One of these bubbles is not like the others, one of these bubbles just doesn't belong... and yet still "officials" and talking-heads proclaim it cheap...
Still think that China's stock market is "stable" at these levels?
Source: Bloomberg
They tried to slam VIX (and failed). JPY was sold (but failed). And Crude was temporarily ramped (but failed). So how do you stall a sell-off - BREAK THE MARKET AGAIN!!
Becuase if oine thing stops selling... it's stopping retail from trading entirely.
But will it work?
Just as we saw in the August collapse, US financial stocks appear to be facing the harsh reality that other markets already recognize. While US financial credit markets have been anything but exuberant for weeks, equity options markets have now turned their bullish backs on the banks as Bloomberg reports the ratio of bearish to bullish options on the S&P Financials ETF has climbed to the highest level in a year this week, reflects rising demand for protection against losses as NIM hopes collapse and Fed "error" probabilities increase.
The FOMC Minutes hardly rang loudly and proudly of the strong economy that warrants rate hikes... and crude is tumbling.
Last month, in what will likely be viewed in hindsight as an ill-fated attempt to begin the long and painful process of normalizing monetary policy, the Fed "went there." Janet Yellen raised rates.
Investors were meant to take solace in the FOMC's use of the term "gradual" to describe the trajectory for rates going forward, as well as from the apparent unanimity, but as is becoming more clear with each passing week, "liftoff" was a policy mistake and may well go down as the worst timed rate hike in history.