But the pretty people on TV said the Fed Minutes proved they were the most dovish ever and initial claims hit recovery lows... What a total disaster - Equity markets peaked within a few minutes of the open and never looked back - yesterday's "Fed Cat Bounce" gave way to Really Red Thursday...
- Biotechs -6% worst day since Aug 11
- Nasdaq -3.2% worst day since Nov 11
- Russell 2000 -3.1% worst day in 12 months
- S&P "Growth" -2.5% worst day in 10 months
- Financials -2.2% worst day in 10 weeks
- Social Media ETF -4% worst day in 11 months
- VIX +17% biggest rise in 3 months
- Nikkei knackered... Hits 14,000 - down 14.25% from highs to six month lows
Nasdaq and Russell are -6.5% from recent highs and the S&P is -3.5% from its highs...
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The question is - why did the Fed feel the need to act more dovish? That's why growth is getting slayed and beware the head fakes.
Fed Cat Bounce failed... And an UGLY CLOSE
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As the post-FOMC meeting losses are mounting...
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And the "growth" stocks have been monkey-hammered since Tarullo said they were in a bubble...
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"Investors" (and Hitler) are shocked and stunned that High-Beta works both ways...
Away from stocks, Bonds rallied (with 10Y breaking the crucial 2.64% level)
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Commodities rallied
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The USD sold off
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We leave it to Bob Pisani to sum it all up:
"the bears have the upper hand but people still think it will turn around"
But then again, there was this cherry from some "floor trader":
"it's painful if you own 'em, but you owned 'em a lot lower so you're not really in that much pain"
Tell that to Social Media stockholders...
Charts: Bloomberg
Bonus Chart: GMACandy Crash
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Bonus Bonus Chart: Nikkei knackered... Hits 14,000 - down 14.25% from highs to six month lows
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Bonus Bonus Bonus Chart: The Nikkei is at its cheapest to The Dow in 15 months...
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* * *
Finally, something else of note. Earlier today Nanex believes it may have found another new, if not necessarily rogue, algo operating in the market. According to the analytics firm, multiple orders for 750 eMini contracts appeared on 2 price levels (at least 3, and as many as 8 separate orders of 750 contracts on each price level). This appears to have been to induce the market slightly higher (lower) when the large orders were to buy (sell).
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Another occurrence about 20 minutes later.
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The Flash Crash in May 2010 was created by HFTs, and according to some, the quote stuffing bottleneck may have been intentional. How long until someone spoofs HFTs and forces them to be the reason for the next flash crash, in the process redirecting public fury from the Marriner Eccles central planners and into nameless, faceless vacuum tubes?