* There is less that meets the eye in the U.S. stock market
* Market breadth has a foul odor, the average stock is falling, crude oil and interest rates are rising and complacency reigns…
The quote “there’s not much there there” comes from Gertrude Stein’s book Everybody’s Autobiography written about 90 years ago. The phrase conveys that a place, person or situation lacks substance or death and originated from Stein’s reflections about her childhood neighborhood in Oakland, California. It was Stein’s feeling that the area had changed dramatically with the familiar landmarks and very essence of her youth gone (leaving a sense of emptiness and loss). Stein believed that time and development erased the “there” of her childhood city.
At 5:30 AM S&P futures are -39 handles.
More interestingly is that Nasdaq futures are -310 handles — with, an infrequent occurrence that memory/semis AND hyperscalers are all falling down together.
A rejection by the president of an Iranian cease fire proposal has resulted in a +$3 rise in the price of crude oil.
For four months we have cautioned that the market ISNOT BROADENING OUT (despite a near-universal view on the part of the bullish cabal) and that market breadth is foul.
Importantly, several leading market sectors (e.g. financials/banks) are clearly rolling over — along with the Russell Index (IWM) and the equal weighted S&P Index (RSP):
The average US stock is struggling.
The ratio of the equal-weighted S&P 500 to the S&P 500 index is down to 1.11, its 3rd-lowest level since April 2003.
This ratio has declined for 5 consecutive weeks by a total of -5.5%.
The S&P 500 is 0.7% below a record high, yet 430 of those stocks are 21.7% below their highs. That means on average 86% of the stocks are in a bear market. Breadth has only been this bad twice, in January 1973 and in 1999/2000. On both occasions, the S&P then crashed nearly 50%
— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff)
As noted in my post in the Comment Section and in my Diary, I put back on my index shorts at around 8 PM Sunday night:
The average US stock is struggling.
The ratio of the equal-weighted S&P 500 to the S&P 500 index is down to 1.11, its 3rd-lowest level since April 2003.
This ratio has declined for 5 consecutive weeks by a total of -5.5%.
Over this period, the equal-weighted S&P 500 has fallenShow more
The S&P 500 is 0.7% below a record high, yet 430 of those stocks are 21.7% below their highs. That means on average 86% of the stocks are in a bear market. Breadth has only been this bad twice, in January 1973 and in 1999/2000. On both occasions, the S&P then crashed nearly 50%