Syz the moment

The investment chief at one of the world’s top hedge funds has warned the US battle with inflation is far from over, and bets on a rapid series of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve next year are premature. Bob Prince, co-chief investment officer of Bridgewater Associates, said markets were wrong to assume the Fed will soon ease monetary policy. “The Fed is not going to cut,” he told the Financial Times. “They are not going to do what is priced in.” Pricing in futures markets indicates that investors anticipate one further 0.25 percentage point rate rise from the Fed’s current target range of 5 to 5.25 per cent by the autumn. Over the following 12 months they expect the central bank to reverse course, cutting borrowing costs six times to around 3.8 per cent by November 2024. “Inflation has come down but it is still too high, and it is probably going to level out where it is — we’re likely to be stuck around this level of inflation,” Prince said. “The big risk right now is that you get a bounce in energy prices when wages are still strong”, which could drive a rebound in inflation, he added. Prince, who oversees the Connecticut-based firm’s assets with co-CIOs Karen Karniol-Tambour and Greg Jensen, said he believes core inflation is likely to bottom out between 3.5 and 4 per cent, pushing the Fed to tighten monetary policy further and disappointing investors who this week sent US stocks to their highest level in over a year. That tightening “could take the form of holding rates steady in the face of expectations of a cut”, he said. Source: FT

Source: Bloomberg

The S&P 500's 25% gain since last year's low has been driven by valuation expansion rather than rising earnings. There is hope that earnings will start recovering in Q3 and through 2024. Source: Edward Jones

Nokia sold 437 million phones in 2007. And Apple sold 1.4 million iPhones. Apple will sell more than 220 million iPhones this year. And Nokia no longer makes its own phones. Source: John Erlichman

Bullish sentiment on equities is getting even more bullish. Source: TME, Goldman Sachs

Since 1941 strong first half S&P 500 performance has been associated with further gains in the second half of the year, though with more volatility. Past performance does not guarantee future results... Source: Edward Jones

The S&P 500 is currently trading ~12.5% above its 200-day Moving Average. We haven't seen $SPY this far above its 200-day since August of 2021, nearly two years ago. While it looks over-extended, it is not unsustainable. For instance, study the left side of the chart from Nov '20 - Aug '21 Source: Grayson Roze

NASDAQ is trading in the upper part of the steep trend channel. Note the shooting star candle today, a classical candle that should be observed closely post strong short term trends. One candle doesn't make a "case", but watch for a possible confirmation session. Source: TME, Refinitiv