Later today at 1:15 PM, Janet Yellen, Fed chair, speaks at Harvard University. Markets will be on pins and needles waiting to hear what she will say. She is appearing in public in the wake of several hawkish comments/speeches from … Continued
U.S. equities had a powerful session on Tuesday, followed by another good session on Wednesday. Volume could have been a little better on major U.S. indices but price spoke loud and clear. The Nasdaq 100 surged 2.1 percent on Tuesday, … Continued
The mid-May short interest was out yesterday, and some subtle shift in sentiment was noticeable. First off, in the aggregate, short interest rose. In fact, on both the NYSE composite and the Nasdaq composite, this was the first period-over-period increase … Continued
Equity bulls are putting down their foot, and have near-term momentum on their side so long as 2040 on the S&P 500 is not lost. Off the April 20th high through last Thursday’s intra-day low, the S&P 500 lost four … Continued
Tomorrow, April’s new home sales come out. March was down 1.5 percent month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 511,000 units. The cycle peaked at 545,000 units in February last year – a seven-year high. The median price in … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of May 17, 2016. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: More jawboning this week! Last week, three regional bank presidents – Eric Rosengren (Boston), Loretta Mester (Cleveland), and Esther George (Kansas City) – … Continued
Today completes one year since the S&P 500 large cap index made an all time high of 2134.72. On this anniversary, U.S. stocks’ near-term outlook is not as clear as is probably its medium-term. In the medium term, major indices … Continued
XLP, the SPDR consumer staples ETF, just made a new all-time high on May 10th before backing off, and coming down hard. In contrast, most major U.S. indices peaked last year, and some even earlier, like the Dow Transports, which … Continued
U.S. housing is stuck. That is pretty much the impression one gets looking at April’s housing starts that were out yesterday. Starts rose 6.6 percent month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.17 million units. The cycle high 1.21 … Continued
April’s retail sales released last Friday were better than expected – up 1.3 percent month-over-month and up three percent year-over-year. This was the largest m/m increase since March last year. Yet, the Treasury yield curve flattened in that session, with … Continued