by David Hill | Apr 12, 2019 | US Equities
Short volatility positions are back at extreme levels once again, showing the growth of complacency among market participants. The more dovish than expected Fed has allowed volatility sellers to become more emboldened, and speculative VIX future positions are back up...
by David Hill | Feb 15, 2019 | US Economy
US energy equities have been the worst performing sector on a trailing 12-month and 6-month basis (top-left chart), with most names falling below their 200-day moving averages. The top-right chart shows that historically whenever less than 5% of the constituents in...
by David Hill | Oct 26, 2018 | US Economy, US Equities
We have previously discussed that we see the end of the dollar’s rally coming into view, and that further reasonably-sized rallies (~2-3%) over the next 1-3 months should be used to take profits on long dollar positions. The DXY has rallied over 7% this year, and a...
by David Hill | Feb 9, 2018 | US Equities
This post is taken from our weekly report dated January 23rd 2018. We are seeing a rotation into equities and out of bonds at the start of this year. BAML, using EPFR data, noted that equity fund flows over the past 4 weeks are up to $58 billion, the largest ever, and...
by Bill | Jan 20, 2017 | Uncategorized, US Economy
S&P 500 returns are positively correlated to the Citigroup Economic Surprise Index. The Surprise Index leads the S&P 500 by about two months, as you can see from the chart on the left. Normally, low levels in the index are a good time to buy. When the...
by Bill | Nov 26, 2015 | US Economy
Over the past four years, companies that have bought back their stock have outperformed the market significantly. Most companies did not finance the buybacks with internal cash flow and borrowed at low rates to buy their own shares. The cost of debt is mispriced, so...
by Bill | Jul 16, 2013 | Featured, Tactical, US Economy
Most of the talk on US equities is still centered around whether and when the Fed will start scaling back its asset purchases (let alone start raising rates). The point here is of course that if the Fed decides to remove the punchbowl, equities will take a dim view....
by Bill | Mar 8, 2013 | Leading Indicators, Tactical
Margin debt on the NYSE continues to rise, both when looking at the rate of change as well as the level of negative cash balances (lower chart). Overall margin debt rose strongly going into 2013 and is now sitting only a whisker below the all-time highs from 2007/08...
