Minutes Digest for Jan 14 2021
Bifurcated
- Published:
2021-01-14 12:09:45 - Author: Jason Goepfert
Bifurcated is the word smart people use for "mixed." And mixed it is today, with the IWM small-cap fund flirting with a 2% gain while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 fund, QQQ, down on the day.
That always raises 2 questions: 1) Has it ever happened before?, and 2) Does it mean anything?
Well, "yes" and "maybe." SPY rose over the next week 8 out of 9 times, but fell back over the medium-term, thanks to most of these triggering during bear markets.
It ended up being a bit more negative for IWM than QQQ.
Bad job
- Published:
2021-01-14 08:09:04 - Author: Jason Goepfert
Jobless claims came in much worse than expected. Since markets took off in October, though, misses have been just another excuse to buy, with the S&P losing only once during the bulk of the day, and even that was just barely, as a 0.4% loss into the open was mostly erased during the day.
As always, it's often helpful to watch and see if we see a change. If the narrative has been bad-news-is-good-because-stimmy, and with the new administration due to announce a massive package tonight, then a drop in stocks today will be one of the first signs that just maybe, the "good" news has been priced in.
Yields were a mixed bag, though the couple of times they dipped after the open, they rose as the sessions wore on.