V. 19:1 (62-79): Interview: Saitta! Kepler! Krauss! by John Sweeney

When Institutional Investor (II) magazine recently named its All-America Fixed-Income Technical Analysis Team, STOCKS & COMMODITIES Contributing Editor Alex Saitta was in first place. We thought a roundtable interview of the top three would be not only an offbeat interview but insightful for our readers. We put together S&C Interim Editor John Sweeney, Alex Saitta of Salomon Smith Barney, Robert Kepler of Lehman Brothers, and Michael Krauss of Chase Securities for a look at technical analysis in the big leagues. It turned out we’d found a fan of mechanical systems, a momentum player, and a sentiment tracker, so there was a lot to cover.

II first-teamer Alex Saitta is vice president and senior analyst in Salomon Smith Barney’s technical research department. He analyzes the US fixed-income market and provides commentary on the equity and commodity markets. Saitta publishes a newsletter, Financial Markets Daily Outlook, which provides market views and trading recommendations. Saitta led Salomon Smith Barney’s fixed-income technical analysis team in Institutional Investor votes in 1999 and 2000, and was ranked the top technical analyst on the All- America Fixed-Income Team in 2000.

II second-teamer Rob Kepler is senior vice president in charge of technical analysis for the Lehman Brothers fixed income strategy group. He produces Lehman’s Daily Fixed Income/FX Technical Perspective, as well as monthly, weekly, and intraday reports in global fixed income, foreign exchange, and commodities/derivatives. In addition to contributing to Lehman’s flagship Global Relative Value report, he applies technical analysis to yield curve, spread product, volatility, and swap markets. Kepler has been named to the Institutional Investor All-America Fixed-Income Research Team for the past two years.

II third-teamer Michael Krauss is managing director and head of global technical strategy at Chase Securities. He specializes in the US Treasury market, swaps, and emerging markets, with his group’s effort extending to foreign exchange, global equities, and European bonds. His team’s Technical Strategist daily market letters are received by more than 2,500 institutional clients worldwide. Krauss was honored in 1993 with the first-team ranking in the technical market timing category of Institutional Investor’s All-America Fixed-Income Research Team poll — a category that was dropped the following year, only to reappear in 1999, when he finished third. Most recently, Krauss’ team took third in the Institutional Investor poll.

STOCKS & COMMODITIES Interim Editor John Sweeney conducted this three-way interview via telephone on September 19, 2000.