Tit for Tat

Futures tanked overnight on news of Israel’s rocket attack on Iran, only to recover all their losses as we go to press. The latest retaliation is being characterized as a tit for tat. But it’s easy to imagine the Plunge Protection Team working overtime to calm markets by hammering VIX and WTI back down from … continue reading →

Update on Gold & Silver: Apr 17, 2024

Gold and silver both came within 1% of our upside targets for them earlier this week. With inflationary pressures once again top of mind, have they exhausted their upside potential?  We’ll update our long-term forecasts this morning. continued for members… … continue reading →

Retail Sales’ Strong Beat

Retail sales came in roughly double the Street’s estimates at 0.7% versus consensus of 0.3-0.4%. Ex-auto was just as strong: 1.1% versus 0.5% consensus. Combined with an Empire State Manufacturing index disappointment of -14.3 versus -6.0 expected, futures sold off for all of 30 seconds or so before rebounding to higher highs. The retail sales … continue reading →

Premature Escalation

As we suspected, Wednesday’s lows weren’t enough to generate a sustainable bounce. We’re seeing the aftermath of that premature technical bounce this morning. Our long held bearish position on EURUSD, for instance, is finally gathering a little momentum.The challenge for bears remains SPX’s 50-day moving average, currently at 5105. If VIX can remain below 18.50, … continue reading →

PPI: Lower Than Expected

In contrast to yesterday’s CPI print, PPI came in below estimates at 0.2% headline and core. Futures erased their sharp overnight losses which saw them nail our next downside target and now point to modest gains. A bounce here would be more convincing if SPX were to also reach its 50-day moving average. continued for … continue reading →

Inflation Heads Higher: Apr 10, 2024

March CPI came in at 0.4% MoM for both headline and core (versus 0.3% expectations for both), hotter than expected for the second month in a row.  YoY headline registered at 3.5% versus expectations of 3.4% and 3.2% in February and core came in at 3.8% (unchanged from February) versus expectations of 3.7%. As we … continue reading →

Charts I’m Watching: Apr 8, 2024

Futures are up modestly as traders look ahead to this week’s important data dumps: FOMC minutes and CPI on Wednesday, initial claims and PPI on Thursday, and Friday’s U of Michigan consumer sentiment. continued for members… … continue reading →

Another Blowout Jobs Report

NFP came in at 303K vs 200K estimates, a huge beat which, combined with a decline in the unemployment rate, argues against any near term rate cuts. ES is all over the map this morning, but has given up much of its overnight ramp and is approaching our next downside target. With CPI coming out … continue reading →