NASDAQ

The Nasdaq was so desperate to rush and "fix" itself, somehow in the process it forgot all about the NBBO and that the bid has to be below the ask.

Spoke to Tim. Planning dinner in September. Tim believes in buyback and is doing one. What will be discussed is magnitude.

— Carl Icahn (@Carl_C_Icahn) August 22, 2013

NASDAQ intends to re-open trading in all Tape C securities with a 15-minute quote only period. All stale quotes have been cleared from the UTP SIP at this time and halts have been disseminated with a reason code of T6. NASDAQ will first re-open trading in symbols ZVZZT and AAIT with a 15-minute quoting period beginning at 14:30, with trading beginning at approximately 14:45. All other securities will then be released at 14:55 with a 15-minute quote only period with trading resuming at approximately 15:10. NASDAQ will not be cancelling open orders on the book prior to a re-open. Customers who wish to cancel their orders may do so and any customer who wishes to not participate in the re-opening should cancel their orders prior to the resumption of trading.

While we somewhat ironically tweeted of the possibility that AAPL breaking back below the mythical $500 level was indeed responsible for the NASDAQ breaking...

Ok, who sold AAPL and broke the NASDAQ?

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 22, 2013

Well a glance at the following charts shows from Nanex that may well have been the case as the chaos in the market during that time was extreme to say the least...

With US equity market trading basically halted, the world has turned to Chicago and is 'hedging' stocks. Bonds are also being sold with 5Y having just hit 1.70%.

First it was BATS self-helping against NYSE Arca, now it's Nasdaq's turn to break. Joking aside, AAPL dipped below $500 literally minutes before the NASDAQ broke. We joked earlier when we said any selling is enough to break the market. Now, we are not so sure...

Equity, bond, and FX markets appeared to go into hibernation once Europe closed as ranges (and volume) were very low for most of the day. Stocks opened modestly green, snapped lower (on what seems to be an avalanche of 'erroneous' options trades from Goldman which were later DK'ed) then lifted (most notably the Dow - which dipped below 15,000) up to yesterday's highs until Europe closed. Sectors moved in a highly correlated manner along the same path but once 1130ET hit, the S&P 500 traded in 3-4pt range for the rest of the day.  Treasuries were similar though they rallied notably during the European day session (as EU sold off) then flat-lined in 1bps range for the rest of the day. Of course, all that changed in the final minutes of the day as all the major indices came under pressure (with Trannies and Nasdaq leading), VIX reversed higher, and the Dow closed red!

This morning's debacle in the options pit appears - just as we noted - to be due to Goldman Sachs 'erroneous' trades:

• *GOLDMAN MAY LOSE AS MUCH AS $100M ON ERRONEOUS TRADES: FT

But, as we also noted earlier, unlike Knight (which was wiped out when its market-making algos went rogue), in Goldman's case:

• *GOLDMAN SAYS 'WORKING WITH EXCHANGES' TO RESOLVE OPTIONS ISSUE

They get everything DK'ed...

Treasury bond yields have risen for 5 of the last 6 days (with the 7Y yield up 35bps in that period) adding 5bps today but since the latest cluster of Hindenburg Omens began to appear, the S&P 500 has fallen for 9 or the last 11 days (-3.6% from the 08/02 highs) and closed below its 50DMA today (on light volume). Today saw 430 new lows (the second highest since Oct 2011) and only 15 new highs. The S&P joined the Dow and the Trannies in the red for the period post-FOMC (June); and only Healthcare, Discretionary, and Industrials remain green from that 6/19 event. The USD ended the day practically unchanged but FX markets were very volatile (AUD and JPY all over the place in the majors and INR in the locals). Commodities in general slid lower by around 0.7% or so in a relativley highly correlated way with stocks. Credit markets continue to underperform, leading stocks lower. VIX was banged back above 15% to its highest close in 7 weeks. Today was the 4th negative close in a row for the S&P - the first time this year.

The cluster of Hindenburgs is indicating a very worried market (for example 99 New Highs and 231 New Lows) and for a change a Fed speaker was unable to provide the headline-reading BTFD ammo to save us from the drop in stocks. The 6th down day in the last 8 in stocks and red on the month-to-date screens is not something we are used to seeing. The USD was flat to slightly lower on the day (even as AUD surged and JPY leaked higher) as were Treasury yields (which took a pause after 2 days of being smashed higher). While bonds were flatish, homebuilders and utilities stocks were jammed lower once again (as AAPL pulled Tech and the Nasdaq to outperform again). Copper and oil were also flat on the day but gold saw some improvement (over $1330) and Silver surged 2% (up over 6% on the week now - biggest week since Oct 2011). Yesterday's near-record steepness in VIX's term structure that we warned about seems to have been followed by the usual short-end rip as VIX broke back above 13%.

• Vocal billionaire activist IRR - 150x: Icahn bought $1 billion of AAPL stock, seeks $150 billion buyback (BBG)
• BlackBerry Said to Have Sought Buyers Since 2012 (BBG) - for a phone or the entire company?
• IPhone Fingerprint Reader Talk Boosting Biometric Stocks (BBG) - also, the NSA will need to grow its Utah data center
• UPS Jet Crashes in Birmingham, Ala. (WSJ)
• America's Farm-Labor Pool Is Graying (WSJ)
• Hong Kong Lowers Storm Signal as Typhoon Closes on China (BBG)
• Indian submarine explodes in Mumbai port (FT)
• BofA Banker Sued by Regulator Later Joined Fannie Mae (BBG)
• Software that hijacks visits to YouTube uncovered (FT)
• Chinese Billionaire Huang Readies Iceland Bid on Power Shift (BBG)
• China to launch fresh pharmaceutical bribery probe (Reuters)
• Defeat at J.C. Penney Hurts Ackman as Performance Trails (BBG)

Intraday volatility remains extreme in almost every asset class. Today it was bonds and corn's turn as the former saw 7Y yields jump over 10bps (for the worst 2 days in 6 weeks on moar Taper talk) and the latter dropped 4% on the day to 3-year lows (on record crop expectations). Equity markets performed the now-ubiquitous intraday reversal as early shorting was squeezed back quickly to a green close. short-term VIX was smashed lower soon after the US open but faded back higher into the close to end around 12.5% (but the VIX term structure is now at 4 months steeps). FX markets were very active (JPY -2% and AUD -1% on the week) pulling the USD +0.75% but Treasuries have been battered (10Y near 2 year high yields) with 7Y adding 15bps this week (and Utility and homebuilder stocks have suffered the most). Gold dropped a little on the USD strength, silver stayed green and copper and oil were flat. Oh and Carl Icahn tweeted and pulled Tech and the Nasdaq to outperform.

Aside from an opening short-squeeze that saw 'most-shorted' stocks surge 0.8% in the first 15 minutes of the day, stocks did very little for the rest of the day. Ranges were extremely narrow with whatever lift stocks got based on small AUDJPY (carry) sparks but the Dow and S&P end the day red (Nasdaq and Russell 2000 green). Nasdaq was driven by AAPL exuberance (what no a new iPhone model??) which grabbed the Tech sector to the best peformance on the day. Utes were the biggest losers as rates reversed early gains and Treasury yields (especially 30Y) surged 6-7 bps from their per-open low yields. The big story was precious metals as Silver and Gold surged on the day. Silver is now up over 9% in the last 3 days - its best run in 22 months. Interestingly, VIX was pushed notably lower on the day (but it appears investors are moving hedges further out in time - to September). Credit notably underperformed. Today was all about pre- and post-Europe (as normal).

The best returning asset class traded in the NY Metro area is yellow but doesn't change hands on Wall Street. As ConvergEx's Nick Colas notes, over the last 12 months New York City taxi medallions have risen 49% in price, besting the relatively humdrum returns of the S&P 500 (up 21%), the NASDAQ (22%) and the Dow (18%).  Medallions – essentially the right to operate a for-hail taxi in New York City – now trade for as much as $1.3 million, an all-time record.    Part of this dynamic is fixed supply – there are just 13,336 medallions available for a city of 8.3 million people.  There is also a macroeconomic point, with a stronger NYC economy for those inhabitants who can afford the service.  The more surprising observation, however, is that new technology in the form of in-car credit card machines and more recently smartphone hailing apps both materially increase the value of owning a medallion.  In a world where every technology is deemed “Disruptive”, here’s a case where the status quo has actually reaped much of the reward.

It is well-known that as part of the S&P500's ascent to new records, investor margin debt has also surged to all time highs, surpassing for the past three months previous records set during both prior, the dot com and the housing, stock market bubbles. And as more attention has shifted to the topic of speculator leverage once more, inquiries into the correlation between bets upon bets and stock performance are popping up once more, in this case in a study by Deutsche Bank titled "Red Flag! - The curious case of NYSE margin debt." Of particular note here is a historical comparison of margin-debt warnings that have recurred throughout history but especially just before major stock bubble crashes, such as in the period 1999/2000, 2007/2008 and of course today, which have time and again been ignored. Here is what was said then, what is being said now, and what is ignored always.