Trade War is ON - Rough Week Ahead for Markets [TECH SECTOR]The Nasdaq-100 is about to have another day in the red. Around 3 am eastern, Nasdaq 100 e-Mini Futures
began diving, erasing the minor gains made in the previous session. The futures tend to take big swings during open sessions which IMO means that cable news networks are gonna throw that index ticker up for the day. The drop also comes 5 hours before opening bell which means that futures could be trading even lower by then.
The catalysts that'll be buzzing on the news networks:
Trump Administration's official release on Monday of tariffs on Chinese Imports. The list is lengthy targeting all sorts of products and very specific at times, specifying that biscuit ovens are to be levied. While I am concerned about biscuits, the main focus is on industrials and tech. Semiconductor materials and other intermediate electronics parts are big targets that could have a big impact on the US markets. Not on the list are some apparel items, because sweatshop made t-shirts are too far apparently. We'll see how Nike and Under Armour fare.
Quick retaliation by China. News broke overnight that China will target tariffs on US exports of equal value. Included items are more agricultural related items, Soybeans, Corn, etc. These goods are hard hitting to Trump's voter base. Also included are aerospace and car parts, not good for Boeing and Soybean Futures already dropped real quick. Overall, China does have the upper hand in this trade war, they have growing domestic demand for many American goods and the ability to undercut US companies by growing domestic ones. The US doesn't have that same luxury.
Takeaways:
These are just plans, an overseas mexican standoff, where both countries hold $50 bln (each) on the line. The goal of this trade war isn't to hurt industry, but to have a reason to beat our chests, rile up some voters, and to agree to fix some boring legal issues. So any short should be a SHORT TERM trade, at least at this stage. It's likely that we'll see new lows and the technicals could be different after this week. There are several, probably bullish, reports coming out this week so it'll be a volatile one. I'm personally looking at the Semiconductor Bearish ETF SOXS because it is the one of the crosshairs of this trade war and has the most to lose with their inflated P/E ratios and more sellers looking to take profits while they can. The tech blue chips also have bearish momentum already from a slew of news items, Amazon, Tesla, Facebook, Intel, and so on and so forth.
Technicals:
The 200 Daily MA (Yellow line) may be tested as well as the lower uptrend channel support. Breaking through these supports could be a sign of a longer correction. Yet at the same time they could converge to hold us up longer, but I'm not too confident on that scenario. Here's a look at how the e-Mini Futures played out overnight:
Let me know your thoughts, if you agree or not and why, i'm curious. Give this post a like if you found it helpful!
~NY
***This is not financial advice in any form, do your own thinking***
