Not only are short volatility bets at their peak...
The number of VIX futures contracts outstanding has never been higher...
As Bloomberg notes, the gauge of U.S. stock turbulence has more than 660,000 contracts outstanding, surpassing every previous high.
While the measure is heading for a second day of gains, its slump this year has led to a surge of bets on where volatility will go.
One day after DoubleLine chief Jeff Gundlach told Bloomberg TV that it is time for investors to head for the exits as his highest conviction trade is "volatility is about to go up", and that he is reducing his positions in junk bonds, EM debt and other lower-quality investments on fears investor sentiment may roll over (explaining later to CNBC that he expects to make no less than 400% on his S&P puts) today two other money-managing titans - T.Rowe Price and Pimco - both issued similar warnings to investors, urging investors to start taking profits.
Buy The Fucking Fire And Fury (BTFFF)
Authored by Daniel Lacalle via The Mises Institute,
The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) has warned again of the collateral damages of extremely loose monetary policy. One of the biggest threats is the rise of “zombie companies.” Since the “recovery” started, zombie firms have increased from 7.5% to 10.5%. In Europe, BofA estimates that about 9% of the largest companies could be categorized as “walking dead.”
In the second quarter of the year, one in which unlike in Q1 fund flows showed a persistent and perplexing outflow from US stocks and into European and Emerging Markets, a trading desk rumor emerged that even as institutional traders dumped stocks and retail investors piled into ETFs, a "mystery" central bank was quietly bidding up risk assets by aggressively buying stocks.