Equity bulls bought weakness owing to DeepSeek and tariff jitters. Near term, the major indices act like they want higher prints. Mid- to long-term, the outlook gets muddied thanks to uncertainty owing to the new administration’s trade policy in particular. … Continued
Earnings Season is upon us. Fourth-quarter estimates for S&P 500 companies customarily have been gradually revised lower over the past several months. Heading into this, equities rallied huge last week, although the major US indices are off their December highs. … Continued
Job openings are at record highs. If past is prelude, this leads to job creation. This time around, thanks to stimulus money, Americans do not seem desperate for jobs – unless wages rise enough to tempt them back into the … Continued
IWM short interest rose to a nine-month high at the end of March. This could potentially help the longs should they succeed in squeezing the shorts. The problem is (1) the Russell 2000 has had a massive rally in the … Continued
The recent selloff in equities has come at a time of elevated Fed balance sheet, stabilizing earnings estimates and improving macro data. Either stocks believe these positives are not lasting or they are falling under their own weight, as they … Continued
The Fed meets this week. It already shifted its bias from hawkish to dovish, helping stocks. With the economy softening, in due course the Fed may once again deploy balance sheet as a tool, which will initially help stocks, but … Continued
US economic data of late have been coming in strong. Real GDP printed 4.1 percent growth in 2Q18. This was the strongest growth rate in 15 quarters. As of last Friday, the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model expects 4.4 percent growth … Continued
With bulls latching on to every positive fundamental data, small-caps continue to build on breakout from three weeks ago. From the perspective of how they are acting and how they have outperformed their large-cap peers, small-caps are winning big. After … Continued
With the U.S. unemployment rate at a nearly 17-year low and job growth still healthy, some divergence is popping up in jobs-related data. November created 228,000 non-farm jobs. With one month to go, this amounts to a monthly average of … Continued