The Eurozone officially exited its 18 month recession in August, so it was little suprise to see major European indices continuing to power higher, with several making recent highs during the month, including France's CAC 40 and Ireland's ISEQ.
However, Fed tapering fears and the worries over the escalation of the crisis in Syria checked the market's progress as the month drew to an end, and prompted a sell signal from Germany's Dax index. Nevertheless, improving economic sentiment in the West means that signal could be short-lived. Tellingly, the technology-led Nasdaq index also continues to make strong headway, suggesting that, fundamentally, investor appetite for risk remains undiminished.
The Syrian crisis also saw the gold price stage a comeback from it's late June lows, touching a recent high of $1417 an ounce as investors sought insurance from any economic fallout military intervention might bring. However, gold mining indices continued to weaken, albeit at a marginally slower pace, although the more general FTSE mining sector gave a buy signal, suggesting the China slowdown induced nadir for the sector may have been reached, a view supported by the steady improvement of the resource heavy Aim market.
China's CSI 300 index also gave a buy signal, reflecting a growing consensus that the slowdown there may not be as pronounced as many had feared. Flash figures from HSBC showed that manufacturing activity had begun to expand again in August, with the view that a hard landing had been avoided supported by official PMI data released at the beginning of September.
Summary table of IC/Coppock indicators - major markets worldwide
| Index/market | August average index | August indicator* | July indicator* | June indicator* | Signal† |
| UK Govt. Secs | 162.66 | -17.9 | -11.5 | -5.0 | WAIT |
| FT 30 | 2,676.46 | +160.9 | +152.9 | +138.8 | HOLD |
| FTSE 100 | 6,520.14 | +72.8 | +71.5 | +66.5 | HOLD |
| FTSE All-Share | 3,467.95 | +84.2 | +82.0 | +76.2 | HOLD |
| FT Gold Mines | 1,664.28 | -199.6 | -187.5 | -170.3 | WAIT |
| Amsterdam | 565.45 | +57.8 | +58.8 | +59.6 | WAIT |
| ASX All Ord | 5,091.40 | +87.7 | +83.4 | +77.4 | HOLD |
| S&P/ASX 200 Energy | 13,478.59 | +4.6 | -5.5 | -21.0 | HOLD |
| Belgium S.E. | 9,793.43 | +84.3 | +89.1 | +97.5 | WAIT |
| Dax (Germany) | 8,332.46 | +123.3 | +126.1 | +125.1 | SELL |
| Dow Jones | 15,195.35 | +84.3 | +81.9 | +75.2 | HOLD |
| Rep of Ireland (ISEQ) | 4,204.12 | +140.5 | +131.1 | +126.8 | HOLD |
| France CAC 40 | 4,046.31 | +101.9 | +99.9 | +94.3 | HOLD |
| Hang Seng | 22,033.63 | +63.4 | +66.3 | +69.4 | WAIT |
| Italy BCI | 936.10 | +77.2 | +69.2 | +59.4 | HOLD |
| S. Africa Gold | 1,303.84 | -205.8 | -190.1 | -170.9 | WAIT |
| S. Africa Industrial | 40,872.86 | +127.4 | +136.2 | +140.8 | WAIT |
| Straits Times | 3,162.55 | +59.0 | +67.9 | +73.3 | WAIT |
| Tokyo New S.E. | 1,145.42 | +236.8 | +211.8 | +174.4 | HOLD |
| Toronto Comp | 12,621.82 | +27.3 | +25.2 | +21.2 | HOLD |
| Toronto Gold | 1,678.44 | -177.9 | -173.6 | -162.5 | WAIT |
| Sweden OMX | 1,242.99 | +85.9 | +83.6 | +81.6 | HOLD |
| FTSE techMARK 100 | 2,929.17 | +128.7 | +127.2 | +123.9 | HOLD |
| Nasdaq 100 | 3,105.47 | +66.5 | +65.6 | +62.8 | HOLD |
| *Average index for August 2013. †IC/Coppock indicator. ††Unofficial signal. BUY/SELL = self explanatory; WAIT = you sold at the last sell signal and are now waiting for the next buy signal; HOLD = you bought at the last buy signal and are now awaiting the next sell signal. | |||||
For a list of the constituents of the FTSE All-Share sector indices click here
Summary table of IC/Coppock indicators - FTSE All-Share sectors
| Index/market | August average index | August indicator* | July indicator* | June indicator* | Signal† |
| Mining | 15,925.33 | -58.7 | -60.0 | -56.6 | BUY |
| Oil & Gas | 7,833.79 | -17.1 | -14.9 | -17.0 | SELL |
| Chemicals | 10,642.74 | +93.7 | +98.2 | +100.3 | WAIT |
| Constr & Bldg mats | 4,032.73 | +76.0 | +64.6 | +60.0 | HOLD |
| Forestry & paper | 11,959.21 | +327.7 | +295.7 | +279.6 | HOLD |
| Steel & other metals | 1,517.56 | -264.8 | -259.1 | -248.7 | WAIT |
| Aerospace & defence | 5,337.92 | +174.1 | +164.6 | +153.7 | HOLD |
| Diversified industrls | 3,261.88 | +138.7 | +136.4 | +134.2 | HOLD |
| Electronic & electr eqpt | 5,178.30 | +133.0 | +129.3 | +130.1 | BUY†† |
| Eng'g & machinery | 10,231.05 | +154.9 | +141.5 | +123.7 | HOLD |
| Automobiles & parts | 8,069.20 | +248.7 | +224.4 | +193.6 | HOLD |
| H'hold goods textiles | 4,741.97 | +549.6 | +478.9 | +366.3 | HOLD |
| Beverages | 14,871.88 | +141.1 | +152.5 | +162.6 | WAIT |
| Food producers | 7,184.77 | +154.0 | +160.2 | +156.1 | SELL |
| Health | 4,487.17 | +107.3 | +107.2 | +106.3 | HOLD |
| Personal care | 21,827.89 | +51.0 | +30.0 | +5.6 | HOLD |
| Pharmaceuticals | 11,228.33 | +63.9 | +57.7 | +48.6 | HOLD |
| Tobacco | 37,038.20 | +22.5 | +32.3 | +41.0 | WAIT |
| General retailers | 2,558.96 | +210.5 | +195.1 | +170.7 | HOLD |
| Leisure & hotels | 6,563.32 | +212.4 | +205.7 | +193.0 | HOLD |
| Media ent't | 6,023.09 | +157.6 | +151.6 | +141.2 | HOLD |
| Support services | 6,071.50 | +140.3 | +139.6 | +134.0 | HOLD |
| Transport | 4,288.02 | +159.4 | +132.5 | +109.0 | HOLD |
| Food & drug rtlrs | 4,800.99 | +68.1 | +59.1 | +47.6 | HOLD |
| Telecommns svs | 3,838.74 | +221.4 | +207.0 | +188.8 | HOLD |
| Electricity | 9,946.69 | -12.9 | -31.2 | +68.3 | BUY |
| Other utilities | 7,651.35 | +77.5 | +81.8 | +84.7 | WAIT |
| Banks | 4,931.10 | +186.4 | +180.7 | +167.3 | HOLD |
| Insurance | 2,020.04 | +113.1 | +120.6 | +118.7 | SELL |
| Life assurance | 6,366.39 | +213.2 | +209.6 | +199.3 | HOLD |
| Investment cos | 6,936.39 | +97.2 | +93.1 | +85.6 | HOLD |
| Other finance | 6,021.89 | +211.2 | +199.6 | +179.3 | HOLD |
| IT hardware | 1,336.22 | +262.2 | +270.2 | +259.3 | SELL |
| Software & comp svs | 1,263.64 | +167.1 | +166.3 | +161.3 | HOLD |
| *Average index for August 2013. †IC/Coppock indicator. ††Unofficial signal. BUY/SELL = self explanatory; WAIT = you sold at the last sell signal and are now waiting for the next buy signal; HOLD = you bought at the last buy signal and are now awaiting the next sell signal. | |||||
Summary table of IC/Coppock indicators - emerging & other markets worldwide
| Index/market | August average index | August indicator* | July indicator* | June indicator* | Signal† |
| Argentina | 13,887.17 | +226.5 | +194.1 | +178.6 | HOLD |
| FTSE Aim | 743.45 | +4.7 | -6.3 | -13.2 | HOLD |
| Brazil | 50,062.08 | -54.6 | -45.9 | -35.1 | WAIT |
| China | 2,307.95 | -14.3 | -18.0 | -15.7 | BUY |
| Greece | 923.86 | +253.1 | +241.5 | +235.8 | HOLD |
| India | 5,499.50 | +67.7 | +79.2 | +81.1 | WAIT |
| Indonesia | 4,415.21 | +92.4 | +103.0 | +106.2 | WAIT |
| Israel | 1,094.05 | +49.6 | +47.0 | +42.6 | HOLD |
| Mexico | 11,159.01 | +19.0 | +37.9 | +58.7 | WAIT |
| Philippines | 6,355.83 | +165.0 | +175.6 | +182.6 | WAIT |
| Poland | 49,122.13 | +88.7 | +85.7 | +86.3 | BUY†† |
| Portugal | 5,898.55 | +93.0 | +81.2 | +71.0 | HOLD |
| Russia | 14,924.40 | -46.0 | -45.1 | -45.3 | SELL†† |
| South Korea | 1,898.19 | +5.9 | +9.2 | +9.8 | WAIT |
| Spain | 870.74 | +77.3 | +62.9 | +45.2 | HOLD |
| Switzerland | 7,940.01 | +144.1 | +145.3 | +142.3 | SELL |
| Thailand | 1,389.66 | +148.3 | +166.8 | +178.3 | WAIT |
| Turkey | 71,620.13 | +172.2 | +198.9 | +216.5 | WAIT |
| Venezuela | 1,295,533.00 | +1638.5 | +1536.0 | +1386.0 | HOLD |
| *Average index for August 2013. †IC/Coppock indicator. ††Unofficial signal. BUY/SELL = self explanatory; WAIT = you sold at the last sell signal and are now waiting for the next buy signal; HOLD = you bought at the last buy signal and are now awaiting the next sell signal. | |||||
Read previous IC/Coppock indicators here
