Stocks are being routed

The world’s stock markets are tumbling. And exciting times lie ahead for traders, says John C Burford, as the new bearish trend gets the bit between its teeth.

Yesterday was the 69th anniversary of D-Day the Allied invasion of Normandy. It was a turning of the tide in the war and I couldn't help thinking we are in a similar position in the markets today.

One clue was provided this week when very encouraging' UK economic data was released. This is how the FTSE reacted:

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NIKKEI INDEX X JPY 500Row 0 - Cell 1 Row 0 - Cell 2 Row 0 - Cell 3 Open interest: 93,321
Commitments
35,1296,7252,91642,70930,44580,75440,08612,56753,235
Changes from 21/5/13 (Change in open interest: -2,268)
-2,846-2,5931,465-4,162-5,915-5,546-7,0463,2784,778
Percent of open interest for each category of traders
37.67.23.145.832.686.543.013.557.0
Number of traders in each category (Total traders: 100)
3012542267342Row 8 - Cell 7 Row 8 - Cell 8

John is is a British-born lapsed PhD physicist, who previously worked for Nasa on the Mars exploration team. He is a former commodity trading advisor with the US Commodities Futures Trading Commission, and worked in a boutique futures house in California in the 1980s.

 

He was a partner in one of the first futures newsletter advisory services, based in Washington DC, specialising in pork bellies and currencies. John is primarily a chart-reading trader, having cut his trading teeth in the days before PCs.

 

As well as his work in the financial world, he has launched, run and sold several 'real' businesses producing 'real' products.