Terrible housing data for the second day in a row, debt ceiling fears surging in bill markets, chaos in the energy complex as Hurricane Harvey nears landfall, more McConnell-Trump turmoil... and while stocks were lower, only Trannies really dropped... The market said...
Debt Ceiling Default Doubts continue to surge...
Trannies were worst again but Small Caps managed gains...
Futures show what an odd day it was - algos lifted equity futures bit by bit overnight into the cash open and then stocks were dumped... and then when Europe closed, buying resumed...
Trannies also remain the only major index lower on the week...
Trannies closed in the red for 2017...
After Europe closed, S&P and VIX traded in a very narrow range...
S&P remains below its 50DMA...
Nasdaq VIX ended the day lower (after jumping higher in early going) as did Russell 2000 VIX...
FANG Stocks fell once again, but dip-buyers charged back in as Europe closed...
The AMZN headlines (cutting prices at Whole Foods) slammed the Packaged Foods index...
Food retailers led declines after Hormel and JM Smucker results missed estimates and Amazon said it would start cutting prices at Whole Foods locations next week, sending stocks like United Natural Foods, Kroger and Costco lower; the merger is expected to close Monday.
Treasury yields rose modestly on the day
30Y yields are outperforming on the week...
The Dollar Index rose modestly on the day (though its range was very small), but remains lower on the week...
On the week, cable was weakest and the Loonie was strongest against the dollar...
Bitcoin extended gains off Tuesday's lows as the civil war officially ended today...
Gold slipped lower by a few bucks but remains in a narrow range for last few days...
As Hurricane Harvey looks set to hammer Texas and shut in refining and production capacity, we note WTI is down (presumably refiners offline meaning less demand) as RBOB jumps over 3% (less supply from refiners)
Hurricane Harvey set to hit the refinery hub of the U.S. where some 45% of capacity is located. The closing of production facilities in preparation for the storm has reduced the need for raw product resulting in a lack of demand for raw crude.
And the Gasoline-WTI crack has spiked...
Finally, we note that for the first time since May, AAII sees more bears than bulls...
Which is odd since total assets in bear market funds just crashed to a record low...