S&P Rallies 100% Off Pandemic Lows; Shrugs Off China Data, Delta Doubts, and Kabul Chaos
Weak Chinese data and Delta concerns weighed on markets overnight, and the utter chaos in Afghanistan is not exactly confidence-inspiring and US equity markets tumbled out of the gate this morning but it didn’t take long for the panic-bidding dip-buyers to charge in and lift The Dow and S&P back to unchanged. Nasdaq algos desperately tried to get green (after being down 1.3%) and they managed their objective with minutes to spare. Small Caps were the laggards and never got close to breakeven on the day…
It’s official, the S&P 500 has now rallied 100% off the pandemic lows…
Source: Bloomberg
Because…
Do Small Caps hold here, after losing the 100DMA for the 7th time in 2 weeks?
Europe’s record run (10 straight days of all-time-highs) is over (and there hasn’t been a 5% drop in the market for 135 trading days, the longest streak in four years)…
Source: Bloomberg
Another chaotic open for the algos as they tanked Small Caps, bid Nasdaq, then reversed, then that reversed… as once again the pair traded extremely technically in their range…
AMZN led the decline in mega-cap tech but all the FANG stocks were bid back into the green by the close (cough buybacks cough)…
Source: Bloomberg
Europe saw Treasury sellers appear, after a bid during the China data dump. Treasuries were bid after the dismal Empire Manufacturing data but the US equity open sent yields back higher (but overall yields were down 1-2bps on the day)…
Source: Bloomberg
The dollar made modest gains today, but retraced on a small part of Friday’s losses…
Source: Bloomberg
Crypto market cap back above $2 trillion again…
Bitcoin chopped around in a $2000 range for most of the weekend…
Source: Bloomberg
Gold rallied back above $1790, erasing most of the post-payrolls plunge…
Oil prices tumbled on the weak China data, with WTI back at a $65 handle, but were inspired to a dramatic bounce back by stocks and OPEC+ snubbing Biden’s request to ‘cut it out’…
Finally, is this the calm before the storm? Bloomberg reports that August is shaping up to be one of the calmest on record. The equity benchmark has fluctuated an average 0.5% each day, a level of tranquility that, except for 2017, has rarely happened.
Source: Bloomberg
We suspect Minsky is rolling in his grave.
Tyler Durden
Mon, 08/16/2021 – 16:01
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