Bitcoin, Bullion, & Big-Tech Bounce As Rate-Cut Hopes Roar Higher
Personal Consumption growth slowed (3 months ago) and so did Core PCE inflation (to 2%); Jobless claims fell (to 2023 lows) as the LEI continued to tumble, signaling recession in 1H24.
So, ‘goldilocks’, ‘soft landing’, ‘everything is awesome’, or ‘we are all going to hell’ – pick your own narrative… as economic data remains sluggish and financial conditions dramatically ‘loose’…
Source: Bloomberg
All of which prompted a dovish response in STIRs, with the odds of a March rate-cut higher still, now at 80%)…
Source: Bloomberg
And expectations for the number of rate-cuts next year higher (now around 160bps)…
Source: Bloomberg
Echoing yesterday’s malarkey, 0-DTE traders pushed the markets around to the downside with an initial downswing around 1130ET and then again from around 1330ET. And then as the market refused to fold in the afternoon (like it did yesterday)…
And here come the calls https://t.co/tx4kJqGiEZ
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) December 21, 2023
…0-DTE call-buyers swamped it and sparked a surge higher in the main indices…
VIX spiked intraday back above 14.5, but then in the afternoon, vol-sellers re-appeared
But, the recent squeeze higher in stocks has not been backed by vol compression…
Small Caps were the best performer, up 1.5% on the day and The Dow was the laggard, though all the majors were green. However, as the chart shows, today’s recovery was considerably less of a gain than the losses yesterday afternoon – still down around 0.5% from the 1430ET raid plunge yesterday…
MAG7 stocks opened higher, traded down into the red briefly then recovered…
Source: Bloomberg
Treasury yields were higher across the curve but not significantly relative to recent chaos, with the long-end slightly lagging (30Y +4bps, 2Y +1.5bps)…
Source: Bloomberg
With the yield curve (2s30s) steepening
Source: Bloomberg
The Dollar dived, falling back below the post-Powell lows, back to its weakest since early August…
Source: Bloomberg
Bitcoin rallied back up to $44,000 once again and faded…
Source: Bloomberg
Gold jumped back up to recent highs…
Source: Bloomberg
Oil prices ended slightly lower, but well off their lows, with WTI just below $74…
Source: Bloomberg
Finally, the market seems very sure that this is not about to happen…
Source: Bloomberg
Do you feel lucky?
Tyler Durden
Thu, 12/21/2023 – 16:00