It was perhaps inevitable that the latest Remdesivir puff piece would hit mere seconds before the (not coincidentally) delayed and (even more) disastrous -4.8% GDP (vs -3.5% expectations) print.

At -7.8%, personal consumption dropped more than it has in 40 years.But, pay no attention to the crumbling economy.  Remdesivir! (which killjoy Scott Gottlieb reminds us is not a cure and peer-reviewed research presented in The Lancet reminds us has no net benefit versus a placebo.)

In this study of adult patients admitted to hospital for severe COVID-19, remdesivir was not associated with statistically significant clinical benefits.

The net effect: a 73-pt (so far) ramp job off the after-hours lows on a day when it’s hard to imagine what more the FOMC might do to push stocks even higher.  How do you improve on “whatever it takes?”For those who missed it, CNBC’s interview with former Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher was quite interesting. The highlight was his prediction that the Fed’s balance sheet expansion is targeting $10 trillion. As a frame of reference, the market cap of the entire S&P 500 at the end of March was $21.4 trillion.  Japan, here we come.

continued for members…

The bigger picture for ES…

…and SPX’s version: VIX still has the SMA100 just below current levels and a slew of Fibs and channel lines just below that. In other words – lots of potential support in the 27.27-28.63 range with the SMA200 down at 22.79.CL continues its uninspiring meltup……and RB narrowly avoided a bearish 10/20 cross and is headed for its 8th interaction with the white channel top. We might get another chance to short at .78, but watch for a break out.USDJPY bounced off the falling red channel/trend line as it usually does on FOMC days……while DXY stalls again… …on another EURUSD threat to break above its SMA10.GC continues to hold above its IH&S target.On the bond front, the 2s10s dipped as low as 38.5 bps early this morning, reversing off the yellow trend line. This was the less bearish of the two bearish outcomes, but bearish all the same. This was driven both by the 2Y dropping as low as 17.5 bps… …and, the 10Y holding its recent lows at around 58 bps.

Without going deeply into the weeds, the .618 continues to shape up as a strong turning point, with May 5-7 looking like the resulting low.

Aside from the 2pm Fed decision, we have pending home sales coming out at 10:00AM and EIA inventory data at 10:30AM.

UPDATE:  10:50 AM

Ugly inventory report, but no surprise. RB should be shorted here for .69, .63 or .58, while CL will probably slip a little higher to test 17.12 or 17.58.  Above that, we have the white channel bottom at 20.54ish and the 2016 low at 26.05. UPDATE:  11:11 AM

SPX just reached 2933.93, a great place for traders to try their hand at a short. Note that ES is still a few points away.The risk is that VIX plunges through its SMA100. It would help a lot if USDJPY could drop through 106.20……and CL could reverse anywhere between here and 17.58.UPDATE:  3:25 PM

SPX/ES continue melting up post Powell’s presser – which revealed nothing new, though he admitted in public that unless they own a house or lots of stocks, savers are screwed. The Remdesivir rally continues.  I still see no reason not to short here.