Despite the rout in stocks that August and September experienced, the fear-of-missing-out (FOMO) is alive and well. From low to high, the S&P 500 index rallied eight plus percent between August 24 and September 17, followed by a seven-plus percent … Continued
As the third quarter ended, S&P 500 companies were yielding a touch higher than the 10-year Treasury yield – something equity bulls have been stressing to highlight how cheap stocks are. Is it that simple? Last quarter, the four-quarter rolling … Continued
Third-quarter earnings season begins in earnest this week. Operating earnings estimates for S&P 500 companies have been persistently coming down for 2015 – from as high as $137.52 at the end of the second quarter last year to $110.98 as … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of September 29, 2015. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: Hat tip to bond vigilantes! Heading into the FOMC meeting two weeks ago, they never bought into the message coming out of the … Continued
Do non-commercials have it right? Their net shorts in Russell 2000 futures peaked at 46,064 contracts on August 18, a week before stocks, including small-caps, bottomed. Since then, they have gradually been reducing their bearish bias, with holdings at -27,708 … Continued
With all the hand-wringing over whether or not the August lows will hold, this is the least of bulls’ worries. Bigger challenges probably lie ahead. Of the big four – the S&P 500 index, the Dow Industrials, the Nasdaq composite, … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of September 22, 2015. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: Last week, post-FOMC decision not to hike, stocks fell. They had rallied strongly into the meeting, and were probably set to drop either … Continued
The August swoon in U.S. stocks felt like it came out of nowhere, but it was slowly in the making. The S&P 500 index (1939) peaked in May at 2135, with sideways action since February this year… NYSE margin debt … Continued
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
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of September 15, 2015. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: When the Fed finally raises rates – whenever that is – ahead of that move should we now pay attention to fed funds … Continued