The stage is set for today before the open when we get Fed Chairnam, Jay Powell. The equity market is looking for more easy money. Average inflation targets seem to be the words of the week, now that yield curve control is out. The market is looking for some signal that the Fed is going to get easier when it has its September FOMC meeting. I don’t see that happening.
I don’t see how Powell will get up there and say something that hints at a monetary policy change that is likely to take place in September. After all, the economy is on the mend, times are good, that’s what I read at least. Remember, the stock market and the economy have nothing to do with each other. There is fantasy land, and then there is reality. Why does the Fed need to do more when stocks are at record highs, and corporate and treasury bond markets seem to be more than fine?
I keep reading about the rise of inflation, after all, isn’t that the reason why Gold and Lumber are soaring. Right? So why in the world would Powell need to introduce something new here to spur inflation, even more. It makes no sense.
Of course, I’m a wise ass. You know why? Because you can’t have it both ways. You can have stock and commodity prices soaring because inflation is coming and everyone is getting ahead of it. At the same time, cry for easier monetary policy to spur inflation. Which one is it? Do we need inflation or not?
S&P 500
The S&P 500 surged again, by another 1%, with the ETF (NYSE:SPY) hitting an RSI of 77.3. Meanwhile, the advance-decline continues to decline, and the ETF hit up against the upper end of the trading channel. So these are bearish warning signs. Could it go higher? Of course. After all I thought the upside was limited when we were around 3,390, and now we are 2.5% higher. Is this within my average margin of error? Yes. So am I wrong? You can decide, it doesn’t matter to me if I get the next 10 to 15% correct.
I have hesitated to call an S&P 500 break out, for one reason, the chart of the SPY. It never confirmed the break out that the futures and cash market was showing.
I can tell you that I am not the only one worried about a significant drawdown beginning. Yesterday in the options, there was a significant risk reversal trade I saw across multiple big-cap technology names. I’m not getting into here, because it was complex. Basically someone who is long stocks like Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), etc. is hedging their positions.
Salesforce
How can a company have had one of its best quarters ever and the very next day announce job cuts? Seems strange. Also, did anyone notice how Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) just raised their full-year guidance by basically how much the second quarter beat was? Anyway. The stock went up 25%, so what do I know.
Netflix
Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) went up 10% on NO news yesterday. There was an awful lot of call buying for Friday’s expiration. It seems like one of those Gamma days, where the call buying results in dealers have to buy the stock to hedge, and the more the stock goes up, the more dealers have to buy. The put to call ratio yesterday in the stock was 0.34, lol, the casino was open.
Roku
Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU) was up 11% after Citigroup (NYSE:C) initiated it with a buy and $180 price target. It stopped where it should around $169.
Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) rose by 8.6% on NO news. LOL. I mean, this is just ridiculous. I’m sorry.
What's the saying bulls and bears something, something, but pig’s get slaughtered.