NYSE margin debt fell again. June was down $3.8 billion month-over-month to $447.4 billion. Since it peaked in April last year at $507.2 billion, margin debt is now down $59.8 billion – or 11.8 percent from the peak. The S&P … Continued
There probably is an air of excitement among U.S. housing bulls – particularly the technically oriented ones. Sales of both new and existing homes have broken out of recent ranges. In June, new homes rose 3.5 percent month-over-month to a … Continued
Much ado about nothing! Pretty much. There was much talk of short squeeze primarily contributing to the rally in stocks in the June 30-July 15 period, but, as it turns out, at least on an index level, that was not … Continued
In the August expiration, the amount of call open interest in VIX heavily outweighs that of puts. Put open interest, represented by the red bars in Chart 1, is decent in near-the-money or slightly-in-the-money strikes, but pale in comparison to … Continued
As of last Thursday (July 21st), as per S&P Dow Jones Indices, 123 of S&P 500 companies reported their 2Q16 results, 81 of them beat on an operating basis, 23 missed and 19 met consensus estimates. On a reported basis, … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of July 19, 2016. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: If you repeat something often enough, it becomes the truth. So the saying goes. Why bring this up? There is a sudden uptick … Continued
An argument can be made that spot VIX is in the middle of a saucer formation – also known as a rounding bottom. Chart 1 shows prior two such formations – one in the ‘90s and the other in the … Continued
It has been a while since U.S. small-caps reached a new high (arrow in Chart 1). The Russell 2000 small cap index (1209.74) peaked in June last year at 1296. Small-caps have massively underperformed large-caps. Both the S&P 500 large … Continued
Have foreigners ceased to be a factor in the market for both U.S. equities and treasury securities? Makes you wonder looking at the Treasury International Capital System data. May’s numbers were released this Monday, and there was not much change … Continued
The last time spot VIX closed under 13 for three consecutive sessions was in early August last year. In fact, VIX back then stayed sub-13 for four straight sessions ended August 3rd, and registered three more sub-13 readings by August … Continued