European stocks are steady in post-Christmas trading if struggling for traction after a mixed session in Asia, amid trading thinned by a holiday-shortened week and ongoing worries about the tech sector; however a strong rally in commodities - including copper and oil - buoyed expectations for a strong 2018 and helped offset concerns over the technology sector triggered by reports of soft iPhone X demand.
Just two weeks ago, Bank of America's Chief Investment Strategist Michael Hartnett came out with what was more or less the most apocalyptic big bank forecast for the coming year. In it, he predicted that the market would not only peak in the first half of 2018, and that there would be a flash crash "a la 1987/1994/1998" in just a few months.
First Fact….The Nasdaq tech train trend is up and has NOT derailed at this time, nor has it slowed down!
Below looks at the Nasdaq Composite index over the past 20-years-
CLICK ON CHART TO ENLARGE
Last week, when equities were still blissfully hitting daily record highs, we showed the one "chart that everyone is talking about", or if they weren't they soon would be: the sharp, sudden disconnect between the junk bond and stock market ...
... a disconnect which - as we showed at the time - was last observed in mid-August 2015, just days before the infamous ETFlash crash. Fast forward to day, with stocks suddenly hitting air pockets around the globe and rapidly catching down to junk yields...
Authored by Peter Tchir via Academy Securities,
When Reality and Sentiment Diverge
The Hopium versus Doomium Model
We are initiating the Hopium vs. Doomium model today. I first came across the word Hopium in the aftermath of the financial crisis. It was typically used by ‘doomers’ who believed markets were far ahead of themselves and were betting on hope rather than reality.