Having lagged large-caps since March, small-caps have very weak technical underpinnings, and are getting close to a make-or-break level. Non-commercial futures traders have astutely taken advantage of the decline. Watch what they do. It has been a while this blog … Continued
The sun always rises in the east and sets in the west. But in life, things are not always this straightforward. Besides black and white, there is this thing called gray. And in the gray territory, things can get confusing. … Continued
Less than two weeks ago, when the S&P 500 Large Cap Index was giving out signs of fatigue, the VIX was giving out signs of stability. The former went on to post a new all-time high early this month, even … Continued
The importance of margin debt in U.S. equities’ persistent grind higher cannot be stressed enough. Other sources of funds are simply no match – at least have been that way a while. Despite persistent, year-in-year-out talk of an impending selloff, … Continued
The answer to the question above is a probable yes. Twice since early March this year, small-caps have come under decent amount of pressure. The first was a nine-week, 11-percent decline that began early March, followed by a nine-percent drop beginning … Continued
The Congressional Budget Office yesterday put out some interesting forecasts for the current fiscal year. Corporate tax revenues will come in at $315bn, versus prior forecast of $351bn, it said, and that U.S. real GDP growth will be 1.5 percent, … Continued
A month ago, we pointed out a divergence between 10- and two-year Treasury yield spread, which peaked as 2013 was unwinding, and financial stocks, which had ceased to track the spread and were rallying. Going back nearly 18 years, the … Continued
The rally the past couple of sessions, is it an oversold bounce or is there more to it than meets the eye? Particularly on Monday, money did come out of defensives such as utilities and health care, and into offensives … Continued
One consistent theme the last several weeks on this blog has been that of divergence. In a healthy market, things tend to – or are supposed to – move in unison. Simplistically, let us say a widget is in production. … Continued
NYSE margin debt shot back up in June, surging 5.9 percent month-over-month to $464.3bn, just a touch below February’s all-time high of $465.7bn. This follows a down March and April and flattish May. In recent months, action on the Nasdaq … Continued