Eight years old! The bull market in U.S. equities, that is. After a harrowing 57-percent collapse that began in October 2007, the S&P 500 large cap index bottomed at an intraday low of 666.79 on March 6, 2009. Tuesday, it … Continued
Chart 1 shows decent relationship between year-over-year change in the S&P 500 large cap index and the ISM manufacturing index. U.S. manufacturing activity has picked up – from 49.4 last August to 57.5 in February. The 8.3-point six-month jump is … Continued
Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of February 28, 2017. 10-year note: By Friday last week, fed funds futures were putting the odds of a rate hike in the upcoming FOMC meeting (March 14-15) at 34 percent. By Monday, … Continued
Tuesday was J.P. Morgan’s (JPM) annual investor day. Bloomberg pointed out that CFO Marianne Lake talked about loans depleting a little bit – the growth rate, that is. Core loans were up 15 percent last year. She sees 10 percent … Continued
Here is a brief review of period-over-period change in short interest in the February 1-15 period in the Nasdaq and NYSE Group as well as nine S&P 500 sectors. Nasdaq – short interest ↑ 1.4% p/p; Nasdaq composite ↑ 3.6% … Continued
The Dow Industrials is on pace to creating history this week. Last Friday, it rose for 11 sessions in a row, for a cumulative gain of 3.8 percent. The longest streak was recorded in January 1987 when it rallied 11 … Continued
Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of February 21, 2017. 10-year note: Are we in for a March shock? Post-FOMC minutes on Wednesday, fed funds futures were pricing in a 32-percent chance of a rate hike in the March … Continued
Say what you want, equity bulls deserve kudos! There is an unprecedented bid under the market particularly since the election (November 8) last year. The S&P 500 large cap index has nearly rallied 11 percent since! The rubber band keeps … Continued
Ten and counting. That is the number of weeks spot West Texas Intermediate crude ($53.78) has now gone flat. Oil bulls hope this is consolidation before another leg higher. Since oil bottomed at $26.05 on February 11 last year, it … Continued
Stocks keep making new highs, and earnings keep getting downwardly revised. That about sums up the current state of affairs in U.S. equities. With momentum as strong as it is, markets have turned a blind eye to multiples. Consequently, the … Continued