by Dana Lyons
The corporate bond market may be at a key technical juncture.
Though stock indices are within spitting distance of all-time highs, it isn’t just the equity investors that have been happy of late. Corporate bondholders have also been enjoying a nice run lately, in particular over the past 6 weeks (following much suggestion, I might add, of that possibility on our part). Unlike the major stock averages which don’t appear to have much resistance between current prices and all-time highs, however, bonds may find the going a little bit tougher at the present juncture.
At least that is one argument based on the of a popular corporate bond ETF, the iShares Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD). As we showed in a recent edition of #TrendlineWednesday on our Twitter stream, the LQD (on an unadjusted basis) recently tested the Down trendline stemming from its 2016 top and connecting the December 2017 top. The fund was summarily rejected – but is now testing the trendline once again.
So will LQD be rejected gain – or can it “take over” this potential resistance and resume its uptrend? It remains to be seen, but expect this juncture to be a crucial one for the corporate bond market.
What do we expect to unfold? In a Premium Post at The Lyons Share, we take a deeper dive into the chart of LQD, identifying a few more technical components that may be key in determining the outcome in this market.