U.S. small-caps have had a phenomenal run post-election. From November 8 close through the intra-day all-time high 1392.71 on December 9, the Russell 2000 small cap index jumped 16.5 percent. It has come under slight pressure since that high, but … Continued
To say that stocks have diverged from a whole host of things ranging from earnings to Treasury bonds to crude oil to economic data is an understatement. This is not some new phenomenon … has been going on for a … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of April 5, 2016. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: The FOMC minutes for the March 15-16 meeting were released this week, and there was nothing substantially new. That said, maybe because FOMC … Continued
One of the knocks on the rally that began on September 29th is that it is primarily led by large-caps. From that low through most recent highs, the S&P 500 large cap index rallied 13.1 percent, and the Nasdaq 100 … Continued
In the latest reporting period, there was a big drop in short interest on IWM, the iShares Russell 2000 ETF. It dropped 10.1 percent period-over-period to 118 million shares – the lowest since the middle of August. Shorts had been … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of July 7, 2015. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: After the June FOMC minutes were released, investors pushed back expectations for the first interest rate hike to March next year. The minutes … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of June 23, 2015. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: Yields pushed up nearly 21 basis points for the week. Sales of both new and existing homes did well in May (even though … Continued
Last Thursday saw a powerful rally in stocks. Several indices went on to notch new records. The Nasdaq Composite surpassed its March 2000 intra-day high. The Russell 2000 Small Cap Index broke out to a new high. Several others, including … Continued
IWM, the iShares Russell 2000 ETF, broke out Thursday, and it is time to pay heed to that famous quote, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” To refresh, back on May 26th, hypothetically … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of June 16, 2015. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: Let us see if we can make some sense out of this week’s major developments. The FOMC met, and it looked like members … Continued