“The VIX is trading at the lowest levels since the S&P 500 hit its standing all-time high in the early days of 2022,” Tom Essaye, founder of Sevens Report Research, said. “It will be hard to believe the market is poised to casually cruise towards new record highs from here,” he added. “I.e., the bottom of the bear market is not in.” Click here to read the full article.
What’s in Today’s Technical Report:
S&P 500 futures are little changed to start the week this morning. Last week’s pullback paused at a longer standing, multi-week uptrend line leaving the broader equity at a tipping point. How the market trades today will very likely decide if the S&P will continue to bleed lower or break last week’s downtrend and retest the recent highs.
The Nasdaq has been a notable outperformer this year but there are cracks emerging in the rally and we outline key levels to watch this week within the Report.
Among the sectors, we view five sectors as trending higher, four as market neutral, and two as trending lower.
In the currency and bond markets, both the dollar and multiple benchmark Treasury Notes have pulled back to critical price support zones and whether those levels hold or not will have a varying impact on all asset classes.
Commodities as an asset class have been fluctuating in a tight range in 2023 with gold outperforming and oil underperforming, but there are signs that oil is poised to take the lead in the complex and gold may be losing upside momentum.
Finally, the VIX is still deeply under pressure which is confusing many investors but we dive into the specific reasons for the movement in the index and what to look for in the weeks and months ahead as we continue to navigate this historically difficult market backdrop amid very uncertain macroeconomic dynamics.
What’s in Today’s Report:
Futures are slightly lower despite solid economic data overnight, as markets await this morning flash PMIs.
EU and UK flash composite PMIs were better than expected at 54.4. vs. (E) 54.0 for the Euro Zone and 53.9 vs. (E) 52.4 for the UK, and both numbers are pushing back on the global recession narrative.
Today the focus will be on the April Flash Composite PMI (E: 50.7) and after yesterday’s soft Philly data, markets will absolutely want to see solid numbers. If that happens, we should expect a rebound from yesterday’s declines.
We also get another Fed speaker, Cook at 4:35 p.m. ET and some additional earnings: PG ($1.32), HCA ($3.99), SLB ($0.61), FCX ($0.46), RF ($0.65), SAP ($1.25).
Sevens Report Research Founder Tom Essaye agrees with the Fed pause narrative fueling stocks but thinks there are also other elements in play. “Market pros expect stocks to drop,” Essaye says. “That means the ‘pain trade’ is higher in the short term, as under allocated advisors and investors begrudgingly chase stocks.” Click here to read the full article.
“If earnings news is not encouraging today, and yields continue to move higher over the course of the session, the selling pressure on equities is likely to continue and liable to accelerate,” wrote Tom Essaye, founder of the Sevens Report. Click here to read the full article.
As such, the pain trade has been higher for all of 2023 and that’s helping support stocks despite decidedly mixed fundamentals (and mixed is being generous),” Tom Essaye, founder of Sevens Report Research wrote. Click here to read the full article.
The stock market’s resilience so far in 2023 is an example of a well-worn but sometimes useful market concept known as the “pain trade.” Tom Essaye, founder of Sevens Report Research, defined it succinctly in a Tuesday note: “The goal of the market is to extract the most amount of pain from the greatest number of people.” Click here to read the full article.
Looking ahead, economic data will be in focus as a “strong economic recovery in China and the avoidance of hard landings in Europe and the U.S. are both priced into the market with WTI trading with an $80 handle,” said analysts at Sevens Report Research in Tuesday’s newsletter. Click here to read the full article.
What’s in Today’s Report:
Futures are moderately weaker following a disappointing night of earnings.
TSLA, NOK, FFIV and TSMC all missed earnings and provided cautious commentary or guidance, and that’s increasing concerns about an economic slowdown.
Today there are numerous potential catalysts including important economic reports, lots of Fed speak and more earnings reports.
Starting with the data, the key report today is Philly Fed (E: -19.4) and markets will want to see if it confirms the rebound we saw in Empire (if it does, expect some stock weakness as Fed expectations become slightly more hawkish). We also get Jobless Claims (E: 242K) and any move closer to 300k will be welcomed as it signals a slightly more normal labor market.
Turning to the Fed, there are multiple speakers today including Waller (12:00 p.m. ET), Mester (12:20 p.m. ET), Logan (3:00 p.m. ET) and Bostic (5:00 p.m. ET) and it will be notable to see if they all push back on the rate cut expectations in the markets.
Finally, on earnings, results lately have been underwhelming so these reports are becoming more important. Earnings we’re watching today include: T ($0.58), TSM ($1.21), AXP ($2.63), UNP ($2.57), PPG ($1.55), CSX ($0.43), STX ($0.18).
What’s in Today’s Report:
Hawkish money flows are dominating markets this morning with stock futures falling, yields rising and oil and gold both testing support after hot inflation data overnight.
Economically, U.K. CPI was 10.1% vs. (E) 9.8% y/y in March while the Eurozone Narrow Core HICP reading rose 0.1% to 5.7% meeting estimates. The two inflation prints are causing a hawkish shift in central bank policy expectations this morning, which is in turn rekindling hard landing fears.
Looking into today’s session, there are no notable economic reports today however there is a 20-Yr Treasury Bond auction at 1:00 p.m. ET that could impact both bond and equity markets.
As far as the Fed goes there are two speakers today, but both are after the close: Goolsbee (5:30 p.m. ET) and Williams (7:00 p.m. ET).
That will leave investor focus on earnings early with more big banks and notable consumer financial companies reporting ahead of the bell including: MS ($1.67), CFG ($2.15), SYF ($1.49), ALLY ($0.88), USB ($1.13), and TRV ($3.64), while TSLA ($0.85) and IBM ($1.27) will release results after the close.
Bottom line, the 2-Yr Treasury yield is testing a more than one-month high this morning and stocks are coming for sale broadly which underscores deteriorating sentient among investors with the S&P 500 trading well above 4,100 this week. And if earnings news is not encouraging today, and yields continue to move higher over the course of the session, the selling pressure on equities is likely to continue and liable to accelerate.
