S&P 500

Authored by Kevin Muir via The Macro Tourist blog,

As you may recall, I was mad at myself for not exiting my long Eurostoxx position into the Barron’s bullish cover article (Too Busy Patting Myself on the Back).

At that point, we had hit maximum European enthusiasm, and the next move was bound to disappoint. And although it has barely been two weeks since I wrote that piece, I am now returning to the long side of the Eurostoxx market. Let me tell you why.

Over the past several years we have repeatedly stated that despite protests to the contrary, the single biggest factor explaining the underperformance of the active community in general, and hedge funds in particular, has been the ubiquitous influence of the Fed and other central banks over the capital markets, coupled with the prevasive presence of quantitative strategies, HFTs, algo trading and more recently, a surge in price-indescriminate purchases by passive, ETF managers.

In a quiet overnight session, S&P 500 futures are fractionally in the green (2,426, +0.2%) with European and Asian stocks as oil drops second day after an initial ramp higher amid speculation that LIbya and Nigeria may be asked to cap their production. Nasdaq 100 Index are again higher, following the biggest daily advance in more than a week, up 0.4% as of 6:20 a.m. in New York.

When it comes to stock market performance this year, there’s no uniting the U.S. and Russia.

The S&P 500 and the Micex began the year at almost the same level, but equities in the former Soviet nation have tumbled amid losses in crude and evaporating optimism over the lifting of sanctions under U.S. President Donald Trump.

Spot the odd one out...

As the leaders of the G-20 met in Hamburg, equities in almost every other market in the group have risen.. but Russia has collapsed.

Authored by Lance Roberts via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

More Volatility – Still No Movement

Last week, I discussed the issue of “lot’s of volatility with little movement” stating: