A month ago, KBE, the SPDR S&P Bank ETF, looked on the verge of a breakout (more here). Here we are, one month later, the ETF has indeed broken out. It has the potential to be a major breakout, as … Continued
U.S. retail sales disappoint again – has not grown four out of last five months Not much correlation between gasoline price and personal consumption expenditures RTH, which had diverged from weakening retail sales, has been weakening past seven weeks U.S. … Continued
Probably too soon to go long TWTR, but not to generate income via stock options An opportunity to generate income using options in Twitter (TWTR) shares may be brewing. The stock has taken a 27-percent hit post-April 28th 1Q15 earnings, … Continued
U.S. non-farm job openings fell 150k to 4.99 million in March, as per the JOLTS survey out this morning. This was the biggest month-over-month drop since last September, when openings shrank by 247k (Chart 1). This is one month’s data, … Continued
In each of the past three reporting periods, short interest has dropped on both the NYSE and Nasdaq. Not a whole lot. But it is a decline nevertheless. Since the middle of March through end-April, it dropped 1.5 percent on … Continued
U.S. oil-and-extraction jobs continued to drip lower, down 7.1k from the October 2014 high of 201.5k (down 3.5 percent by April). The curve is much steeper in support jobs, having lost 21.1k jobs from the September 2014 peak of 337.6k … Continued
Put-to-call ratios, VIX:VXV point to potential selling pressure in stocks But large specs expecting lower VIX not in agreement with peers betting on lower SPX Task of separating wheat from chaff – which signal to treat as signal and which … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of May 5, 2015. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: It was a weird week. That is an understatement. Up until Wednesday, 10-year yields were up 20 basis points. Treasurys on the long … Continued
U.S. wages stuck in mud, more so for supervised employees than for supervisory ECI for private sector has been trending higher since 1Q14; sustainable? Productivity crucial for employers’ ability to absorb wage hikes If there is one consistency in the … Continued
Turns out the March drop in energy job-cut announcements was not the beginning of a trend. After 20.2k and 16.3k cuts in January and February respectively, March dropped to a mere 1.3k, raising hopes that the worst was over. Job … Continued