NYSE margin debt was essentially flat in July – $460.2bn, down from $464.3bn in June and not too far away from February’s all-time high of $465.7bn. It is possible August manages a month-over-month increase; numbers will be released in a … Continued
The piece yesterday on U.S. housing was based on June’s numbers. New-home sales data came out yesterday, and it was anything but encouraging. Year-over-year, sales (seasonally adjusted annual rate) rose 12.2 percent but fell 2.4 percent month-over-month. The latter helps … Continued
There was a lot of excitement last week when housing starts/building permits data were released for July. Starts surged 15.7 percent month-over-month and 21.7 percent year-over-year to 1.1mn units (seasonally adjusted annual rate). Multi-family (five units or more) easily outran … Continued
A month ago, we pointed out a divergence between 10- and two-year Treasury yield spread, which peaked as 2013 was unwinding, and financial stocks, which had ceased to track the spread and were rallying. Going back nearly 18 years, the … Continued
Two members of the Monetary Policy Committee, the Bank of England’s interest rate-setting committee, voted to raise interest rates by 25 basis points in August, the minutes released yesterday showed. Market participants were taken by surprise. They have been conditioned … Continued
One more day, and one more post-Great Recession high on the Nasdaq Composite. In fact, the index is at a 14-year high, and yesterday was able to build on Monday’s breakout. There is of course a lot to quibble over … Continued
The Nasdaq Composite (4508.31)has managed to pull off a mini breakout, and is trading above the level identified previously. As a matter of fact, indices/ETFs such as the S&P 500 Large Cap Index and XLF (financials) have convincingly taken out … Continued
At hedgopia, we try to be as objective as possible. Currently, this blogger is bearish insofar as U.S. equities and economy are concerned. Nevertheless, as someone famously said, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What would you do, … Continued
In a global survey of 200 institutional money managers, the Bank of America/Merrill Lynch found that the pros are worried about the stock market and are buying protection against a crash. They are worried about geo-political events and about interest … Continued
We so often hear or read that stocks climb a wall of worry. Anytime the balance tilts one way, odds grow that it then tilts the other way. Short interest can serve as an example. If too many market participants … Continued