The 2nd worst week of the year (2nd only to Cyprus) for US equities was accompanied by Treasury buying as the JPY carry trade unwind continues in every risky-or-'yieldy' product. On an admittedly low volume day (typically good for a magical levitation in stocks), Treasury markets closed the day unchanged (and 30Y bonds ended the week unchanged). Stocks bounced after testing yesterday's intraday lows but intriguingly (Mrs. Watanabe?) it was Utilities that were the hardest hit sector on the day as stocks fell back rapidly after bonds closed finding balance at VWAP. The JPY strength weighed on the USD as it fell 0.7% on the week with gold and silver both up notably relative to other asset classes (+1.8% and 0.5% respectively). The last minute of the day saw a ridiculous instantaneous spike to take the S&P 500 to their day-session highs to desparately try to regain green on the day (SPX cash closed -0.87 points). Futures closed green with an 8 point run from 455ET (as we note no credit police were around to stop the idiocy).
The low volume levitation in stocks ignored their main risk driver USDJPY for most of the post-EU close session...
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The cash S&P ramped into the close but failed to get into the green - another dead cat bounce - with no support from JPY carry
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but futures went full retard after the cash close...
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Utilities (and REITs) were the hardest hit sector this week - over-owned and yieldy (I guess we know where Mrs.Watanabe was buying?)...
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The most-shorted names did not plunge in the last two days suggesting this is a much more broad-based weakness providing little ammo for a short squeeze ramp...
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Gold and Silver ended the week green...
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FX markets were dominated by the JPY movements...
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Charts: Bloomberg and Capital Context