The U.S. stock market is getting a wedgie, and so is the U.S. dollar. That matters, as wedges tend to break up or down in a big way. Stocks are a "risk-on" trade, the dollar is a "risk-off" trade, so they are riding a see-saw with wedgies. Yes, I realize this is an unpleasant image, so let's turn to the charts.

A wedge is characterized by a compression of price into a narrowing triangle as Bulls and Bears battle over who will lead the next trend. The wedge is clearly visible on a daily chart of the S&P 500 (SPX). Note the loss of momentum in the recent uptrend as RSI, the Bollinger bands and the 20-day moving average (MA) are all trending down.

We see two wedges on this weekly chart of the U.S. dollar index (DXY, or on stockcharts.com, USD). The first wedge was traced out between May and August 2011, and it broke to the upside in early September 2011, resulting in a 10% gain in the next few months.

Now another wedge has been traced out around the key long-term line of support and resistance around 80. The direction of the break may be telegraphed by MACD, which is solidly above the neutral line and the stochastic, which is also trending higher.

Here is a daily chart look at the same wedge. Even the MACD has formed a wedge of consolidation-indecision.

Since the SPX is risk-on and the dollar is risk-off, then any move in one will likely be reflected in the other. These wedges are nearing the point of decision, so next week might be slightly more interesting than the previous three weeks.


Charles Hugh Smith on the Death of the Middle Class (this is my first interview with Kerry Lutz of the Financial Survival Network, and I greatly appreciated Terry's keen questions on the era's key financial topics.)

We are like passengers on the Titanic ten minutes after its fatal encounter with the iceberg: though our financial system seems unsinkable, its reliance on debt and financialization has already doomed it.

We cannot know when the Central State and financial system will destabilize, we only know they will destabilize. We cannot know which of the State’s fast-rising debts and obligations will be renounced; we only know they will be renounced in one fashion or another.

The process of the unsustainable collapsing and a new, more sustainable model emerging is called revolution, and it combines cultural, technological, financial and political elements in a dynamic flux.

History is not fixed; it is in our hands. We cannot await a remote future transition to transform our lives. Revolution begins with our internal understanding and reaches fruition in our coherently directed daily actions in the lived-in world.

If this recession strikes you as different from previous downturns, you might be interested in my book An Unconventional Guide to Investing in Troubled Times (print edition) or Kindle ebook format. You can read the ebook on any computer, smart phone, iPad, etc. Click here for links to Kindle apps and Chapter One. The solution in one word: Localism.


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