The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of September 20, 2016. 10-year note: A steeper yield curve is typically associated with a strengthening economy. So when the Bank of Japan says it will target a steeper yield curve, what … Continued
As of last Friday, only 32.6 percent of S&P 500 stocks were above 50-day moving average, earlier having dropped to 29.8 percent on Wednesday. This compares to 22 percent on June 27 (orange arrow in Chart 1) when the S&P … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of September 13, 2016. 10-year note: More and more, we are beginning to hear from commentators – both professional and in media – that major central banks are increasingly hesitant about … Continued
In its rather brief history going back to January 1990, out of 6,725 sessions, there have only been 10 times when spot VIX jumped 40 percent or higher in a single session. That is how rare it is! Last Friday … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of September 6, 2016. 10-year note: Is the ECB reaching the end of the stimulus rope? This is not a consensus thinking, but the bank may very well be trying to … Continued
At first glance, major U.S. equity indices are at/near all-time highs, with suppressed volatility. Amid this tranquility, the cost of protection is on the rise, and hedge funds’ net shorts in VIX futures are taking an increasing share of open … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of August 30, 2016. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: Prior to this week, after hawkish comments from several FOMC members, it looked like the August jobs report was the sole make-or-break data … Continued
Of late, there is a spring in small-caps’ step. Can it be sustained? In August, the Russell 2000 small cap index (1239.91) jumped 1.6 percent, even as the S&P 500 large cap index inched down 0.1 percent and the Dow … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of August 23, 2016. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: In the Greenspan era, traders did not have to deal with the kind of mixed messages they do today. Back then, the message … Continued
There is something interesting going on in the land of put-to-call ratios. Of late, the CBOE put-to-call ratio has diverged from the ISEE index, all equity. In Chart 1, the latter is inverted, as it is a call-to-put ratio. First … Continued