ASX 200 lagging others in the bounce

Just for sport, since the April 7th, 2025 low seen across various equity markets,

Australia’s ASX 200 hasn’t kept up with the bounce.

I’ve place a sample on the study below.

Italy’s MIB and the Nasdaq Composite have soared 24% over the past 6 weeks.

Sweden’s OMX and the S&P 500 have climbed 17%,

while the ASX 200 and the FTSE 100 rose 13% over the same time.

What is notable is the difference between the 24% and 13% performance is more than an adequate year’s return in its own right.

May 17, 2025

rob@karriasset.com.au

They’re begging for a rate cut, again

Over the past 2 weeks of investor presentations, the overwhelming question I was asked was “do you think we’ll get a rate cut”?

It doesn’t matter whether that question was postured towards the American or the Australian market.

The sub title of my blog is “Trying to hear what’s not being said”.

https://robzdravevski.com/

Depending on the questioners predicament, what they are saying is either;

1) We need more interest rate relief because we haven’t reduced our debt over the past 4 years.

or

2) Stock market gains of 50% over the past 2 years are not what they seem because we bought stocks at the high end of the pendulum and need a little pop so we can break-even.

And so I ask myself, why are people needing an interest rate cut?

The cost of money is not expensive.

May 16, 2025

rob@karriasset.com.au

26% pop since my April 7th low call

It’s good enough and more than adequate.

On April 7th, 2025, I wrote a few notes along with a newsletter sharing my view about an acute buying moment for equities.

This note (from the same day)… related the extremes lows to an opportunity in the Nasdaq 100.

https://robzdravevski.com/2025/04/07/use-data-ignore-the-noise/

5 weeks later, the Nasdaq 100 has risen 26%.

I’d say that is good enough and more than done.

Even though 26% represents  more than 2 years worth of adequate return within 5 weeks…..many won’t take any profit.

Maybe some should and take the rest of the year ‘off’,

but they won’t,

for they will ‘stay at the table’ and give up 8% of those returns,

while trying to recoup that 8% of ‘give back’,

they’ll see another 5% erode away,

and now with ‘only’ a 13% return, they plug away until the total return halves and they are left with 7% and now determined to ‘teach’ the market a lesson.

May 13, 2025

rob@karriasset.com.au

Macro Extremes (week ending May 9, 2025)

A weekly Macro, Cross Asset review of prices trading at extremes which may generate future investment ideas and opportunities.

The following assets (on a weekly timeframe) either registered an Overbought or Oversold reading and/or have traded more than 2.5 standard deviations above or below its rolling mean.

n.b. pricing of (commodity) futures contracts is only considering the immediate front month.

denotes multiple week inclusion

Extremes above the Mean (at least 2.5 standard deviations)

U.S. 3 month bill yield

MYR/USD *

THB/USD *

Mexico’s IPC equity index *

Overbought (RSI > 70) 

Turkish 10 year government bond yield

U.S. 10 year minus U.S. 5 year bond yield spread *

Cattle

Gold in AUD, CAD, GBP, USD and ZAR *

Czechia’s PX Index

Chile’s IGPA and IPSA equity indices *

And Poland’s WIG equity index

The Overbought Quinella (Both Overbought and Traded at > 2.5 standard deviations above the weekly mean)

Urea (U.S. Gulf price) *

PHP/USD * 

Tel Aviv 25 equity index

Extremes below the Mean (at least 2.5 standard deviations)

WTI Crude Oil *

USD/INR

USD/KRW

Pakistan’s KSE equity index

Oversold (RSI < 30)

Indian 10 year government bond yield * 

Richards Bay Coal *

Lumber

Lithium Carbonate *

Lithium Hydroxide *

The Oversold Quinella (Both Oversold and Traded at < 2.5 standard deviations below the weekly mean)

None

Notes & Ideas:

Government bond yields rose again.

Brazilian and Indonesian 10 year yields have declined for 4 straight weeks.

Indian and Norwegian 10 year bond yields broke their 7 week of declines.

U.S. 30 year minus U.S. 10 year bond yield dropped out from being overbought.

Equities were mostly higher.

Many streaks are in progress.

The AEX, ATX, DAX, MIB, HSCEI, Hang Seng, IBEX, KLSE, KRE Regional Banks, KOSPI, OMX Helsinki, PSE, IGPA, TSX and ASX Materials have climbed for 4 straight weeks.

The Bovespa, S&P SmallCap 600, Russell 2000, FTSE 250, S&P MidCap 400, SET, WIG, ASX Industrials, ASX SmallCaps and KBW Banks Index are in 5 week winning streaks.

The All World Developed (ex USA) Index, DJ Transports, IDX, SA40 and OMX Oslo broke their 4 weeks of consecutive advance.

While biotechs were smacked.

Commodities were mixed, with a higher bias.

The largest winners were Oils & Distillates, Gases (again), Coals, Precious Metals, Urea, Sugar and Base Metals.

The notable losers included Shipping Rates, Orange Juice, Lithium Hydroxide, Corn & Wheat.

Newcastle Coal prices have shipped out from being oversold over the past 20 weeks.

Cattle, Rubber and Uranium are in 4 week rising streaks.

Inversely, Corn, Rice and Wheat are in 4 week losing streaks.

U.S. Gulf Urea prices have risen for 6 straight weeks and has climbed to prices not seen since November 2022

And Lithium Hydroxide has been oversold territory for 101 consecutive weeks.

Currencies were active.

The Aussie was mixed, the Loonie weaker and the British Pound was stronger.

The U.S. Dollar (DXY) Index has risen for 3 weeks and notably advanced since its oversold reading of 4 and 5 weeks ago.

AUD/CAD and AUD/EUR are in a 5 week winning streak, while AUD/JPY and AUD/USD broke their winning streaks at the 4 week mark.

Perversely, the AUD/ZAR has fallen for 4 straight weeks.

The USD has declined for 5 consecutive weeks against the Rand.

The Brazilian Real has climbed for 4 weeks versus the USD as has the GBP against the Yen.

CHF/AUD and the EUR/GBP are in 4 week losing streaks.

The USD has sunk for 8 of the past 10 weeks versus the Loonie.

And the Philippine Peso has risen for 5 weeks against the USD.

The larger advancers over the past week comprised of;

Rotterdam Coal 1.5%, Cocoa 3.6%, Brent Crude 4%, WTI Crude 4.7%, Heating Oil 3.7%, HRC 1.8%, JKM LNG 1.8%, Cattle 1.7%, JKM LNG in Yen 11.2%, Tin 4.3%, Newcastle Coal 1.6%, Natural Gas 4.6%, Nickel 2.1%, Palladium 3.2%, Platinum 3.7%, Gasoline 4.4%, Sugar 3.6%, S&P GSCI 2.2%, CRB 1.7%, Dutch TTF Gas 4.7%, Gasoil 2.7%, Silver in AUD 2.8%, Silver in USD 2.2%, Gold in AUD 3.2%, Gold in CAD 3.5%, Gold in CHF 3.2%, Gold in EUR 3.1%, Gold in GBP 2.4%, Gold in USD 2.7%, Oats 1.7%, Shanghai Composite 1.9%, CSI 300 2%, ATX 4.6%, BUX 2%, DAX 1.8%, MIB 2.7%, Hang Seng 1.6%, Nikkei 225 1.8%, PX 4.2%, SOX 1.6%, IGPA 2.4%, TA35 4.7%, Nasdaq Transports 1.6%, Vietnam 3.3%, WIG 2%, BIST 2.4%, ASX Industrials 1.5% and the ASX SmallCaps rose 3.5%.

The group of largest decliners from the week included;

Baltic Dry Index (7.4%), Cotton (2.5%), Palm Oil (1.7%), Lithium Hydroxide (4.6%), Orange Juice (10.2%), Corn (4.1%), Rice (1.6%), Wheat (3.9%), KSE (6.1%), Nasdaq Biotech ETF (8.5%), NIFTY (1.4%), Copenhagen (1.4%), SMI (1.4%), IBB ETF (7.9%) and the XBI Biotech ETF sunk 8.5%.

May 11, 2025

By Rob Zdravevski

rob@karriasset.com.au

Unloved biotech

The iShares Biotech ETF (IBB US) is approaching its most oversold Monthly reading since 2009.

May 10, 2025

rob@karriasset.com.au

Re-visiting a recent Sell call on UBS

On January 31st, 2025, I called UBS stock price as being overbought and trading at notable extremes.

4 weeks ago, the stock price completed its mean reversion 4 weeks ago by falling 35%.

Since then, we’ve seen an expected and nice bounce along with the rest of the broader equities market but I think that the UBS stock price should retrace lower in the coming weeks, for it remains in a downtrend which is strengthening.

May 9, 2025

rob@karriasset.com.au

Oil stocks have fallen, now what?

8 months ago, I pondered about oil trading lower and the stock prices of certain related stocks.

The prices of the 3 stocks mentioned (BP, Woodside and Occidental) recently all touched the prices mentioned in that September 4, 2024 note.

The circles in the attached charts denote the date of the original post.

May 8, 2025

rob@karriasset.com.au

Watch the signals, not the headlines

Today I was giving some presentations in the big smoke.

I was espousing the thesis of “trading the signals, not the headlines”.

Under the category of “when you think you know capital markets”, I used these 2 examples of how perverse things can become…..

but it helps to use the signals and not the headlines and certainly not “the narrative”.

May 7, 2025

rob@karriasset.com.au

Macro Extremes (week ending May 2, 2025)

A weekly Macro, Cross Asset review of prices trading at extremes which may generate future investment ideas and opportunities.

The following assets (on a weekly timeframe) either registered an Overbought or Oversold reading and/or have traded more than 2.5 standard deviations above or below its rolling mean.

n.b. pricing of (commodity) futures contracts is only considering the immediate front month.

denotes multiple week inclusion

Extremes above the Mean (at least 2.5 standard deviations)

SHY

MYR/USD

Mexico’s IPC equity index

Overbought (RSI > 70) 

U.S. 30 year minus U.S. 10 year bond yield spread *

Gold in AUD, CAD, USD and ZAR *

Chile’s IGPA and IPSA equity indices

The Overbought Quinella (Both Overbought and Traded at > 2.5 standard deviations above the weekly mean)

U.S. 10 year minus U.S. 5 year bond yield spread *

Urea (U.S. Gulf price) *

PHP/USD * 

Extremes below the Mean (at least 2.5 standard deviations)

Brent and WTI Crude Oil

S&P GSCI (commodities) Index

USD/INR

USD/SGD

Oversold (RSI < 30)

Australian 2 year government bond yield *

Indian 10 year government bond yield * 

Richards Bay Coal *

Lithium Carbonate *

Lithium Hydroxide *

Newcastle Coal *

USD/SEK *

The Oversold Quinella (Both Oversold and Traded at < 2.5 standard deviations below the weekly mean)

None’

Notes & Ideas:

Government bond yields rose with her exception of Belgium, Brazil and the Japanese curve.

In fact, Brazilian 10’s are approaching overbought territory .

European (German) 10 year yields rose and broke their 6 weeks of decline. 

South Korean 10’s and Chilean 2’s ended their 4 weeks of lower travel.

Norwegian & Indian 10 year yields are in a 7 week declining streak.

Equities rose, everywhere, again.

The Netherland’s, Norway’s, Thailand’s, Canada’s, Poland’s main equity indices are in 4 week rising streaks.

As are the KBW Banks, the ASX’s Small Caps and Industrials along with some U.S. biotech indices.

Over the past 4 weeks, various indices have risen between 8%-13%.

Transportation indices and Thailand’s SET Index are no longer oversold.

Commodities were mostly lower.

The largest winners were Coals, Gases, Urea, Shipping Rates, Palladium and Uranium.

The notable losers included Oils & Distillates, Tin, Sugar Copper, Cocoa, Silver, Lumber and Coffee.

The big news is seeing Crude Oil prices return to oversold extremes.

Gold prices fell and those priced in USD, GBP and EUR left overbought territory.

Natural Gas broke its 4 week losing streak.

U.S. Gulf Urea prices have risen for 5 straight weeks and has climbed to prices not seen since November 2022.

North European Hot Rolled Coil Steel & Rubber are no longer oversold,

while Lithium Hydroxide has been oversold territory for 100 consecutive weeks.

Currencies were quiet, for a change of pace.

Continuing last weeks trend, many more currency pairs are not at extremes.

Commensurate with the ‘risk-on’ environment, the Aussie rose while the Yen and Swissie fell.

U.S. (DXY) Dollar Index rose and moved out from oversold territory.

The Aussie was stronger again and is in a 4 week rising streak against the Loonie, Euro and USD.

The Loonie was firmer.

The CAD/AUD has fallen for the past 4 weeks.

The Euro fell, 

And the JPY/AUD is in a 4 week losing streak.

The larger advancers over the past week comprised of;

Richards Bay Coal 1.6%, Rotterdam Coal 2.1%, Baltic Dry Index 3.5%, North European Hot Rolled Coil Steel 1.7%, Newcastle Coal 3.6%, Natural Gas 16.6%, Palladium 1.6%, Dutch TTF Gas 1.8%, U.S. Gulf Urea 4.3%, Uranium 4.4%, All Developed World – ex USA 2.9%, AEX 2.8%, KBW Banks 4.3%, CAC 3.1%, DAX 3.8%, DJ Industrials 3%, DJ Transports 4.3%, MIB 2.6%, HSCEI 1.9%, IDX 5.6%, S&P SmallCap 600 3.2%, Russell 2000 3.3%, TAEIX 4.6%, Nasdaq Composite 3.4%, KLSE 2.2%, KRE Regional Banks 4.2%, FTSE 250 3.2%, S&P MidCap 400 3.6%, Nasdaq Biotechs 3.3%, Nasdaq 100 3.5%, Nikkei 225 3.2%, Oslo 3.7%, Copenhagen 7%, Helsinki 3.9%, PSI 2.3%, Sensex 1.6%, SET 3.5%, SMI 2.6%, S&P 500 2.9%, FTSE 100 2.2%, ASX Financials 3.3%, ASX 200 3.4%, Nasdaq Transports 2.9%, ASX Industrials 2.6%, ASX SmallCaps 3%, IBB biotech ETF 2.7%, XBI biotech ETF 4.2% and the Philadelphia SOX Index rose 3.4%.

The group of largest decliners from the week included;

Australian Coking Coal (1.6%), Brent Crude Oil (6.9%), Cocoa (5.5%), WTI Crude Oil (7.5%), Lean Hogs (1.8%), Copper (4.4%), Heating Oil (5.6%), Arabica Coffee (3.6%), Lumber (3.9%), JKM LNG in Yen (3.5%), Lithium Carbonate (.2%), Tin (6.5%), Gasoline (4.1), Robusta Coffee (2.3%), Sugar (5%), Sugar #16 (2.5%), SPGSCI (3.2%), CRB Index (2.7%), Gasoil (6.8%), Middle East Urea (1.9%), Silver in AUD (4%), Silver in USD (3.3%), Gold in AUD (3.1%), Gold in CAD (2.6%), Gold in CHF (2.5%), Gold in Euro (1.8%), Gold in GBP (2.1%), Gold in USD (2.4%), Gold in ZAR (3.9%), Corn (4%), Oats (5.7%), Rice (2.8%), Palm Oil (4.3%) and Turkiye’s BIST Index fell 2.8%.

May 4, 2025

By Rob Zdravevski

rob@karriasset.com.au

A low in interest rates is near ?

Interest Rates are mean (reverting) converging.

Followers of my musings (and a bunch of fund managers) possibly remember my crowing about for lower rates over the past year or so.

While the U.S. 2 year bond yield may travel lower towards the 3.3% region, much of the decline (since 5%) has been seen.

Such an ebb or upcoming trough for interest rates produces and shores up ‘trades’ in other assets.

April 29, 2025

rob@karriasset.com.au

Screenshot