Making Sense

As Howard Marks says The most important thing is "Awareness of the pendulum'. The mood swings of the market resemble the movement of a pendulum. Although the mid point of the arc best describes the location of the pendulum "on average", it actually spends very little of its time there. In fact, it is the movement towards an extreme itself that supplies the energy for the swing back.  Investment markets follow a pendulum like swing - b/w euphoria and depression, between celebrating positive developments and obsessing over negative ones and thus between over priced and underpriced.  While we may not know what the futures holds but me must have a fair sense of where we are headed. I hope this blog has helped you navigate the course of the markets by identifying these pendulum type swings and through the analysis, has helped you get a sense of how the data is evolving. The Economic calendar was heavy with Top Tier Data.  BoJ raised the overnight call rate by 15 bps to 2...

 U.S Yields moved higher and USD index consolidated overnight. A Ukrainian drone strike caused a fire at the Ryazan oil refinery near Moscow, one of Russia’s biggest crude-processing facilities. A site in the southern Rostov region was also hit. Both halted operations. Ukraine has stepped up its attacks on critical infrastructure in recent months. On Tuesday it launched strikes targeting energy sites in at least seven Russian regions [Source: Economist].  Brent Crude prices have been consolidating in a 81.00 - 84.00 zone since early part of February 2024. From a technical standpoint, there is a H&S formation plus and ascending triangle and a decisive breakout above $ 84.50 could turnout to be potent with 2023 highs of $ 96 per barrel in potential targets. Fed Fund Futures are now implying 78 bps of rate cuts into 2024 from 84 bps yesterday. We have the all important PPI [consensus 0.30%] / Retail Sales [ consensus 0.40%] and the Initial and Final Jobless Claims data. ...

"Failure of Imagination" is the inability to understand in advance the full range of outcomes. Overnight, USD index weakened and USTs were unchanged. The implied Fed Fund pricing shows 20 bps of Fed Fund Rate cut priced into the March Policy and a cumulative 143 bps of Rate cuts priced until the Dec 2024 policy. Post the FOMC Rate decision, Markets had priced in 23 bps of rate cuts by March Policy and 148 bps of rate cuts by Dec Policy. We had comments from 2 Fed Speakers both of whom are FOMC Voters into 2024. Raphael Bostic reiterated his view of 2 rate cuts into 2024 starting sometime in Q3 and  stated that there is no urgency to back away from restrictive policy stance. Thomas Barkin stated that inflation continues to move in the right direction and if inflation trajectory evolves on expected lines, the Fed would act appropriately. U.S released housing data where Housing Starts rose 14.80% mom while Building permits at 1.46 mn were below consensus of 1.465 mn. On the dome...

 India released the Merchandise + Services Trade data on 15th Feb 2023.  The trade data showed a welcome moderation. The merchandise trade deficit came in at $ 17.75 bn, lowest since Jan 2022 and the services surplus posted a record surplus of $ 16.48 bn. Overall trade balance recorded a net outflow of $ 1.27 bn.  It appears the worst is behind and the services sector outperformance has helped bridge the merchandise trade gap. On a FYTD basis, we are running a Merchandise + Services Trade deficit of $ 112 bn. Broad USD strength on the back of strong NFP print / CPI print and Retail Sales data (released today showed headline Retail Sales rose 3% mom following a 1.10% mom contraction in dec) is likely to weigh on the INR.  Positive surprise on trade data and stable FPI flows so far in Feb along side INR at the top of the support zone of 83.00 have me biased to short USDINR with stops above 83.20. But I'd wait for the USD to turn before establishing any meaningful short...

"Thorough preparation makes its own Luck" - As a trader, I couldn't believe in this more. We are all involved in a game where the outcome is probabilistic and that is the universal truth. But attributing the unknown to chance rather than lack of preparation is a fundamental error and sets us up for failure. Guard against failure through thorough preparation.  Know as much as you can to improve the edge and be thorough as hell. After all the satisfaction of doing it right supersedes the chance success.  Interesting moves overnight with a sharp rally in US Treasury yields on the back of a weak 30Y auction, initial jobless claims data at 196000 still suggesting a strong labor market data and sell off in equities.  US 2Y @ 4.50% ( T-1 low 4.41%) - On the 2Y we see a double bottom with a price objective of 4.48% which has been met. The next areas of support for the bond are at 4.57%, 4.61% and 4.73%. US 10Y @ 3.68% (T-1 low 3.575%) - US 10Y took support at swing low of 3.32% t...