Business

Update: Reuters chimes in with its own headline, saying the discussion was brief, without broad support.

•  SOME ECB RATE SETTERS RAISED POSSIBILITY OF RATE HIKES BEFORE END QE, DISCUSSION WAS BRIEF, WITHOUT BROAD SUPPORT - SOURCES

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The EURUSD spiked, European stocks faded gains, and German Bund futures tumbled to session lows following B loomberg report that the ECB has discussed whether the central bank can hike rates before the end of QE.

The market is looking increasingly ugly.

Stocks are a lot like a body of water. Anyone can see where the surface level is… but what’s occurring underneath is much more difficult to observe.

Well, today the “surface” stock level looks great: the S&P 500 is a mere 1.9% off its all-time record high. The world has gone stock crazy with retail investors POURING money into the markets like it’s 1999 all over again.

Unfortunately for them, some truly nasty stuff is going on underneath the surface of the market.

While we suggested that the lack of a solid rebound in average hourly wages clouded the Fed's intentions on future rate hikes after March, Goldman had no such doubts and in a report issued moments after the "solid jobs report", Goldman's chief economist Jan Hatzius revised his forecast for upcoming FOMC moves, pulling forward the next two rate hikes, expecting interest rate increases in March, June and September, up from the previous March, September and December.

With the SEC decision to approve a Bitcoin ETF looming, the payrolls data-inspired weakness in the USD appears to have sparked a sudden panic bid in Bitcoin, spiking the virtual currency to $1305 - new record highs.

Hard to say if someone 'knows' something about the SEC decision or this is a kneejerk to the dollar drop...

While the headline print for payrolls beat economists' expectations, it failed to beat the whisper number (and earnings were weak) and it appears traders are fading the media's exuberance...

Payrolls printed 235k vs 200k expectations (but was only in line with the whisper number of 235-240k) and earnings disappointed... the result appears to be "sell the news" in the dollar...

And gold is back above $1200..

As Bond yields leak lower...