It appears the ammunition for another leg higher in bond yields and small cap stocks is running dry quickly. As BofAML notes, speculators added to Russell 2000 positions for the 5th of the 6 weeks, reducing small cap shorts to smallest in a year. Spec buying of crude continues unabated with the 4th week in a row lifts net long to highest since August. The bond complex is at extremes everywhere: large specs bought 2Y bonds for the 7th week in a row, lifting the 2Y bond net long to a 2-year high; but levered funds have never been more short the long-bond. All-in-all positions are extreme to say the least.
Small cap shorts are at one-year lows and as BofAML's chart shows, relative positioning is at its longest since the start of QE3...
[6]
Crude buying continues to lift net long positions to relative balance...
[7]
Levered funds have never been shorter the long-bond...
[8]
and Large Specs have not been this relatively long the 2Y since 2011
[9]
Finally, the ultimate consensus trade in the new normal... Sell Vol - VIX shorts are now the heaviest in a year...
[10]
Consensus trades everywhere...
Charts: Bloomberg, BofAML
