Despite the fact that Europe was closed today, the algos were not to be put off as the day broke beautifully into two pieces with a linear sell-off across assets into 1130ET and then a de-correlated nothing-burger all afternoon amid volumes lower than a CNBC anchor's IQ. Makes perfect sense right? The market dribbled higher off the lows into the close and then we got a little discombobulated in the last few minutes as Boehner rumors hit and ETFs (notably bonds - TLT) went a little jiggy. VIX remains bid (as we have been so clear to explain why) and while stocks weakened today, risk-assets in general were just not moving much - thanks generally to Oil's 2.75% gain offsetting Treasuries modest risk-off view. HYG (the high-yield bond ETF) went vertical into the close (following TLT's lead) but between negligible volumes and desparate attempts to pull any and every lever (EUR early and HYG late) to get things going, VIX's message is stay hedged into the new year (at 5-month highs with biggest 5-day jump in 7 months). S&P 500 futures closed the day-session at the low-end of the channel post last week's flash crash.
S&P 500 futures ended the day back at the lows of the post-crash period...
Which leaves NASDAQ red for the month of December and the S&P faling back close...
With Europe closed, risk markets were still driven by algos quite clearly as the ghost of Christmas European close seemed to affect markets...Notice the difference pre- and post- European close!!!!
Stocks tracked Treasury yields lower on the day (Gold and Oil surged early as USD fell but once Europe closed - FX modestly open over there - Oil remained bid but Gold and the USD tracked back)...
VIX moved higher once again and the term structure steepened again...
VIX closed at 5-Month highs with the biggest 5-day jump in 7 months!
TLT zoomed up to close perfectly at Monday's closing VWAP - coincidence!
FX markets are widely dispersed this week with JPY dominating (weak) and SEK (strength) - leaving the USD unchanged!
Gold and Silver were flat to modestly higher as Copper and Oil surged.
And AAPL saw dominant selling pressure once again at critical VWAP levels - this is institutional selling without a doubt...
Charts: Bloomberg
Bonus Chart: The Israeli equity market has traditionally tracked US equities extremely closely - until the last week or so...
