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Morning Call Express: Oil Grease The Bears
In today’s Morning Call Express, Scott Redler talks about oil as it seems OPEC will reach a deal. He also reviews the chart of the SPX and how it looks as we move into the final month of the year. Scott also looks at the Energy ETF (XLE) and the clues that it was giving ahead of the OPEC meeting. He also looks at high beta tech names ans how they are looking.
Continue Reading -->What’s Happening: Anti-Trump?
Over the past couple of days, we’ve seen the big Trump trades start to reverse themselves a bit, with bonds rallying, financials falling, biotech dropping, and gold stabilizing. Bonds are up again today ahead of Yellen’s testimony, and odds are she’ll be asked about Donald Trump’s proposed economic policies. But since the Fed strives to appear apolitical, I doubt she’ll give anything concrete. Already this week, many Fed officials have been asked about Trump and many have been evasive, though there’s a growing consensus that Trump’s spending plans could give the Fed room to raise rates. The CBOE’s FedWatch Tool shows that traders are pricing in a 91% chance of a December rate hike. Oil is rallying on Saudi optimism regarding an OPEC deal. Yesterday, Russia offered similar vibes. OPEC reached a preliminary agreement back in September at the meeting in Algiers, but didn’t provide any details. Maybe it’s for real this time, but I wouldn’t count on anything until there’s an official announcement. Throughout 2016, we’ve seen a lot of false rumors and conflicting headlines, so try not to get too caught up in the chatter. Wal-Mart (WMT) is getting spanked on a same-store-sales miss, though Best Buy (BBY) is popping hard on a beat. Overall, markets feel compressed, which is a familiar theme this year. We get some exciting news (election, Brexit, etc.) following by a long string of back-and-forth nothingness as traders wait for something to happen. The VIX is at 13 and change, but 20-day realized volatility on SPX is at 10.6. So unless we get big moves soon, the VIX could easily drop back under 12.
Continue Reading -->Scott Redler’s Morning Call Express: Fourth Quarter, Fresh Start
In today’s Morning Call Express, Scott Redler talks about the tightening range in the SPX and what levels to be watching as we head into a new month and fourth quarter. He also looks at the XLE in light of OPEC as well as individual names like AMZN, FB and some new issues.
Continue Reading -->The Morning Hammer: Ahead of the Fed, Markets Show Fear
Global markets are rallying this morning as commodities rebound and the dollar retraces ahead of Wednesday’s big FOMC rate policy announcement. Traders are pricing in a mere 20% probability of a hike this Wednesday, so traders will mostly be looking for clues to see if the Fed moves in December. Europe is up nicely despite continued weakess in Deutsche Bank (DB) which is facing liquidity concerns due to the DoJ’s demand for a $14 billion payment to settle an MBS dispute. In Asia, the overnight interbank yuan rate skyrocketed amid speculation that China’s central bank is intervening to boost its currency. Traders are also shaking off terror concerns in New York City. Over the weekend, explosive devices were set off in New York City and Seaside Park, NJ. Another devices was found in Elizabeth, NY. Venezuelan President Maduro said OPEC members are close to reaching an agreement on stabilizing the market. However, such an announcement is likely not forthcoming at the September meeting next week. OPEC’s Secretary General said September is a “meeting of consultation and not of decision-making.” SPX futures are modestly positive this morning, much to the chagrin of the bears. Sentiment is leaning modestly bearish right now. As always, the bears say everyone’s bullish and the bulls say everyone’s bearish, but the numbers (which too many people ignore) are all over the place. The 10-day moving average of the ISE Sentiment Index is 91, which points to modest bearishness. The CBOE equity put-call is 0.65, which is about in-line with the 6-month average. The AAII sentiment survey shows that 27.9% of investors are bullish vs. a long-term average of 38.5%. The only data that really shows traders being complacent is the Investors Intelligence Survey, which shows that 49% of newsletter writers are bullish. So even though markets are just -2.5% off the highs, traders very quickly rushed to price in some downside. Volatility has returned to the market after 2 months of nothing, though we could end up in a holding pattern until Wednesday, which is not only has the Fed, but a Bank of Japan rate decision. There has already been chatter that the BoJ will go even further into negative rate territory. I’d love to get some excitement ahead of then, but I’m not counting on it.
Continue Reading -->The Apple Bounce, and 4 Other Things I’m Watching
1) Apple Bounces Apple (AAPL) is down but well off its morning low, which was driven by the EU tax ruling. The final verdict is unknown, but even in the worst case scenario, Apple may not feel a thing from a financial standpoint. The real significance, however, is seen in other tech names who have Ireland tax exposure: Facebook (FB) and Google (GOOGL) are off today. But for now this seems more like an excuse to take profits rather than an end-of-world scenario. An excuse may be enough though… 2) Crude Oil Crude oil is pretty weak today ahead of inventory numbers from the API (reported after the close today) and the EIA (tomorrow morning). Iraq will support an output freeze at next month’s OPEC meeting in Algeria, according to Prime Minister Abadi. However, what OPEC actually will do remains a mystery. A lot of traders got stung by OPEC’s failure to freeze production in June, and some folks are justifiably afraid of a repeat. 3) Biotech Biotech (IBB) is pretty listless today. I regularly harp on biotech’s importance to any serious bull move, but it does feel like it’s getting worn out. Check out the chart — IBB lost the 20 day and the 50 is coming up fast. 4) The Hawk Trade The big hawk trade is still going as Fed rate hike expectations have increased quite a bitver the past month. Gold is getting roughed up and the dollar’s in full rip mode. Active stock traders should be watching the Regional Banks ETF (KRE). It’s not nearly as followed as XLF, but it moves a heck of a lot more. 5) Dove Soup And on the flip side, the dove trades (utilities, Treasuries, housing) are coming under pressure. Like Jeff Cooper, I’m closely watching the junior gold miners (GDXJ). They’re still up 131% YTD, so if gold keeps flopping, the miners have an awful lot of room to drop. However, just be aware that these trades really can go anywhere. At the Brexit, traders were pricing in basically zero chance of a rate hike. Now they see 60% odds. Any big shifts in the broader markets or economic data could shake things up.
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