U.S. index futures point to a slightly higher open, as markets in both Europe and Asian fall.The EUR surges to one year highs as markets continue to reverberate from Draghi's hawkish comments while yields rose around the globe following similar hawkish comments from Fed speakers on Tuesday.
Throughout the first half of the year, as stocks kept grinding ever higher and Goldman issued one after another bearish equity strategy note, the bank's chief equity analyst David Kostin stubbornly kept Goldman's S&P price target at 2,300. Now, "unexpectedly" with stocks finally cracking with some violent moves in the tech sector after repeated warnings by top Fed bankers that stock "valuations are too rich", moments ago Kostin just raised Goldman's year end price target from 2,300 to 2,400. "reflecting a 1% decline over the next six months."
Authored by Shaun Bradley via TheAntiMedia.org,
We are already unquestionably living in the era of the quantitative fund: Not only are quant funds receiving a larger percentage of new investor money than their discretionary peers, but as JPM Morgan’s head quant noted earlier this month, passive and quantitative funds now account for about 60% of equity assets, compared with less than 30% a decade ago.
Indeed, the chart below confirms what JPM already revealed: "for now, systematic traders are the dominating force in markets."
Chinese factory activity contracted last month for the first time in nearly a year when the Caixin PMI dipped below 50, the threshold for growth. And now, early indicators for the month of June – including one satellite-based measure - suggest that there’s more pain ahead for the manufacturing sector in the world’s second-largest economy.