Business

After attempting a valeant, pardon the poor pun, Leap Day surge to close green for the month, a bout of late day selling resulted in the S&P500 closing just red for the month following a dramatically turbulent January, a continuation of the disappointing post Fed hike price action; indeed as noted earlier for global equities, February was the 4th consecutive month in which stocks declined and in many cases continued their presence in bear market territory.

Gold Rose Another 10% In February – Best Month Since January 2012

Gold bullion rose 10.1% in February adding to the 7% gains seen in January. This means that gold is the best performing asset this year, up 17% so far in 2016. Silver is the next best performing asset with an 8% gain year to date, followed by US Treasuries (30 Year Bond) which have gained 7.8% so far in 2016.

Don’t look now, but Barclays just joined the chorus of European banks reporting horrific results.

Shares plunged by double-digits on Tuesday after the bank said it swung to a £1.9 billion pre-tax loss in Q4 and moved to cut the dividend and shed its African subsidiary.

• Trump, Clinton poised for big wins on Super Tuesday (Reuters)
• U.S. Index Futures Signal Equities to Rebound After Monthly Drop (BBG)
• Barclays Plummets as Bank Slashes Dividend in Plan to Shrink (BBG)
• Glencore Tumbles to Loss, Promises Accelerated Debt Reduction (WSJ)
• The Angry Americans: Trump, Sanders and the Aftershocks of 2008 (BBG)
• Euro sinks as weak data piles pressure on European Central Bank (Reuters)
• China's PMI Reports Show Slowdown Deepening as Services Slip (BBG)

With markets happy to put February in the history books because it marked the fourth consecutive monthly decline in global stocks, we move on to March 1st, which doubles down as 'Super Tuesday' in the US when Trump's presidential candidacy will almost certainly be sealed and a day in which stocks decided to join the super fun by super surging overnight on nothing but bad global macro and economic which however was promptly ignored and instead the focus was on ongoing central bank intervention and even more jawboning.