Fed Pauses; Markets Demand 3 Cuts By Year-End, Inflation-Focused Powell Pushes Back

After hiking 10 consecutive times totaling 500 basis points, the Jerome Powell-led Fed hinted at a pause on Wednesday. Markets are now pricing in three 25-basis-point cuts by year-end. Powell – focused on inflation – promptly dashed hopes for rate … Continued

Near-Term, In FOMC Week, Reduced Volatility Likely To Help Equity Bulls; Medium- To Long-Term, No Fed Pivot Forthcoming

Medium- to long-term, Fed pivot-yearning equity bulls could be setting themselves up for disappointment given the Fed’s resolve to keep rates higher for longer and the trajectory of the US economy and/or corporate earnings. Near-term, in an FOMC week, a … Continued

CoT: Peek Into Future Through Futures, How Hedge Funds Are Positioned

Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of April 25, 2023. 10-year note: Currently net short 740.3k, up 60.2k. The FOMC meets next week. A 25-basis-point hike is baked in. In the futures market, traders have assigned an 84 percent … Continued

KRE Shorts, Having Aggressively Built Position, Probably Expect ETF To Complete Head-And-Shoulders Technical Pattern

posted in: Credit, Economy, Equities, Technicals | 0

Post-SVB collapse, community and regional banks have come under shorts’ attack. Bruised KRE, having sliced through the neckline of a head-and-shoulders formation last month, has more to go on the downside should the pattern complete. The number of commercial banks … Continued

Big Tech Ready To Report – Make-Or-Break For Tech-Heavy Indices, Which Are Giving Out Signs Of Fatigue

posted in: Derivatives, Equities, Technicals | 0

The next couple of weeks are big for tech earnings. MSFT, GOOG and AMZN report this week, and AAPL the next, among others. Leading into this, consensus estimates have trended lower, and stocks have rallied to multi-month highs. Concurrently, market … Continued

CoT: Peek Into Future Through Futures, How Hedge Funds Are Positioned

Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of April 18, 2023. 10-year note: Currently net short 680.1k, up 41k. Non-commercials added another 41,004 contracts to their already-elevated holdings of net shorts in 10-year note futures. The 680,081 count is the … Continued

Equity Bulls Stare At Squeeze Opportunity, But Odds Of Success Low Right Here And Now

posted in: Derivatives, Equities, Technicals | 0

Non-commercial futures traders are heavily on the short side. They can get forced to cover or get squeezed if equity longs had their way. It is not going to be easy for the latter. Having already spent a nice bit … Continued

CoT: Peek Into Future Through Futures, How Hedge Funds Are Positioned

Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of April 11, 2023. 10-year note: Currently net short 639k, up 18k. The 10-year treasury yield (3.52 percent) dropped from 4.33 percent last October to the low six sessions ago of 3.25 percent. … Continued

Info Tech Regains Go-To Status This Year, Even As Several Related Metrics Raise Yellow Flag

posted in: Equities, Technicals | 0

Info tech has become a favorite this year. Bulls have turned a blind eye to several metrics including the sector’s contribution to S&P 500 earnings being much smaller than its share of market cap. Information technology has been a go-to … Continued

After Decent Rally In Recent Weeks, Sellers Get Active At Resistance On Major Equity Indices; Mar CPI On Wed

posted in: Economy, Equities, Technicals | 1

Ahead of Wednesday’s March CPI and after a nice two- to three-week rally, sellers show up at important resistance on major US equity indices. With the daily in overbought territory, the bias is to the downside near term. Trader expectations … Continued