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The Morning Hammer: Japan Gets Us All Warmed Up for the Fed
The Japanese Nikkei and Topix indices had a great night after the Bank of Japan made its monetary policy announcement. The Bank did not go deeper into negative rates as had been rumored, but will instead focus on controlling rates and steepening the yield curve. A steeper yield curve means bigger profits for financial institutions, so Japanese banks and insurers are ripping. The yen is also rallying against major currencies. The Bank said it will focus on buying ETF’s that track the Topix rather than the Nikkei, which some traders expected. Europe also woke up on the BoJ news, with a huge rally in financials. The positivity is extending to the US, with SPX futures in positive territory. Today could be a big day for us with the Fed rate decision (2:00 p.m.) and press conference (2:30 p.m.). You can read my thoughts on the Fed here. Markets appear to be braced for no rate change and a hawkish statement. The anarchist in me actually hopes Barclays and BNP Paribas are correct in predicting the Fed will raise rates today, just to shake things up a bit and give us some more of the volatility we saw last week. The permabear in me thinks there’s a good chance the Fed doesn’t hike and actually backs down its hawkish chatter a bit. But I’m not going to roll the dice. I’m going to sit tight and wait for the dust to settle before committing to a view. We have crude oil inventories at 10:30 a.m. ET. The American Petroleum reported a large -7.5 million drop in US inventories overnight. Keep in mind that oil sold off hard after the past 2 weekly inventory reports, even though both were very bullish. It looks like traders are selling the rips ahead of the big OPEC meeting in Algiers. JP Morgan increased its Apple (AAPL) iPhone production estimates based on channel checks. That’s helping Apple a little bit. Credit Suisse is out saying European bank are cheap based on dividend yields and relative valuation. Fed day is obviously an anything goes day — especially with the BoJ in the mix — but I’d keep watching the usual suspects like the Russell 2000 and biotech (IBB). Biotech has been a big upside outlier the past couple days on a very positive news flow (drug approvals, takeovers), and it’s hard to break this market when biotech is doing well.
Continue Reading -->The Safety Dance Starts, but You Can’t Argue With Price
The yen is rising this morning on what looks like an advance “sell the news” reaction in advance of the Bank of Japan Meeting on July 28-29. Remember, the yen has been ripping all year: Most economists expect the bank to increase its ETF purchase prices, cut rates, and increase its JGB purchases, which could mean it’s all but priced in. The Nikkei is off -1.4% and most European markets are red. SPX futures are flat, and I’m surprised they’re not down more. Crude oil slumped under $43 and the key biotech sector is getting roughed up in the early going. Gilead (GILD), which is 8.1% off the IBB ETF, is taking a big hit on its disappointing earnings reports, and is off 4.3% in the early going. IBB is indicated down -0.9%. That’s not the end of the world, but we can all agree that things are just plain better when biotech keeps its act together. There have been 4 horsemen leading equities since the 2/11 low — biotech (IBB), oil, high-yield (HYG), and the Russell 2000. Biotech and oil are obviously feeling the heat. High-yield is closely linked to oil (since oil prices drive default rates on energy bonds). Here is a chart of the HYG ETF vs. crude oil over the past year: So we have 3 of the 4 in some kind of trouble. Therefore, keep your eyes on the Russell. If that starts giving up, maybe the bears will score a victory. Post-Brexit, they haven’t been been able to do much. I still see an April-May-style sideways grind for the time being. Markets are a little stretched and sentiment is positive, but you can’t argue with price. Frankly, with the yen up so much and oil now 15%+ from the high , I expected SPX futures to be down at a least a half-percent. But they’re flat. In other earnings news, industrial giant United Technologies (UTX) is up after beating. The economic calendar picks up a little bit today, with S&P Case-Shiller, Markit PMI, Consumer Confidence, Richmond Fed, and New Home Sales numbers coming. However, the big news comes after the close with Apple’s (AAPL) earnings report. Expectations appear to be pretty low, but remember, it takes a lot of money to move Apple, so they really need to deliver. Twitter’s (TWTR) also reporting, and given how much that stock has run since Microsoft (MSFT) bought LinkedIn (LNKD), it will be in close focus. Still not fan of that one. Good luck friends!
Continue Reading -->T3’s Take 3: Hillary Clinton Derails Pokémon Go Hype Train
Want to Boost Your Trading Skills? Click here to sign up for one of our FREE trading webinars ******** By Michael Comeau 1) US Dollar Kills Commodities The US dollar extended its rally today as traders are once again pricing in US rate hikes this year. Just after the Brexit, Fed Funds futures implied a mere 9% chance of a December rate hike. Those odds are now back up to 48%. At the same time, traders believe the Bank of Japan and European Central Bank will add more stimulus, which would push major currencies down against the dollar. The dollar’s rise sent oil, gold, and silver lower. The drop in oil drove some equity market profit-taking, and the S&P 500 fell -0.3% to 2168.48, though the Nasdaq and Russell 2000 did slightly better. Biotechnology was strong ahead of Gilead’s (GILD) after earnings report, even though some analysts warned Gilead could miss expectations. And after a week of going nowhere, the VIX rose 8%, implying that traders are starting to price in some actual potential downside. 2) Will the Gold Trap Continue? T3 Live’s Jeff Cooper seems to think so. This is what he told Daily Market Report subscribers this morning: It’s a Monday and another golden hammer. Last Wednesday, gold and miners had a breakaway gap to the downside followed by a sharp rebound on Thursday when GDXJ backtested its overhead 20 day. Today’s gap down looks like the second cheese will get the mouse for those looking for a more pronounced pullback. See daily GDXJ here from June with 20 day. 3) The Nintendo Hype Train Gets Derailed Nintendo shares doubled in less than 2 weeks after the release of its incredible popular Pokémon Go game. However, Nintendo collapsed 17% today after the company admitted that the game would not produce meaningful revenues, even though the game is so popular that some tech experts believe it is impacting the use of social media apps like Twitter (TWTR). On July 15, I mused that Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s awkward Pokémon Go joke was a sign that the craze was getting out of hand. Incidentally, Nintendo shares topped out the next day, and it’s all been downhill from there: With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, that looks like a perfect fad stock top!
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