It's not just the HFT industry that has cannibalized itself so much, while spooking regular traders out of the markets, there is hardly any revenue growth left (as the WSJ showed last week). After suffering a substantial drop in bank equity trading revenues over the past several years, there was hope that finally this key P&L items of sales and trading would post a modest pick up.
In a just released report from the CBO looking at the long-term US budget outlook, the budget office forecasts that both government debt and deficits are expected to soar in the coming 30 years, with debt/GDP expected to hit 150% by 2047 if the current government spending picture remains unchanged.
The CBO's revision from the last, 2016 projection, shows a marked deterioration in both total debt and budget deficits, with the former increasing by 5% to 146%, while the latter rising by almost 1% from 8.8% of GDP to 9.6% by 2017.
Moments ago, all three main US FX pairs, the yen, euro and yuan snapped higher, following a CNBC report according to which the Trump administration is studying ways to penalize countries whose currencies it believes are undervalued. CNBC cited two unidentified people with direct knowledge of the review who work within the administration.
Asian shares and oil are lower, European shares are little changed, and S&P futures are fractionally in the red after gaining for most of the overnight session, perhaps troubled by warnings from two Fed presidents who warned that markets and valuations appear frothy, and the Federal Reserve may have to raise rates more times than currently forecast. The latest round of Fed hawkishness helped the dollar gain further after recent losses which earlier this week pushed it to 4 month lows.
Over the past dew days, Bloomberg market commentator Mark Cudmore has been decidedly skeptical of any rebound observed in US stocks, and overnight he did not change his sentiment despite what some have said is an attempt for the reflation rally to reassert itself. In a note titled "Why I Don’t Believe in This U.S. Equities Bounce" he explains why, giving seven reasons why despite stocks seemingly poised for a third day of gains, he refuses to BTD and chase the latest rally.
From Bloomberg