Saturday, May 23, 2026

Will the Deal Get Done, This Time?

Last week indicated that a pullback from the SPX 7500 level to 7200-50 thru EOM was possible due to the SPX setup and higher oil prices helped a Mon/Tue decline about halfway to the 7330s, but mid-week stocks rebounded as Trump again began insisting that a deal with Iran was imminent to end the war and oil prices fell.  The latest news is that a deal is expected by Sun.  Equally important is that the SpaceX (SPCX) IPO is set for June 12 vs the originally expected date of Musk's birthday of June 28.  Expect WS and Trumps team to do everything possible to see stocks higher into June 12th.

Bearish sentiment overall improved slightly last week with the ST Composite dropping from near a strong Buy to a weak Buy.  ETF P & C indicators remain near a strong Sell including the hedge spread, ST/INT Composite, and the SPX & NDX ETFs plus ETF P & Cs.  Some weakness is possible late next week with a possible retest of last weeks lows around SPX 7330s depending on the outcome of the much touted "US & Iran deal".


I. Sentiment Indicators

The INT/LT Composite indicator (outlook 3 to 6+ months) has three separate components. Starting Aug 26, 2023 SPX options are removed due to extreme 0DTE volume distortions. New weights are ETF put-call indicator (30%), SPX 2X ETF INT ratio (40%), and 3rd a volatility indicator (30%) which combines the options volatility spread of the ST SPX (VIX) to the ST VIX (VVIX) with the UVXY $ volume.

Update Alt, INT view. Bearish sentiment reversed sharply after the Mon/Tue drop back over the weak Sell level.

Update Alt EMA. Bearish sentiment reversed higher above a weak Sell. The ST Composite as a ST (1-4 week) indicator includes the NYSE volume ratio indicator (NYDNV/NYUPV & NYDNV/NYDEC) and the UVXY $ Vol/[SPX Trend, SMA only]. Weights are 80%/20%.

Update. Bearish sentiment fell back to a weak Buy.

Update EMA. Bearish sentiment continued to fall below a weak Buy.
The ST VIX calls and SPXADP indicator bearish sentiment remains near neutral.
The ST/INT Composite indicator (outlook 1 to 3 months) is based on the Hedge Spread (52%) and includes ST Composite (12%) and three options FOMO indicators using SPX (12%), ETF (12%), and Equity (12%) calls compared to the NY ADV/DEC issues (inverted). FOMO is shown when strong call volume is combined with strong NY ADV/DEC. See Investment Diary addition for full discussion.

Update EMA. Bearish sentiment continued to fall to near a strong Sell.


Update FOMO-calls. Bearish sentiment remains at a weak Sell. Bonds (TNX)Bearish sentiment remains close to a strong Sell. For the INT outlook, the gold miners (HUI) bearish sentiment is presented in a new format using the data mining software to add the inverse TNX rate to the ETF ratio.

Update. Bearish sentiment rose slightly above a weak Sell.



II. Dumb Money/Smart Money Indicators

This is a new hybrid option/ETF Dumb Money/Smart Money Indicator as a INT/LT term (outlook 2-6 mns) bearish sentiment indicator. The use of ETFs increases the duration (term).

Update. Bearish sentiment remains between a weak and strong Sell.

With the sister options Hedge Spread as a ST/INT indicator (outlook 1-3 mns), bearish sentiment rose slightly but remains below a weak Sell. A new composite SPX options indicator uses both the volume adj (1/B-A) and P/C equivalent spread (A-B) to compensate for the discrepancy between the two.  This replaces the old SPX options indicator for the SPX ETFs + options below and the INT/LT composite. No chart.

For the SPX, I am switching to hybrid 2X ETFs plus SPX options. Taking a look at the INT term composite (outlook 2 to 4 mns), bearish sentiment remains near neutral.

For the NDX combining the hybrid ETF options plus NDX 3X ETF sentiment with the interest rate effect,  (outlook 2 to 4 mns) bearish sentiment shows similar extremes between ETF and options as in late 2020 which resulted in a choppy market until options sentiment rose.  Note QQQ options are optimal, but are N/A and are included in ETF options.

Bearish sentiment moved back toward a weak Sell.

For the SPX combining the hybrid ETF options plus SPX 2X ETF (outlook 2 to 4 mns) produces an indicator where, in this case, ETF options are a proxy for the SPY options.

Bearish sentiment for SPX moved back toward a weak Sell.



III. Options Open Interest

Using Thur closing OI, remember that further out time frames are more likely to change over time, and that closing prices are more likely to be effected. Delta hedging may occur as reinforcement, negative when put support is broken or positive when call resistance is exceeded.  This week I will look out thru ay 29. A text overlay is used for extreme OI to improve readability, P/C is not changed.  A new addition is added for OI $ amounts with breakeven pts (BE) where call & put $ amounts cross. Note multiply OI$ by 100 for shares/contract.

With Fri close at SPX 7473, options OI for Tue is moderate with call resistance at 7475 (weak) and 7500 (strong) and put support 7350 and 7375.
Wed has small SPX OI where there is little call resistance above and put support at 7300 and 7400.  Likely effected by Fri OI.
For Fri EOM moderate/large SPX OI shows strong call resistance 7400-500 and put support 7150 and 7200.  May see retest of 7300-350 area.
For Fri June 18AM monthly exp (Fri June 19th holiday) large SPX OI shows call resistance over 7400 and put support at 7200 and below.  Possible range 7200-7400.



IV. Technical / Other

The following uses barcharts.com as a source and discusses S&P futures (ES) as a third venue of stock sentiment in addition to options and ETFs.  The non-commercial/commercial spread represents a LT bearish sentiment (dumb money/smart money) indicator. As explained in investopedia, commercial investors (red) are institutions and are smart money, while non-commercials (green) are speculators such as hedge funds and are dumb money. Here is the current  barchart graph for the S&P 500 (top) and trader positions (1st bot) with positives as net longs and negatives as net shorts.  Bearish sentiment is represented by the spread and is positive if red > green (Buy) and negative if green > red (Sell).  ES (SPX) sentiment remains positive at + 0.6 SD, NQ (NDX) is neutral at -0.0 SD, YM (DJIA) is positive at +0.5 SD.   A quick look at gold (GC), bearish sentiment is in-between a weak and strong Sell at -1.5 SD.

Click dropdown list to select from the following options:

Tech / Other History
2026

2025

2024

2023

2022

Other Indicators

Conclusions.  As I write this the IG-Weekend quotes are showing oil (WTI/bbl) down over $7 and US stocks up about 1%, so perhaps "the deal" will get done.  Headlines indicate that Iran will receive about $110B of unfrozen assets and be allowed to freely sell oil and gas in return for safe passage for all thru the Strait of Hormuz.  Nuclear material disposition is to be settled later.

Weekly Trade Alert.  Higher prices look likely if the deal follows thru.  Updates @mrktsignals.

Investment DiaryIndicator Primer, Tech/Other Refs,
 update 2021.07.xx  Data Mining Indicators - Update, Summer 2021,
 update 2020.02.07 Data Mining Indicators,
 update 2019.04.27 Stock Buybacks,
 update 2018.03.28 Dumb Money/Smart Money Indicators

Article Index 2019 by Topic, completed thru EOY 2020.02.04
Article Index 2018 by Topic
Article Index 2017 by Topic
Article Index 2016 by Topic

Long term forecasts

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