So, did we learn anything from the resumption of the market's dance to the downside yesterday? Can the action be blamed on anything specific? Should we be concerned about the reversal of Monday's reversal? Or is this simply the latest edition of computers gone wild, or what I like to call, "Hedge Fund Follies?"
In my humble opinion, the answer to the first three questions is, yes. And as such, it is probably best to dig in and make sure we understand what the heck is going on here.
Cutting to the chase, it's all about bonds right now. Sure, oil is getting some attention. And yes, the action in the dollar is worth watching. But the bottom line is that fear and loathing in the bond market is the central theme here.
At issue is the macro fear that we're seeing the beginning of the end of the QE era. A period in time that will no doubt go down in history for an unprecedented degree of globally coordinated, central bank intervention. A period when interest rates around the world moved to all-time low extremes. A time when, according to Mr. Paul Singer, President of Elliott Management, some 30% of the world's government bonds yield nothing - or less. And a time that many folks expect to end badly.
I know what you're thinking. Dave, you're being melodramatic here. Please calm down and return to the land of objectivity asap!
Okay, okay. In looking at the charts of the bond market, perhaps it is a bit premature to get overly excited about the recent spike in bonds - a move that is really just 4 days old. A spike that began after Super Mario disappointed the market last week by suggesting that the ECB may need to re-evaluate what ...