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
It has been a while since U.S. small-caps reached a new high (arrow in Chart 1). The Russell 2000 small cap index (1209.74) peaked in June last year at 1296. Small-caps have massively underperformed large-caps. Both the S&P 500 large … Continued
Next week’s economic calendar is housing-heavy. Monday brings the NAHB/Wells Fargo housing market index for July, Tuesday housing starts for June, and Thursday existing home sales for June. Builder sentiment remained stuck at 58 for four months through May, before … Continued
Much ado about nothing! Really. A lot happened in the second half of June. The 1.3-percent rally in the S&P 500 large cap index between June 15th and 30th belies the crazy roller-coaster ride those two weeks went through. First, … Continued
As far as U.S. stocks were concerned, Brexit was just a bad dream. A footnote, so to speak. On the S&P 500 large cap index, the intra-day high of 2113.32 in the session before Brexit hit stands, but last Friday’s … Continued
Equity bulls put the foot down where they could possibly have. Support at 1990 on the S&P 500 large cap index was defended on Monday (Chart 1). This followed a post-Brexit 5.3-percent dive in just a couple of sessions. Using … Continued
No one seemed prepared for Brexit. Seriously. Polls were wrong. Bookmakers were wrong. Paddy Power, Ladbrokes, they all missed it. Reaction in the various asset markets was equally treacherous. Stocks dropped everywhere on Friday. The German Dax composite collapsed 6.8 … Continued
Since spot West Texas Intermediate crude bottomed intra-day at $26.05/barrel on February 11th and began to rally, resistance points have fallen one after another. First went $34-$35, then $40, followed by $42-$43 and then $47-$48 (Chart 1), rallying past both … Continued
Spot gold potentially had an important session on Tuesday. Since the May 2nd high of $1,306/ounce through Tuesday’s hammer low, the metal gave back eight percent, in the process losing its now-declining 50-day moving average. The Tuesday low likely came … Continued