U.S. stocks have found sanguinity at the open this morning, after getting rocked a bit overnight by news that the Treasury has no interest in expanding emergency assistance measures and asked the Fed to return all remaining funds to the government. Secretary Mnuchin’s comment this morning that folks are misinterpreting the message I suspect helped calm the waters a bit.
Now, when I say “rocked a bit”, I indeed mean just “a bit”. S&P futures couldn’t get quite to 1% cheaper. Again, as I suggested herein last night, nothing of the sort matters till somebody gives a hoot.
Asian equities leaned green overnight, with 11 of the 16 markets we track closing higher. Europe’s looking good this morning as well; 16 of the 19 bourses we follow are currently in the green. U.S. major averages, however, are off a smidge; Dow down 94 points (0.32%), S&P 500 down 0.27%, Nasdaq down 0.17%, Russell 2000 down 0.77%.
The VIX (SP500 implied volatility) is down 1.51%. VXN (Nasdaq vol) is up 0.67%.
Oil futures are down 0.21%, gold’s up 0.53%, silver’s up 1.34%, copper futures are up 2.74% and the ag complex is up 0.39%.
The 10-year treasury is trading higher (yield lower) and the dollar is flat, -0.01%.
Led by silver, base metals, Asia-Pac equities, gold and emerging market equities — but dragged by banks, energy, financials, industrials and tech — our core portfolio is down 0.17% to start the morning.
I’ll leave you here with THE ultimate Hyman Minsky careful-what-you-ask-for message, that, sadly, those (read the Fed) who are so desperate to literally manufacture stability in markets simply refuse to understand:
“Stability leads to instability. The more stable things become and the longer things are stable, the more unstable they will be when the crisis hits.”
Words to live invest by…
Next up our weekly macro update…
Have a great day!
Marty