Technical Assessment: Neutral in the Intermediate-Term

Summary

The headlines keep rolling in and the financial markets keep gyrating like pistons in an engine. For investors, this is a tough type of market. The bulls won the battle and the headlines on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 (SPX) and S&P 100 rising over 1%, the Nasdaq up 1.5%, the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) up 1.4%, and the small- and mid-cap indices up about 1%. For a change, it was a risk-on day, with Materials gaining almost 3%, Industrial up 1.8%, Information Technology up 1.5%, and Communication Services and Consumer Discretionary up 1.4%. Energy was weak (-1.4%) as crude oil fell to $66.35/barrel, the lowest since early October and very close to critical chart support at $64. After hitting $78,154 on February 28, Bitcoin jumped back above $90,000, popping 4%. Copper was particularly strong, surging 5.4%, while silver jumped 2.6%. The major stock indices remain in a tenuous position, with the SPX and QQQ bouncing off their 200-day averages and firmly in a short-term downtrend. The real action remained overseas, with the KraneShares China Internet (KWEB) surging over 7%, Austria (EWO) spiking 5.6%, China iShares (FXI) and iShares MSCI China (MCHI) popping 5%, and Sweden (EWD) and Germany (EWG) up a bit more than 4%. The