Tech stocks rallied massively in the past four months, with the leaders outpacing the soldiers by a wide margin. Last week, post-earnings reaction to several tech stocks including MSFT indicated a ‘sell the news’ phenomenon. This week, four of the … Continued
June’s CPI was reported yesterday. Inflation behaves well. This makes the Fed’s job easier to continue to pour liquidity into the system. All hell breaks loose once inflation refuses to cooperate – whenever that is. After three successive months of … Continued
In the latest period, Nasdaq/QQQ shorts went on an offensive. The index/ETF rallied to a fresh high last Friday. Longs are salivating over the jump in short interest as yet another squeeze opportunity. In the past, zealous bears have repeatedly … Continued
The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the global economy ferociously the past several months, although several data points showed improvement in May, some of them substantially. US retail sales was one of them. Persistently elevated home prices must be helping consumer sentiment. … Continued
In the last few weeks, money has moved out of money-market funds which ballooned to just under $5 trillion, but not into stocks. Equity bulls are hoping the so-called cash-on-the-sidelines will find a home in stocks. The problem is, major … Continued
Last Thursday’s sizable drop in major US equity indices was sudden. Several metrics were so deep into overbought territory the decline probably did not come as a surprise to many. The magnitude of it was. Indices have rallied in the … Continued
Major US equity indices continue their two-and-a-half-month momentum. Short squeeze helped. As did the Fed backstop. On an FOMC day, Chair Powell’s body language is worth a listen. For equity bulls, there is this thing called the law of gravity. … Continued
Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of June 2, 2020. 10-year note: Currently net short 52.9k, up 14.9k. This week, the ECB surprised markets with its new bond purchase program (more below). The FOMC meets next week. But no … Continued
Two weeks after breaking out of 1250s, the Russell 2000 (1233) is back below it. IWM shorts never bought into the breakout. They were probably driven more by the sharp deterioration in small-business profit trend. Longs will be on the … Continued