Next week, the FOMC meets. The two-day meeting, the year’s last and a highly anticipated one, ends Wednesday. A rate hike is widely expected. The fed funds rate has been stuck near zero for the past nine years. Markets currently … Continued
National Federation of Independent Business members’ comp plans jumped three points in November to 20, matching the November 2006 high. The spike in the red line in Chart 1 is noteworthy. Historically, it has shown a tendency to lead average … Continued
Small-caps have a big problem. Investors do not fancy them, and it has been a while. Having peaked last June, IWM, the iShares Russell 2000 ETF, with at least one false breakout, has lagged its large-cap brethren. There probably are … Continued
After the drubbing stocks took post-ECB disappointment last Thursday, bulls could not have asked for better reaction on Friday. Stocks in general recouped Thursday’s loss, and then some. The S&P 500 index rallied 2.1 percent on Friday (Chart 1), in … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of December 1, 2015. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: Will it or wouldn’t it? Will the Fed switch into a tightening mode in the face of U.S. manufacturing just entering contraction? In … Continued
In the past year and a half, crude oil has gone through a lot. It is not often a commodity of oil’s significance drops 61 percent in nine months. Yet that is what happened to spot West Texas Intermediate crude … Continued
It can potentially be a momentous day. December 16th, that is. That is when the Fed would be completing its two-day FOMC meeting – this year’s last – and decide whether or not to raise interest rates. The last time … Continued
For a while IWM, the iShares Russell 2000 ETF, lagged other major U.S. indices. The ETF, as well as the Russell 2000 index are still below their respective August 17th highs, which preceded a five-day, 11-percent cliff dive (Chart 1). … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of November 24, 2015. Change is week-over-week. (Due to Thanksgiving last week, the CFTC released numbers on Monday, instead of last Friday.) 10-year note: Chances of the Fed moving next month (FOMC … Continued
Hindsight is always 20/20. The post last Monday hypothetically discussed three ways to play beaten-down GLD, the SPDR Gold ETF: (1) go long at $103.09; (2) short November 27th 102.50 puts for $0.49, which could result in effectively going long … Continued