In July’s Treasury International Capital System data released last Friday, there was one particular data point equity bulls were probably happy to see. Global investors purchased $26.1 billion in U.S. equities in that month. This was the highest monthly purchase … Continued
Next week brings three important housing-related data points: the NAHB/Wells Fargo housing market index (September), existing home sales (August), and housing starts (August). In July, starts rose 2.1 percent month-over-month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.21 million units, … Continued
There is not much correlation between the University of Michigan’s consumer sentiment index and year-over-year change in personal consumption expenditures – mere 0.12 going back to January 1978 (chart here). Nor is there any between consumer sentiment and XLY, the … 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
Of late, there is a spring in small-caps’ step. Can it be sustained? In August, the Russell 2000 small cap index (1239.91) jumped 1.6 percent, even as the S&P 500 large cap index inched down 0.1 percent and the Dow … Continued
Short squeeze played a big role in the equity rally since the February lows this year. Charts 1 and 2 are proof. Since the February 11th bottom through the all-time high this Tuesday, the Nasdaq composite rallied just north of … Continued
That the green line in Chart 1 is increasingly taking the form of a coiled spring is non-debatable. That the longer it stays compressed in oversold territory, the higher the odds of a spike higher is non-debatable. What is debatable … Continued
Following up on Tuesday’s blog, here is some additional food of thought on XLY, the SPDR consumer discretionary ETF. Three sessions ago, it arguably broke out of a five-week congestion; the ETF rose to a new intra-day high of $82.38, … Continued
U.S. equities continue to enjoy short-interest tailwind, but are likely to face difficulty doing so in the weeks to come. In the latest period, on an index level, short interest continued to drop. The July 15-29 two-week period saw it … Continued
Much ado about nothing! Pretty much. There was much talk of short squeeze primarily contributing to the rally in stocks in the June 30-July 15 period, but, as it turns out, at least on an index level, that was not … Continued