[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] Moving the markets Traders were stuck in limbo today trying to assess future monetary policy, the current earnings season, which was subpar at best, and the profit outlook for the remainder of 2023. None of the above deliberations created much motivation by the bulls to drive this market higher, so the path of least resistance was …
Whipsawing Higher On “Transitory Disinflation”
[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] Moving the markets As the chart above shows, pumping, dumping, and pumping was the theme of the day, as traders tried to incorporate Powell’s “transitionary disinflation” in their vocabulary, while assessing if it would produce a bullish or bearish outcome. Judging by the ramp into the close, the current picture is positive for equities, but traders …
Higher Rates Unsettle Markets
[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] Moving the markets Bond yields jumped sharply with the 10-year adding some 24-basis points to end the session at 3.64%. The markets vacillated predominantly below the unchanged lines, but the major indexes managed to close off their intra-day lows. Still, rate hike expectations have exploded, as the hawkish theme remains to be the dominant one. …
Fed’s “All Bark No Bite” Delights Markets
[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] Moving the markets The Fed offered no surprise and followed the expected theme of hiking rates by only 0.25% with more to come. A mid-day sell-off reversed with traders focusing on chairman Powell’s acknowledgement of falling inflation: We can now say for the first time that the disinflationary process has started. We can really see that, …
Storming Into The Fed Meeting
[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] Moving the markets Traders and algos alike continued with their relentless efforts to challenge the Fed’s resolve of hiking rates for “higher and longer” by propelling the major indexes higher on the last day of the month and the day prior to the Fed’s much-awaited policy announcement. Again, much of this January move was based on …
Diving Ahead Of A High Impact Week
[Chart courtesy of MarketWatch.com] Moving the markets Anxiety reigned supreme ahead of the Fed’s decision on interest rates, with the markets having priced in a meager 0.25% hike. That is despite the countless announcements by a host of speakers that “higher rates for longer” are the current policy theme, yet traders have battled the Fed every step of the way. …