Volatility has been the name of the game in stocks in the past month. Between the August 18th intra-day high of $209.59 and the August 24th intra-day low of $181.46, SPY, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF, lost north of 13 … Continued
Within a month, RVX, the Russell 2000 Volatility Index, has gone from 17.34 to 46.66 to now back down to 23.70. Volatility has been very volatile. Going back to early 2013, RVX has found support at 14, consistently rising off … Continued
Are things really bad out there? Without a doubt, there is no shortage of things to worry about. From slowdown in China to volatility in emerging markets to continued deceleration in the global economy to the Fed possibly committing a … Continued
Gold is anything but golden these days. It has lost its luster. Not the metal, of course; it still glitters. As an asset, however, it is down in the dumps. Since its peak in September 2011 through the low this … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of September 8, 2015. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: More jawboning this week! Following in the footsteps of Christine Lagarde, IMF managing director, Kaushik Basu, World Bank chief economist, says the Fed … Continued
Gold is having a golden moment. Relatively, that is. It acts well, but given that it has rallied eight-plus percent in a month, it is probably in need of a breather near-term for its own good. The metal has had … Continued
One look at Chart 1, and it is hard to notice a significant change in momentum behind the U.S. high-yield debt market. Through July, issuance totaled $188.4 billion. Annualized, 2015 is on track to issuing north of $300 billion – … Continued
Of late, volatility has been volatile. Twice in the past 15 sessions, VIX, the S&P 500 Volatility Index, has surpassed 16, only to quickly reverse to the downside, and broken below 12 three times, only to reverse to the upside. … Continued
An options trade may be brewing on IWM, the iShares Russell 2000 ETF. In the July 15-31 period, shorts’ bearish bet on IWM paid off. Short interest went up nearly five percent during the period. The ETF fell 2.1 percent, … Continued
Markets are acting very fidgety. Emerging ones are no exception. On Monday, off Friday’s intra-day high, VIX, the S&P 500 Volatility Index, dropped 16-percent plus. Yesterday, at one point it was up 17-percent plus. TLT, the iShares 20+ Year Treasury … Continued