As talk of potential trade war heats up, attention has shifted to U.S. small-caps. Deserved or too simplistic? Early last week, the Russell 2000 small cap index tried to take out not one but two levels of resistance – the … Continued
Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda! What could have been $9.93 in profit in a hypothetical XLE trade is now only worth $1.83. Culprit? Trying to play it too cute plus greed. Since peaking on January 25 at $66.66/barrel, spot West Texas Intermediate … Continued
Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of February 27, 2018. 10-year note: Currently net short 342.9k, up 128.4k. On February 5 when Jerome Powell took over as Fed chair the S&P 500 large cap index dropped 4.1 percent, and … Continued
Here is a brief review of period-over-period change in short interest in the February 1-15 period in nine S&P 500 sectors. XLB (SPDR materials ETF) During the reporting period, XLB (60.71) went from 62.95 at January-end to an intraday low … Continued
In investing, November 9, 2016 will be remembered not only because a day earlier the nation chose Donald Trump as the next president of the United States but also because the way investors reacted to the news. Early weakness was … Continued
Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of February 20, 2018. 10-year note: Currently net short 214.5k, down 82.5k. Three percent on the 10-year Treasury note is a closely watched level by many. If it is surpassed, stops likely get … Continued
Post U.S. tax-cuts, the sell-side pencils in massive earnings for S&P 500 companies for this year and next. Given already lofty valuations, investors are likely to treat this as an anomaly more than a trend. Earnings estimates for this year … Continued
After a roller-coaster ride since peaking late January, U.S. equity indices have once again approached potentially critical technical juncture. The S&P 500 large cap index peaked on January 26 at an intraday high of 2872.87, then dropping 11.8 percent intraday … Continued
Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of February 13, 2018. 10-year note: Currently net short 296.9k, down 30.6k. If 10-year Treasury yields (2.88 percent) reach three percent – or even where they are currently – would/could that be used … Continued
Small-business optimism remains near multi-decade highs. Small-cap stocks do not quite share this optimism. The NFIB optimism index rose two points month-over-month in January to 106.9, just a hair’s breadth away from November’s 107.5, which was a 34-year high. Optimism … Continued