadth Summation index (BSI) remains Bearish after turning down in late August
and readers who listened to our warnings last
month avoided or even profited from the serious decline in September.
Since we are seeing some of the worst financial news in 50 years or more, the
BSI is unlikely to turn up before it reaches levels at least as deep as we
saw in January or July and we are not there yet. I expect we will make a capitulation
low near one of the Cardinal Moons this month as discussed below.
The Weekly BSI is made up of a dozen Breadth and Momentum indicators and is
a good measure of oversold and overbought conditions. It makes a very good
swing trading system that can avoid all negative periods while keeping much
of the gains in the positive phases. It is interpreted as Bullish when
turning up from low levels, and Bearish when turning down from high
levels.
The Cardinal Moons of October 14th and 28th
The word Cardinal comes from the Latin cardo for "hinge" or turning point,
and that is why we refer to the turns in seasons as Cardinal dates. We are
all affected to some degree by the beginning of a new season, and this is often
reflected with a change in psychology as we saw with the March 21, 08 change
of trend and season this year. Chris
Carolan's 1998 award for his work on Financial Panics showed that they
almost always occur on a Cardinal Moon. While large Panics like 1929 and 1987
are rare, smaller versions of the same phenomena occur quite frequently as
we saw on the Cardinal Moon of January 22, 08. This Cardinal Lunar month is
the 7th month of the Jewish Calendar and home to both the 1929 and 1987 Panics,
and must be taken seriously despite the fact that both the 1929 and 1987 Panics
occurred from very overbought levels and we are now very oversold instead.
This makes a 1929 or 1987 style Panic unlikely, but it makes a capitulation
sell-off like January 22, 08 very likely near either of the October 14th Full
Moon or the October 28th New Moon.

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Examples of Cardinal Moons in 2002, 2000, 1987 and 1929

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Full Moon of October 14th and New Moon of October 28th
Full Moons are statistically lows and this Moon happens to fall near the 6
year anniversary of the previous Bear market low of October 10, 2002 making
it a strong candidate for a low. However the Moons do invert quite often as
shown in blue below, and we may see a rally first into the Full Moon of October
14th before it fails into a capitulation low and possible Panic just before
the New Moon of October 28th. This would be more in line with previous Fall
Panics which have occurred near the New Moon, and will be fairly easy to detect
early on.

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Possible Elliott Wave targets
The SPX is struggling down with heavy overlap since August compared to previous
decline in June and warning us that a low is near, not unlike the struggle
down into the mid March low. If the June decline was a Wave 3, then we should
make a low this Fall near 1070 to keep Wave 5 equal to Wave 3, or drop lower
to the parallel channel lines near 1020 or 990 which would make Wave 5 equal
to Wave 1. The alternative count has the SPX in a Wave 3 of 3 and that would
take us much lower as discussed below.

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Alternate Elliott Wave targets
The alternate count is more bearish and has the SPX already in Wave 3 instead
of ending Wave 1 in the scenario above. This would imply a move to the 1000
area, which is the bottom gray line of an exact duplicate of the expanding
triangle we built from 2000-2003. Irrespective of where we are in the Wave
count, we are about to make a capitulation low that should give a sharp rally
much like in April 2001. The blue VIX line on top of the chart has entered
into the Panic zone, but the blue Put/Call and Tick lines as well as Price
still have room to fall before they reach their respective support lines.

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Capitulation is still missing
The Dick Arms index or Trin is a fly in the ointment of the Bulls who expect
a good low with this rescue package and I have seen a lot of explanations in
the media for why this time is different. The markets are driven by human nature
and any student of history will tell you that fear and greed has changed little
in thousands of years. It is likely that this time is not different and this
indicator will need a capitulation spike lower before a lasting low is made.
This indicator has also printed an obvious double Head and Shoulders pattern
with this rescue plan that may be forecasting that spike lower.

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A relative perspective on oversold
The SPX to VIX ratio is a great measure of relative fear and it has amazingly
nailed the exact lows of 1994, 1998, and 2002 when it reached the 20-22 level.
It is likely that we will close the month of October or November with the SPX
near 1000 and the VIX near 50 so this indicator can print a 20-22 value as
it rolls into the following month.

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