5k on the SPX is now within spitting distance. US equity markets caught a bid pre-open this morning and never looked back (though couldn’t quite eek out the 5k, closing at 4995.05). The reason behind the move higher wasn’t overtly obvious, though a strong 10y auction served to ease investors’ fears. Beyond that, there were no major macro headlines overnight/in the morning, and while there was a storm of earnings, none of them were significant enough to make a massive difference to overall marke…

Take me to church

T’was the night of the Grammy’s and all was calm, as long as you didn’t have the prior program on…the one-eyed network known as C B S, interviewed our fed chair and deprived us of good rest……I rhyme that to point out where today’s woes began, not the Grammy’s but the 60minutes interview, when the Fed’s Jerome Powell gave pushback towards a March rate cut during the weekly program. As witnessed in today’s action, Powell’s commentary did not offer a bolstering narrative towards a March cut as US…

In a week with a laundry list of micro and macro data points, it was Meta that stole the show. Shares of the tech behemoth rose 20.3% today in the biggest one-day gain of market value ($197bn) by any company on the back of its blockbuster earnings report (Happy Friday Zuckerberg!). Amazon lent a hand in today’s rally as well after an early wobble due to a blowout NFP number (353k v 185k surveyed). Yields jumped on the news (you say surprise, yields say how high). It’s worth grabbing a shovel an…

The stars aligned in all facets for markets today as dovish economic data, a dovish pivot from the BoE, a handful of decent earnings and high hopes for mega cap tech earnings, as well as speculation of a ceasefire in Gaza, turned Wednesday’s frown upside down. The S&P, RTY and CCMP all spiked around 130bps, while Oil and the DXY fell (the former fell 3.5% below $79). The 10yr dropped small – about 5bps. In terms of the data, weekly claims of 224k were 10k above expectations and US Unit Labor C…

The grains of sand in the hourglass are running thin, but it looks like they may have to last an extra 42 days now before we reach the first of key interest rate cuts from the Fed… Market participants may be adjusting their clocks accordingly after Powell’s presser today seemed to have moved the goal post back from March 20 to May 1. Initially, price action in US markets was cautious, but mostly muted leading up to the FOMC event today as Tech and the inability to outshine lofty expectation…

Yesterday’s quarterly Treasury borrowing report was not enough to keep the ALL-TIME HIGH streak going for main US indexes. US stocks floundered in the face of big tech earnings with semiconductor companies taking the brunt of the sell off. Concerns over Advanced Micro Devices (-4.1%) going into this afternoon’s earnings rippled through the sector as traders questioned the high valuations. Focus will be on AMD’s revenue forecasts for 2024 especially after Intel Corp (-2.1%) and Texas Instruments…

As quoted in Reuters “next week is “the largest ‘event-risk’ week ahead in recent memory,” Nomura strategist Charlie McElligott”. Well…Charlie spot on, according to Bloomberg, this week is being coined the “busiest this season” from macro data read throughs to single stock earnings that can sway markets in either direction. With that said, shall the MELT UP continue?The SPX fluctuated near ATH’s during majority of Monday’s trading session however markets rallied even further as the US Treasury…

Another point for Team Goldilocks in today’s PCE print with the headline number holding steady and a modest dip in core. Viewed in conjunction with yesterday’s robust GDP growth, a week of new highs for indices, and a curiously quiet macro backdrop, the grind higher was ground to a halt. Equities took a bit of a breather (though still just off best levels) in largely range bound trading, while yields rose across the curve. Oil caught a bid into the close with the energy sector up 5% on the week…

“New highs are bullish” is the familiar refrain, and the S&P 500 has been whistling that tune every day since it finally broke (and closed) through the 4818 level last Friday. Investors have a positive outlook currently on the economy, and of the Fed’s intent, and today’s data supported the soft landing/ no landing outcome they are looking for. GDP today (Q4 advanced) was 3.3%, higher than the 2% expected. Personal Consumption of 2.8% also was a beat, and the quarterly PCE index component remai…