Last March, the Fed essentially urged investors to take on risk and go up the risk curve. They have obliged. Leverage is high in the system. This works as long as the prevailing upward momentum is in place. When a … Continued
VIX is on the verge of a breakdown. After sustaining over 20 for a year, it risks losing that level in the sessions ahead. A decisive breach opens the door toward mid- to high-teens near term. This will have taken … Continued
Major US equity indices posted new highs last week, but only to reverse and give back those gains. By Friday, the S&P 500, the Nasdaq 100 and the Russell 2000 were all sitting on channel support. Bulls cannot afford a … Continued
As the FOMC winds up its two-day meeting today, one cannot help but think of the Fed put that has led investors to take on risk and go up the risk curve, driving one after another metric into uncharted territory. … Continued
Last week, Fed officials threw cold water on incipient taper talk, making it clear they would continue to purchase treasury securities. This followed a backup this month in rates in the long end of the treasury yield curve, with the … Continued
Georgia Senate results have pretty much ensured a new round of stimulus money as well as a fresh infrastructure package. Stocks had a massive 4Q, with the S&P 500 jumping 11.7 percent. This helped push the price-to-sales ratio further into … Continued
No one rang the bell when the longest bull in US stock market history came to an end last month. The drop was swift and decisive. Several oversold metrics are itching to get unwound. But markets are in panic mode. … Continued
Intra-meeting Tuesday, the Fed delivered a 50-basis-point reduction in the fed funds rate. Stocks yawned, gold rallied and the 10-year T-yield fell to a new low. What gives? Emergency cuts are rare. As are 50-basis-point cuts. Intra-meeting Tuesday, the Fed … Continued
Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of December 18, 2018. 10-year note: Currently net short 380.8k, down 13k. With pressure growing from diverse quarters, including the White House, to stay pat in this week’s meeting, the Fed went ahead … Continued
In the August 15-31 period, there was not much of a trend among major industry/sector ETFs, with nearly half down period-over-period and half up (Chart 1). The real story, however, lies in how short interest changed on an index level. … Continued