From the desk of Victor Adair

The Kenny Rogers school of risk management: “You’ve got know when to hold’em, know when to fold’em...know when to walk away, know when to run.” Song Here

The stock market fell this week when Trump threatened China with $50 Billion in tariffs...and when China  retaliated with $50 Billion in tariffs of their own Trump raised the ante another $100 Billion...and the stock market fell harder!

From the Desk of Victor Adair

My short term trading:

I started this week with short positions in CAD, Gold and the S+P. I took profits on the short CAD when it started to rally late Tuesday on news that the US was “softening” its NAFTA position on auto parts. I liquidated my gold position for a small loss on Wednesday when spot gold traded above $1325 and I remain short the S+P with a combination of option positions.

I started this week with a clean slate (I was skiing at Whistler last week and didn’t want any open positions) but I had a list of trades that I hoped to make if the opportunity presented itself.

The US stock market was a great barometer of risk appetite this week. The DJIA rallied to 3 week highs on Monday but began falling early Tuesday morning (Powell testimony) and was down nearly 1,600 points at Friday’s lows.

From the Desk of Victor Adair

Risk Appetite had a Key Turn Date (KTD) the week of Jan 26/18 as the major American stock and commodity indices made important highs and then fell sharply while the US Dollar Index made an important low and then rallied sharply.

From the Desk of Drew Zimmerman