US $ technicals strong, but bullish sentiment looking too lopsided

Expectations of higher US interest rates and stronger economy acting as tailwind behind resurgent $ Sentiment too bullish, reflected in non-commercials’ near-record net longs in US $ futures Safe bet probably is to wait to take the other side of … Continued

Momo favorite until not too long ago, small-caps get no love

posted in: Derivatives, Equities, Technicals | 0

Having lagged large-caps since March, small-caps have very weak technical underpinnings, and are getting close to a make-or-break level.  Non-commercial futures traders have astutely taken advantage of the decline.  Watch what they do. It has been a while this blog … Continued

Draghi surprises; FXE downtrend accelerates, nears support

As discussed last week that non-commercial futures traders might just once again be ahead of the curve in anticipating market reaction to Thursday’s ECB decision, they indeed were.  By Tuesday (last week), they had raised net shorts in euro futures … Continued

Small-cap shorts getting squeezed?

posted in: Derivatives, Equities, Technicals | 0

The answer to the question above is a probable yes. Twice since early March this year, small-caps have come under decent amount of pressure.  The first was a nine-week, 11-percent decline that began early March, followed by a nine-percent drop beginning … Continued

Beaten-down euro’s next move — look for clues in futures markets

The expected decline in the euro never came.  Back on August 11, it looked like the currency was ready for a bounce.  Just a bounce, as long-term technicals were only midway through unwinding overbought conditions hence did not call for … Continued

Nasdaq mini breakout, odds grow S&P 500 at least tests recent highs

posted in: Derivatives, Equities, Technicals | 0

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

Oversold bounce, or opportunity to go long?

posted in: Derivatives, Equities, Technicals | 0

The rally the past couple of sessions, is it an oversold bounce or is there more to it than meets the eye?  Particularly on Monday, money did come out of defensives such as utilities and health care, and into offensives … Continued

Bulls and bears duel for euro’s near-term direction, former likely to win

posted in: Currency, Derivatives, Technicals | 0

Non-commercials further added to net shorts in euro futures.  They are now net short 129k contracts – a two-year high.  In recent weeks these large speculators have been adding more shorts than cutting longs.  Since early June, they cut longs … Continued

Odds of continuation — or a lack thereof — of divergence between large- and small-caps

There was an article on MarketWatch.com on Friday entitled “Why lagging small caps might not bring down the S&P 500.”  The title says it all.  The story seeks to justify why prevailing weakness in U.S. small-caps is not a cause … Continued