Once again, XLF (SPDR financial ETF) has been denied at resistance that goes back a decade. In December 2015, for the first time since July 2006, the Fed raised the fed funds rate. It was a 25-basis-point increase to a … Continued
Yet another high on the S&P 500 large cap index – 25th new closing high year-to-date. The index is now $21 trillion rich! To reach that milestone, it rallied 0.5 percent last Friday to 2463.54 before closing at 2459.27 – … Continued
Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of July 11, 2017. 10-year note: Currently net long 257k, down 5.9k. On Tuesday, markets interpreted Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s Humphrey Hawkins testimony as dovish. Ten-year T-yields fell four basis points to 2.33 … Continued
Here is a brief review of period-over-period change in short interest in the June 16-30 period in the Nasdaq and NYSE Group as well as nine S&P 500 sectors. Nasdaq The 50-day moving average was slightly breached, but support at … Continued
The US dollar index, pretty much dancing to its own tune since peaking early this year, likely sits at a crucial level technically. The U.S. economy added stronger-than-expected 222,000 non-farm jobs in June. Friday, the US dollar index pretty much … Continued
The 2Q17 earnings season gets underway in earnest this week. S&P 500 companies are expected to earn $31 out of operations, which compares with $28.82 in 1Q17 and $25.70 in 2Q16. If earnings come in as expected, they would have … Continued
Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of July 3, 2017. 10-year note: Currently net long 263k, down 39.1k. The speed by which long rates rose the past couple of weeks took many by surprise. Intraday between June 26 and … Continued
U.S. corporate bond issuance was $106.2 billion in June, comprising $83.1 billion in investment-grade (IG) and $23.1 billion in high-yield (HY). This puts the first-half total at $868.1 billion, of which $714.1 billion is in IG and $154 billion in … Continued
The Nasdaq 100 index does not act well. Is it purely rotation or a reflection on the economy or on the 1Q17 earnings season that begins next week? After rallying for seven consecutive months, the index lost 2.5 percent in … Continued
Commodities had a nice week last week. After five consecutive weekly losses, the Reuters/Jefferies CRB index rallied 4.2 percent last week, but dropped 2.8 percent anyway in June – its sixth straight negative month. Last week’s action is encouraging, but … Continued