If you went to see a famous painting in a museum, you wouldn't just focus on one single corner of the canvass. If you went to see a movie in the theater, you wouldn't just watch the first 20 minutes to experience the entire plot. So why would an investor look solely at the external events surrounding a particular market to determine where the larger trend in that market is headed?
They shouldn't. But, that's exactly what fundamental analysis of financial markets does -- it weighs outside data to predict a market's next move using one simple equation: negative events cause prices to fall, and positive ones, for prices to rise. YET, just as if anyone who only saw the opening scene of "127 Hours" might think it was a light-hearted flick about a guy on an enjoyable nature hike -- markets rarely END the way their fundamental backdrops suggest.
Take, for instance, the recent mainstream misstep surrounding sugar. Below are three news items from March 18 and March 21 -- both days which saw an upsurge in sugar prices:
- "Sugar rises as higher than average rainfall is likely to delay the harvesting of sugar cane in the main growing region of Brazil."
- "Sugar futures rise on signs of higher demand for the sweetener."
- "Sugar rises on Middle East tensions. The world is looking now at commodities and saying there is no reason for prices to be going down."
YET -- DOWN is exactly where sugar prices headed in the opening hours of Tuesday March 22.
As for seeing the complete picture in sugar, EWI's chief commodity analyst and long-time Futures Junctures Service Editor Jeffrey Kennedy is the premier source. In the March 21 Daily Futures Junctures, Jeffrey stresses the importance of having ALL the pieces of the puzzle in place before forming a confident wave count and writes:
"It is important to remember that excitement without evidence often leads to premature action... In sugar, wave patterns are becoming exciting. A decisive sell off and daily close below [critical support] would argue that wave 2 is done and that wave 3 is underway. Even then, price action must continue to support our operative labeling by falling in a sharp and volatile manner."
You heard right: The next move in sugar could be a triple threat: Exciting, Sharp, and Volatile -- the very essence of a third wave impulse.