At the beginning of each week, we publish performance tables for a variety of different asset classes and categories along with commentary on each.
Looking at the past helps put the future into context. In this post, we review the absolute and relative trends at play and preview some of the things we’re watching to profit in the weeks and months ahead.
In recent weeks, we've seen some rotation back into Large and Mega-Caps, which has propelled the major indices to new highs, while SMIDs are still resiliently consolidating. While the list of negative data points has grown, it's still not close to anything that warrants concern.
Developed Markets, particularly European equities, are resolving higher across the board -- a move confirmed by strong breadth and bullish internals. In short, we continue to see strong equity market...
Last night I popped into BNN Bloomberg to talk about what's going on in the market.
We're seeing new highs across a lot of major indexes, but what's happening underneath the surface?
We've been seeing the price of lumber soaring along with things like Steel and Rebar futures. It's the whole demand/building/growth theme that continues to stand out.
One thing that's definitely worth watching is the All Country World Index Ex-U.S., which is basically a snapshot of what the rest of the world looks like. And you'll notice that the index ETF $ACWX is stuck right between its 2008 highs and 2018 highs.
This puts the global stock market in quite a predicament. If you're bullish equities, you're going to want to see a breakout through those historic 2008 highs. If you're bearish equities, this is one you want to see break back below those 2018 highs.
Meanwhile, the US Dollar is also testing key levels.
USD strength has become a major market theme over the last couple of months -- along with the potential effects it could have on global risk assets. A strong US Dollar could apply pressure to Emerging Markets, Commodities, and cyclical assets in general. This would challenge the global growth thesis and the rotation into cyclical areas we have seen play out over recent months.
On the flip side, there are areas of the Currency Market that continue to...
In a market environment where Financials and Natural Resources have become leadership groups, how do we not have a conversation about Canada? Taking that one step further, we need to talk about how any investor, whether living in Canada or not, can take advantage of a potential structural swing in the trend for Canadian Equities.
David Cox is someone who I've discussed markets with for many years. We usually hook up every Spring in New York City at the annual CMT Symposium. It's only fair that I let the rest of the world eavesdrop on our chats. He's a bright guy with good perspective on all things stocks, interest rates, forex markets and...
There's always information in the Currency markets, even if trading currencies isn't something you do.
There is wisdom in some of the world's largest markets like forex and fixed income. To ignore it would be irresponsible.
One thing that's been hard to ignore is the strength in the US Dollar Index throughout the first quarter of 2021. This could be a potential wrecking ball to the global growth, rotation into cyclical and commodity supercycle themes.
But is it?
When we look at several G-10 Currencies relative to the Dollar, the Commodity-centric currencies have held up the best, which is interesting, isn't it?
The Indian Rupee has been strengthening against its counterparts and that has been an interesting change in trend from what we were seeing in early February.
With that in mind. let's take a look at some important levels to track as this trend continues to play out.
At the beginning of each week, we publish performance tables for a variety of different asset classes and categories along with commentary on each.
Looking at the past helps put the future into context. In this post, we review the absolute and relative trends at play and preview some of the things we’re watching to profit in the weeks and months ahead.
We continue to reiterate the same themes and pillars that support our bullish macro thesis. This would include an abundance of evidence pointing to risk appetite, rising developed market yields, strength from commodities, and of course the ongoing rotation toward cyclicals, value, and international stocks, among others...
Just about anywhere we look, we're seeing investors gravitate further and further out on the risk spectrum.
At the same time, some of the former market leaders have retreated since February and are currently hovering near key levels. Similarly, even the markets' more recent leaders have shown signs of weakness the past few weeks as some have violated critical tactical levels while others are consolidating at logical levels...
At the beginning of each week, we publish performance tables for a variety of different asset classes and categories along with commentary on each.
Looking at the past helps put the future into context. In this post, we review the absolute and relative trends at play and preview some of the things we’re watching to profit in the weeks and months ahead.
The market continues to fire on all cylinders right now. Last week's gains were nothing but a continuation of the same resiliency and momentum we've come to expect from risk assets over the last year.
From the desk of Steve Strazza @Sstrazza and Ian Culley @Ianculley
One lesson you learn pretty quickly as a market analyst is that not all assets are created equal.
Each and every financial instrument carries its own unique bundle of nuances... from a stocks' beta or systematic volatility as well as its residual risk, to the fee structure and rebalancing methodology of an exchange-traded fund or note, to the settlement and delivery procedures governing futures contracts.
All of these things impact the behavior and performance of these various markets.
Today, we're going to focus specifically on the inner workings of International Country ETFs and the way they are impacted by the currency component inherent in these vehicles.