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COMMODITES ARE LAST ASSET TO PEAK

Chip Anderson

Chip Anderson

President, StockCharts.com

A number of readers have asked if I thought the U.S. was in a recession or heading into one. Others have asked if I thought this recession would be worse than most. Although I'm not an economist, it is possible to make some judgements about the direction of the economy by looking at various financial markets. Two of them are stocks and commodities. On July 18, I wrote an article suggesting that commodities were peaking based on a number of technical indicators. That article also contained a headline that read: "Commodities Peak During Bear Markets". Here is an excerpt from that earlier message: "At the end of an economic expansion, stocks usually peak before commodities. If stocks enter a bear market (and a recession starts), commodities usually enter a downside correction as well. During the stagflation years of the 1970's, serious downturns in stocks caused profit-taking in commodities. The commodity rally resumed after the stock market and the economy turned back up again." Stocks lost half of their value during 1973 and 1974 which led to a recession the second year. Commodities also dropped during that recessionary year. Historical studies show that stocks peak anywhere from six to nine months before the economy. From October 2007, that would put the outer target for an economic peak in July 2008 which is when commodities peaked.

Chip Anderson
About the author: is the founder and president of StockCharts.com. He founded the company after working as a Windows developer and corporate consultant at Microsoft from 1987 to 1997. Since 1999, Chip has guided the growth and development of StockCharts.com into a trusted financial enterprise and highly-valued resource in the industry. In this blog, Chip shares his tips and tricks on how to maximize the tools and resources available at StockCharts.com, and provides updates about new features or additions to the site. Learn More