After hiking 10 consecutive times totaling 500 basis points, the Jerome Powell-led Fed hinted at a pause on Wednesday. Markets are now pricing in three 25-basis-point cuts by year-end. Powell – focused on inflation – promptly dashed hopes for rate … Continued
Post-SVB collapse, community and regional banks have come under shorts’ attack. Bruised KRE, having sliced through the neckline of a head-and-shoulders formation last month, has more to go on the downside should the pattern complete. The number of commercial banks … Continued
Are markets beginning to subtly have doubts about the White House-proposed tax cuts passing Congress? Large caps continue to trudge higher. The S&P 500 large cap index keeps rallying to one after another high. As overbought as it is – … Continued
There is a new-found spring in U.S. small-caps’ step. What changed all of a sudden? More importantly, are there ingredients in place for the rally to sustain itself? The Russell 2000 small cap index just broke out. It has been … Continued
With XLF (SPDR financial ETF) short interest near a multi-month low and the Treasury yield curve continuing to come under pressure, U.S. financials are acting weak, even breaking down. Back in March this year, XLF unsuccessfully tested the prior high … Continued
Stocks of major U.S. banks and brokers are behaving in a way that shorts are probably not very happy with. Should they treat this as a signal or noise? The top six have reported September-quarter results, and it is a … Continued
Is the Fed about to make a mistake? Post-FOMC meeting yesterday, the Fed’s ‘dot plot’ suggested a majority of policymakers were leaving the door open for two rate hikes in 2015. After the release of the statement, TLT, the iShares … Continued
Major U.S. indices have lost October 2014 trendline Other medium- to longer-term trendlines and support zones are intact Since trendline break is not in isolation, rather across indices, worth paying attention to Five weeks ago, the S&P 500 Index (2094.11) … Continued
Bears point to action in transports to drive point home Bulls cite how financials are acting to prove why bears are wrong VIX remains pinned by 15, bullish (financials); VIX past 15, bearish (transports) Much ink has been spilled over … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of June 2, 2015. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: Yields have decisively broken out of a five-month downtrend channel. The only question is what triggered this. To quote the Beige Book: “The … Continued