For the last 2 weeks, the US Dollar has surged - hitting new 13-month highs today amid JPY and EUR weakness - and for the last 2 weeks, US stock and bond markets have rallied (leaving 30Y yields implying the S&P is 130 points rich or yields are 25bps too low). S&P tops 2,000, Nasdaq closed up for 10th day in a row, Russell outperformed on major short-squeeze, Trannies slid red for the week. Today saw modest Treasury weakness (30Y +2bps, 2Y -1bps) but still lower on the week; gold ($1285), silver ($19.50), and oil ($94) gained on the day - despite USD strength - as copper dropped 1%. Credit markets remain unimpressed by record-er highs in stocks. VIX decoupled from equity strength today as NASDAQ options feeds broke. Volume was an utter disaster... that is all.
Nothing to see here, move along...
[8]
S&P 500 (cash) topped yesterday's highs early on (thank you resting stops)... 2000.02 close!!
[9]
Citadel picked 2000.02 instead of 2000.01 to make it seem less rigged
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) August 26, 2014 [10]
as The Close was all critical to keep the dream alive...
[11]
"Most Shorted" stocks once again bore the brunt of the squeeze higher...
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Which led Russell 2000 to dramatically outperform as Trannies tumbled - leaving Transports red on the week...and closing at the lows...
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Some context for this move...
[14]
VIX decoupled as BATS and NASDAQ broke and options feeds went full retard...
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The USD Index broke to new 13-month highs today...
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But the last 2 weeks have seen USD demand flood both stocks and bonds in the US...
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Credit continues to ignore the exuberance...
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HY-IG spread is back at 250bps - practically unchanged on the year (thoug IG is notably tighter in recent weeks as investors shift to up-in-quality trades)
[19]
Early strength in PMs was battered back into submission around the normal 8amET witching hour... Oil rose on the day...
[20]
Quite a day in Gold futures...
[21]
Charts: Bloomberg
