In the two-week period ended mid-August, short interest continued to rise on both NYSE Group and Nasdaq, respectively up 4.4 percent and 1.8 percent period-over-period. In three and a half months, short interest has gone up 13.2 percent and 7.7 … Continued
There is confusion in the markets. Several times this month, bulls tried to take momentum by the horns, but only to get gored, including last Friday. Bears have not had a smooth ride either. Amidst this back-and-forth action, major US … Continued
Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of August 20, 2019. 10-year note: Currently net short 401.8k, down 12.5k. The German government Wednesday sold €824 million in zero-coupon 30-year bonds, at a negative yield of 0.11 percent. It offered €2 … Continued
Tech’s role in this market needs no elaboration. Information technology makes up just north of 22 percent in the S&P 500 large cap index. Health care is second at 14 percent and financials under 13 percent. In this sense, ‘as … Continued
Stars may be lining up near term for equity bulls, but medium-term worries remain. Margin debt and corporate buybacks are no longer providing the kind of tailwind they did until recently. Buybacks simply collapsed in 2Q19. With 94.9 percent of … Continued
After rallying in June and most of July, stocks began selling off late last month. Bulls nonetheless have managed to defend major support, even as stars seem to be lining up for them – magnitude and duration notwithstanding. Bulls are … Continued
Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of August 13, 2019. 10-year note: Currently net short 414.3k, up 23.5k. The 10-year Treasury yield (1.54 percent) shed 20 more basis points this week. In fact, at the lows rates were down … Continued
Small-business optimism continues to remain near all-time highs, although several sub-indexes are diverging, including profit trend, which the Russell 2000 closely tracks. The NFIB optimism index rose 1.4 points month-over-month in July to 104.7. This was the 32nd consecutive month … Continued
Arguably, both bulls and bears won last week. Bears began the week with a big growl. Monday, the S&P 500 large cap index dropped three percent and the Nasdaq 100 3.6 percent. Intraday, in fact, there were respectively down 3.7 … Continued
Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of August 6, 2019. 10-year note: Currently net short 390.9k, up 7k. The 10-year Treasury yield (1.73 percent) dropped to 1.6 percent intraday Wednesday – the lowest since September 2016. July that year, … Continued