Relative Health
12/19/04
Thoughts on Relative Health in Asia vs. US, by Victor Niederhoffer
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The 3 percent up move last week in Nikkei from 10756 to 11078 while the S&P showed a lackluster 0.5 percent rise is the kind of divergence that leads one to speculate upon the gravitational influence of one market on another, or push pull what have you.
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The Nikkei was up 2 percent or more in a week, 37 times from 2003 to 2004, and the change in the S&P the next week was up an average of 1/10 of 1 percent. Thus, there was no follow through from one unconditional on the other.
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On the nineteen occasions when the Nikkei was up more than 2 percent more than the S&P, the average change in S&P the next week was close to zero. Thus, no conditional superior performance from the Nikkei.
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The longest interval during which the Nikkei didn't go up at least 2 percent was 5 weeks. The hazard ratio for a rise of 2 percent or more seems to be about 1/2 when there has been 3 weeks without such a rise versus its 35% norm and this appears non-random.
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The relative perturbations in markets such as this, augmented by the currency moves between the two and perhaps the comparable European moves would seem to provide a nice kind of living for an industrious sole.