Market Structure Insights
August 16, 2011
Whew, we’re back to good. That seems the attitude about market gyrations in August. Prices recovered. Heck, we should’ve skipped the mess and stayed on the Cape. Across our client base, we saw few rational-price changes between Aug 1 and Aug 12. Rational investors were...
August 9, 2011
Headline at 2:34 p.m. Eastern Time today: “Fed Pledges Low Rates Through 2013.” How many recognize this as a currency-devaluation? Markets jumped 4% here in the U.S. as the DXY, the dollar index, dropped. Last Sunday, the European Central Bank pledged to monetize debts of...
August 2, 2011
Why are markets dropping like the thermometer at 8pm on Pike’s Peak? Debt chaos, sour economic data, sure. We’re not market prognosticators, we track behavioral data. Under the skin of the news at market level, institutions shifted to managing portfolio risk about July 21. These...
July 26, 2011
We were in San Francisco Sunday escaping the heat parching most of the country. Cool heads are better than hot heads, we thought. It was nice to need a sweater. Speaking of needing things, there’s a flaw in consensus estimates. Consensus by definition means it’s...
July 19, 2011
Would you rather ride your road bike in the sun or the rain? What if riding in the sun means peddling across Death Valley in the summer, while the rain is a passing shower in the Italian Dolomites? Context is essential. Let’s apply the same...
July 12, 2011
Your shares compete for attention with a dizzying array of choices in securities markets. Money chases what the market gives today. VZZB is the sort of example you can’t make up. It’s the trading symbol for the iPath Long Enhanced S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures...