Uncertainty reigns supreme as Washington continues to roll out tariff headlines, and traders still have 3 sessions until the April 2nd “Liberation Day”. Auto tariffs were the culprit this time and the auto sector responded by seeing the manufacturers drop (Ford -3.9%, GM -7.4%, Stellantis -1.3%). But as investors have been talking about recession concerns later this year, underlying economic data continues to be supportive to a healthy economy. Granted today’s GDP data was for Q4, it still rose…

One week from Liberation Day and investors are at a loss (literally) as the S&P 500 closes deep in the red. Tariffs, trade wars and soft economic data had kept investors on the sideline, but a significant selloff in tech Megacaps drove major indices lower after a three-day rebound. Mag7 names were all in the red, with Nvidia (-5.7%) being hit the worst, tumbling after The Financial Times reported that China is raising restrictions on chips. According to the report, the government is encouraging…

Major indices struggled to find direction today but held up fairly well in the face of news flow that leaned negative. Futures started the day in the green after yesterday’s broad-based gains, but slowly reversed course after some confusing signals from the White House regarding tariffs, followed by some downbeat economic data, another negative housing earnings report from KB Home (-5.2%) and a warning about US fiscal health from Moody’s. Further on the eco data, there was a weaker than expect…

For weeks now tariff concerns have dominated the tape and weighed on market sentiment, but today traders breathed a bit easier. Headlines made the rounds that Trump’s April 2nd ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs may be more targeted than the anticipated barrage and a number of countries may escape unscathed. Tech names that have fallen out of favor caught a bid with some dip buyers entering the fray – the ever-volatile Tesla deserves a special mention after posting double digit gains. Cautious optimism w…

Wild moves and instability continued on Thursday as futures gave back all of yesterday’s gains early AM before the US market open. Equities fell in lock step with European indexes as concerns over US tariffs impacting the region’s economies remain and US fiscal policy uncertainty continues. Stocks sprang higher as US investors entered the fray after the US open with the SPX rallying 1.5% by 11am only to roll back over and fall 1.25% by 2:30pm, finishing slightly lower. As the earnings calendar…

When expectations for a change from the status quo out of the Fed meeting are nil and yet you’re still clamoring for the minutes and subsequent presser, you know you’re missing the frenzied nature of the market for much of 2025. The relative calm lately persisted today, as investors grapple w/ a market primed for a bounce vs the potential for further deterioration. Today more resembled the former. Elements of the FOMC were largely unchanged but just as rock beats paper, it was determined liquid…

After two days of relief, the rebound for US Markets hit a wall. All major US indexes were in the red with the tech heavy Nasdaq leading the decline. Volumes remained muted across the board with the S&P 500 vols down 18% vs the 20d average. In addition, over 65% of the stocks in the index declined on the day. You’d be hard pressed to find a sector that wasn’t negative at some point during the session, but defensive sectors were the place to be for outperformance with telecoms, healthcare and en…

It was the session before the beginning of the Fed’s March meeting and with little new-news out of Washington traders spent today’s session gearing up for this week’s line up of Central Bank meetings. We have a trio of rate decisions on deck from the BoJ, BoE, and the Fed. Powell’s presser Wednesday will be the main focus as the Fed Chair attempts to reassure shaky investors that the economy remains on solid footing. This task is particularly intimidating after today’s data fueled concerns of a…

Another reversal lower today after yesterday’s gains, as our technical team noted, “we are on bounce alert lately, but yesterday was not it.” Sigh. Rates held firm(ish), with the 2/10yr closing marginally lower (both down 4bps, the 2yr to 3.96% and 10yr to 4.27%). The day started off optimistically but by 10am, we had given up all the prior day’s gains, with gold edging toward a new ATH. Unlike the past few days, major indices were not able to find positive momentum after the European close a…

Futures painted an encouraging picture first thing this morning, but investors were reticent to give it any credence until they saw further proof. Reinforcements came in the form of gains for heavyweight momentum names and a softer than expected CPI reading (MoM .2% vs .3% est and .5% in Jan). The softer-than-expected release provided some relief after a tech-led sell-off earlier in the week, driven by tariff fears and uncertainty (they’re on/they’re off!) and economic slowdown concerns. Volat…