Following two days of rangebound moves, where Monday's modest market rebound was undone by the Tuesday just as modest decline (despite the early surge higher on the latest "bullish for stocks" European terrorism), overnight equity action continued to be more of the same, and as of this moment S&P 500 futures were unchanged, while European stocks were modestly higher.
Earlier today Fed President Evans said this "I think the economic fundamentals [of the US] are really quite good." As the following three charts show, there is only one thing that looks "quite good" and it is not 'economic fundamentals'...
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans says “we expect 2016 growth will be 2 to 2.5 percent and I think the fundamentals are really quite good for the economy going forward.”
First it was five weeks; then it was six straight weeks; then a whopping seven weeks of selling in a row even as the market rose 1.1% higher. And now, in an unprecedented for a bear market rally move, the "smart money", i.e., BofA's hedge funds, institutional, and private clients, havbe sold stocks for a whopping 8 consecutive weeks.
Submitted by David Stockman via Contra Corner blog,
Simple Janet should have the decency to resign. The Fed’s craven decision last week to punt on interest rate normalization is not merely a reminder that she is clueless and gutless; we already knew that much.
This morning's Brussels bomb attacks have led to risk-off sentiment across European asset classes, with Bunds higher and equities firmly in the red, although if the Paris terrorist attacks of November are any indication, today's tragic events may be just the catalyst the S&P500 needs to surge back to all time highs. FX markets have also been dominated by events in Brussels, with USD and JPY strengthening, while EUR and GBP softening throughout the European morning.