Market Milestones: What Inflation?

[Image] Good morning , The markets put in another week of consolidation and sideways action. Chop has been the name of the game for the past two weeks as September does its very best to live up to its bearish and underperforming legacy. After a nice gap up on Thursday, the bulls finally gained some ground. The next few days should determine if the dip is over or if one more low is still on the table. Right now, support is holding, dips are being bought and it looks like SPY is pushing higher to fill its gap at $455.49. SPY [Image]( Even IWM, the ugly duckling of the bunch who seems to be just the ugly duckling and not a swan, gapped up on Thursday and managed to hold support. IWM is sitting right on top of a key horizontal support as well as the 100DSMA and 200DSMA. If that support breaks, IWM will likely fill the gap at $176.00, at a minimum. RSP, the equal weighted S&P 500 ETF, is bouncing off of its long-term moving averages on the weekly and the daily chart. Just like IWM, it really needs to hold that level or the $141 gap could very well fill. RSP is only up about 4.8% on the year right now, showing the outsized impact that big tech is having on this market. IWM [Image]( Speaking of big tech, AAPL had their Apple Event this week where they unveiled all of their new, exciting, groundbreaking and earth changing tech for the next year. This year they really blew adoring customers and fans away by adding a touch more zoom to the new iPhone and an additional button they dubbed the “Action Button.” If a button cool enough to be called the Action Button didn’t have you reaching for the ol' checkbook, wait until you hear that the new iPhone is made out of different metal this time. Boom, AAPL got everyone yet again and that my friends, is how you make 81.8 billion dollars in a quarter. Despite overall market strength on Thursday, AAPL is down about 2.3% on the week. A downward move into the high to mid $150s is still very much on the table. AAPL [Image]( You might have missed it with all the Action Button commotion, but CPI was also released on Wednesday and it was a mixed bag. It looks like there are inflationary shoots springing up here and there as headline inflation rose for the second month in a row. The Feds preferred measurement, Core Inflation, fell to 4.3% in August which is the lowest it has been since in nearly 2 years. When we look at price, the most important thing, the market has brushed off all signs of further inflation and seems to be picking the “soft landing” narrative. Even if we do get a recession in 2024, that still gives the market at least 3 months to push to new all-time highs. The QQQ count that we have been tracking since August 29th is still hanging in there, but just by a thread. If QQQ pushes above the September 1st candle, this one is null and void. QQQ [Image]( ETF of the Week Today’s ETF of the week is Direxion Moonshot Innovators ETF ([MOON](. While it does have a pretty awesome name and did blast off for the first 60 days of its existence in 2020, MOON has been drilling into the earth’s core ever since. It is currently down nearly 80% since its all-time high and its largest holding is Nikola Corporation, so that trend is likely to continue. MOON just dropped 25% in the last 30 days, so now is not the ideal time to go short. It has a very solid double top and head and shoulders pattern so a push back into the double top neckline around $13.00 would give nice risk reward if it can rocket to new lows. [Image]( Strive On, Yates Craig, RLT & TPN Market Analyst Disclosure: You are responsible for your own trading decisions. ALWAYS, do your own research before investing in any of the above securities. This is not a solicitation to buy/sell ETFs or securities. NEVER invest money in ETFs or stocks that you can't afford to lose. You can lose all of your capital by trading any securities mentioned. These ETFs/securities are very volatile and gain and lose value quickly. We reserve the right to freely trade in any mentioned ETFs or securities. We are not compensated by any mentioned companies. We trade ETFs and securities based on our opinion of intrinsic/possible future value only. We are not registered investment advisors, so always do your own research before buying any securities. Unable to view? Read it [online]( If you no longer wish to receive mail from us, you can [unsubscribe]( Sent from: Real Life Trading in Nashville TN 37221