S&P 500

Global stocks have started Friday the 13th on the wrong foot, with not only Hong Kong GDP unexpectedly tumbling by 0.4%, the worst print in years while retail sales fell for a thirteenth straight month in March, the longest stretch since 1999 as the Chinese hard landing spreads to the wealthy enclave, but also following a predicted collapse in Chinese new loan creation, which will reverberate not only in China but around the globe in the coming weeks.

Submitted by David Stockman via Contra Corner blog,

Tuesday’s spasm of machine rage begs a question. After the S&P 500 has chopped sideways for 600 days in no man’s land either side of 2060, and given the baleful headwinds now gathering from all points in the global economy, there is absolutely no reason to stay in the casino.

If yesterday's selloff had a specific catalyst, namely some of the worst consumer retail earnings seen in years, it merely undid the Tuesday rally which levitated global risk with no fundamental driver, aside for a 200 pip spike in the USDJPY.  Some central bankers may even say it was a "magical" levitation.

Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,

Over the past two weeks we observed two curious, vol-related phenomena.

First, it was Tom DeMark cautioning that even as stocks have surged, the amount of VXX shares outstanding has soared to record highs, a seemingly contradictory confluence of events because it suggested that investors, traditionally "going with the market flow", are betting on a major vol reversal and furthermore the move contradicts historical shifts in VXX holdings at times of extreme market upside.