U.S. corporate bond issuance totaled $99.7 billion in July, down 25.9 percent year-over-year. Of this, investment-grade was $85.2 billion, down 32.1 percent y/y and high-yield $14.5 billion, up 62.2 percent. The growth rate put up by high-yield is misleading as … Continued
The U.S. economy has grown sub-par post-Great Recession – an average of 2.1 percent versus a long-term average of 3.2 percent going back to 2Q47. In the past four quarters, it has not even managed to grow at 2.1 percent … Continued
U.S. stocks have done phenomenally well since the February lows. In less than six months through the intra-day high yesterday, the S&P 500 large cap index has rallied north of 20 percent, the Nasdaq 100 index 22.5 percent, and the … Continued
July turned out to be an important month for the S&P 500 large cap index. More than a year after it peaked in May last year, the index reached a new high, rising 3.6 percent for the month. The July … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of July 26, 2016. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: The Fed stopped short of signaling a rate hike near term. That said, the statement also said “near-term risks to the economic outlook … Continued
NYSE margin debt fell again. June was down $3.8 billion month-over-month to $447.4 billion. Since it peaked in April last year at $507.2 billion, margin debt is now down $59.8 billion – or 11.8 percent from the peak. The S&P … Continued
There probably is an air of excitement among U.S. housing bulls – particularly the technically oriented ones. Sales of both new and existing homes have broken out of recent ranges. In June, new homes rose 3.5 percent month-over-month to a … Continued
As of last Thursday (July 21st), as per S&P Dow Jones Indices, 123 of S&P 500 companies reported their 2Q16 results, 81 of them beat on an operating basis, 23 missed and 19 met consensus estimates. On a reported basis, … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of July 19, 2016. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: If you repeat something often enough, it becomes the truth. So the saying goes. Why bring this up? There is a sudden uptick … Continued
It has been a while since U.S. small-caps reached a new high (arrow in Chart 1). The Russell 2000 small cap index (1209.74) peaked in June last year at 1296. Small-caps have massively underperformed large-caps. Both the S&P 500 large … Continued