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
It is easy to see why bears get tempted to short. Fundamentally, things are ugly. At the same time, the Federal Reserve has essentially backstopped stock prices. Shorts have gotten squeezed over and over. Bruised tech shorts are still not … Continued
Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of August 11, 2020. 10-year note: Currently net long 5.5k, down 86.6k. The 10-year treasury yield (0.71 percent) had a strong week, up 15 basis points, but not enough for a range breakout. … Continued
Tech stocks rallied massively in the past four months, with the leaders outpacing the soldiers by a wide margin. Last week, post-earnings reaction to several tech stocks including MSFT indicated a ‘sell the news’ phenomenon. This week, four of the … Continued
Last week, the Russell 2000 jumped 3.6 percent, while the Nasdaq 100 slid 1.8 percent. If investors are indeed moving away from tech toward small-caps, this is no good news for markets as a whole. The five largest US companies … Continued
The Russell 2000 Wednesday broke out of 1450s, although bulls were forced to retest the breakout in the very next session. Wednesday’s low-volume breakout comes against the background of a collapse in small-cap earnings this year and elevated optimism next … Continued
In the latest period, Nasdaq/QQQ shorts went on an offensive. The index/ETF rallied to a fresh high last Friday. Longs are salivating over the jump in short interest as yet another squeeze opportunity. In the past, zealous bears have repeatedly … Continued
Bulls just wasted a huge opportunity to squeeze non-commercial shorts in e-mini futures. This is coming at a time when the Fed’s balance sheet is no longer growing at a breakneck pace, which stocks cherished earlier. Longs probably wasted a … Continued
Major US equity indices continue their two-and-a-half-month momentum. Short squeeze helped. As did the Fed backstop. On an FOMC day, Chair Powell’s body language is worth a listen. For equity bulls, there is this thing called the law of gravity. … Continued
Macro news is bad. Earnings revision trend continues lower. Yet, stocks continue higher. Besides the liquidity push from the Fed, help is also coming from overzealous shorts. On the macro front, news is bad – from employment to capacity utilization … Continued