Sentiment calmer on the heels of some weaker-than-expected data from China. Generally speaking, markets are holding well, led by technology and innovation.
Graphic: Retrieved from Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS) via The Market Ear.
Price doesn’t tell the whole story, however. Breadth is softening while market boosters are slowly being picked off. Tier1Alpha says that “1-month realized volatility rose nearly 13%, [and] … if volatility continues to rise, it will have an outsized effect on the 1-month vol, as the sample is now largely filled by the smaller returns we experienced in April.” Altogether, this “could result in larger [selling] flows being triggered from systematic strategies that use volatility scaling as a means for risk control.”
Graphic: Retrieved from Bespoke Investment Group via The Market Ear.
“With that vol premium getting squeezed out, there is little room for error,” SpotGamma adds; uncertainties that may manifest pressure and compound weaknesses under the hood include inflation reports and the debt ceiling issue.
“The next big moment comes Tuesday, when President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and other congressional leaders,” Bloomberg explains. “The meeting is high stakes. Republican leaders want promises of future spending cuts before they approve a higher ceiling, while Biden is insisting on a ‘clean’ increase.”
Further, traders expect increased chances of rate cuts. This may not be outlandish; “Looking at the past 17 hiking episodes, the two-year, 10-year Treasury yield curve bottoms out 108 trading days before the first rate cut.”
“Using that guide, the 2s10s curve reached negative 111 basis points on March 8 and has since steepened to about negative 41 basis points. Assuming that marked the trough, 108 trading days lands in mid-August — sandwiched between the Fed’s July 26 and September 20 rate decisions.”
Graphic: Retrieved from Bloomberg. “Look at the gap between the three-month and the 10-year yields, generally regarded as a surefire recession indicator. It’s also a great indicator of imminent rate cuts. An inversion is also a timing signal because it makes little or no sense unless you’re confident that rate cuts will be starting soon. And over the last 30 years, the curve has never been as inverted as it is now.”
For better hedging participation in market upside, check out Physik Invest’s recently published trade structuring report.
Graphic: Retrieved from BNP Paribas (OTC: BNPQY) via Bloomberg. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) strategists say that “the first quarter will likely be the high point for stocks this year, … adding that equities won’t reach lows until the Fed has pivoted to rate cuts.”
About
Welcome to the Daily Brief by Physik Invest, a soon-to-launch research, consulting, trading, and asset management solutions provider. Learn about our origin story here, and consider subscribing for daily updates on the critical contexts that could lend to future market movement.
Separately, please don’t use this free letter as advice; all content is for informational purposes, and derivatives carry a substantial risk of loss. At this time, Capelj and Physik Invest, non-professional advisors, will never solicit others for capital or collect fees and disbursements. Separately, you may view this letter’s content calendar at this link.
Physik Invest’s Daily Brief is read free by thousands of subscribers. Join this community to learn about the fundamental and technical drivers of markets.
Graphic updated 7:00 AM ET. Sentiment Risk-On if expected /MES open is above the prior day’s range. /MES levels are derived from the profile graphic at the bottom of this letter. Click here for the latest levels. SqueezeMetrics Dark Pool Index (DIX) and Gamma (GEX) with the latter calculated based on where the prior day’s reading falls with respect to the MAX and MIN of all occurrences available. A higher DIX is bullish. The lower the GEX, the more (expected) volatility. Click to learn the implications of volatility, direction, and moneyness. Breadth reflects a reading of the prior day’s NYSE Advance/Decline indicator. The CBOE VIX Volatility Index (INDEX: VVIX) reflects the attractiveness of owning volatility. UMBS prices via MND. Click here for the economic calendar.
Administrative
Not all doom and gloom. Make sure to read to the end!
Fundamental
In the Daily Brief for 3/20, we summarized the financial industry and policymaker responses that would turn asset fire sales into managed, orderly asset sales.
The net result of the intervention would be a reduction in credit creation, a tightening of financial conditions, as well as a slowing of the economy and inflation while, potentially, setting “a dangerous precedent that simply encourage[s] future irresponsible behavior” (e.g., risky lending/borrowing), the House Freedom Caucus put eloquently. Basically, the fear is in policymakers underwriting the losses of prevailing carry-type strategies and setting the stage for an even bigger unwind or so-called “Minsky moment,” the “sudden crash of markets and economies that are hooked on debt,” Bloomberg reports.
"Regional banks relied on a business model that relied on uninsured deposits," says @Lazard's @porszag. "The government needs to make explicit what a lot of people are assuming: that for the foreseeable future, uninsured deposits don't exist. Everything is insured." pic.twitter.com/GgZ9ZF2f7r
A systemic credit event is among strategists’ biggest fear, indeed. A Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) survey shows a credit event happening on the heels of a US shadow banking, corporate debt, and developed-market real-estate collapse. Recall this letter writer’s conversation with Simplify Asset Management’s Michael Green who said he sees “cracks in bubbles like commercial real estate” already appearing, too.
Bloomberg adds that JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) strategists think the inverted yield curve signals recession and the stocks are likely nearing their high point.
Graphic: Retrieved from Callum Thomas’ Weekly S&P 500 ChartStorm.
JPM adds that market lows won’t occur until interest rate cuts ensue.
Graphic: Retrieved from BNP Paribas ADR (OTC: BNPQY).
Recall 3/20’s letter citing BAC research that finds selling markets on the last Fed rate hike is a good strategy. The “Minsky moment” comment/fear has others at JPM adding that investors should sell into relief bounces.
Graphic: Retrieved from Bank of American Corporation (NYSE: BAC) via The Market Ear.
Most participants foresee rates continuing to rise by at least 25 basis points, per the CME Group Inc’s (NASDAQ: CME) FedWatch Tool. Following Wednesday’s (expected) hike, the path forward appears uncertain. Yesterday, the terminal/peak rate was at 4.75-5.00%. Today, the peak has shifted higher to 5.00-5.25%.
Graphic: Retrieved from CME Group Inc (NASDAQ: CME).
Financials look ready to fall off a cliff, to add. If they do, the whole market likely goes.
Graphic: Retrieved from Callum Thomas’ Weekly S&P 500 ChartStorm.
Positioning
We keep referring back to our Daily Briefs published last week (e.g., 3/13 and 3/14). In those letters, we talked about the growing concern about markets enduring some exogenous shocks.
We opted to take the less extreme side since policymakers’ response was likely to stem (or push into the future) turmoil. Additionally, with participants easing up on their long-equity exposure, equity markets were likely to stay contained, relative to bond markets where the lack of liquidity is an issue, some believe. Anyways, following important events including inflation updates (i.e., CPI) and derivatives expiries, short bursts of strength (particularly in some of the previously depressed products such as the Nasdaq 100 or NDX, as explained 3/17) were likely to ensue heading into the end of this month and next month. Additionally, certain rates trades via options we set forth on 3/14 were ripe for monetization, too.
Rotating into a money market or T-bill fund or box spreads, while allocating some remaining cash to leverage potential by way of some call options structures, appeared attractive. While the T-bill or box spread exposures did not budge much, call options structures as proposed on 3/14 worked (and are likely to continue to work) rather well. The monetization of the rate structures discussed on 3/14 was timely, also.
The potential for coming events including the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) interest rate decision on Wednesday 3/22 to assuage participants’ fears of slowing may, accordingly, prompt fears of missing out on the upside, Bloomberg reports. A response may be FOMO-type demand for call options exposures, coupled with CTAs further “raising their equity exposure” on trend signals and lower volatility, boosting markets into a “more combustible” state as explained on 2/17. This fear of missing out is visible in options volatility skew; traders are hedging those tail outcomes.
Technical
As of 7:00 AM ET, Tuesday’s regular session (9:30 AM – 4:00 PM ET), in the S&P 500, is likely to open in the upper part of a positively skewed overnight inventory, outside of the prior day’s range, suggesting a potential for immediate directional opportunity.
The S&P 500 pivot for today is $4,004.75.
Key levels to the upside include $4,026.75, $4,037.00, and $4,045.25.
Key levels to the downside include $3,994.25, $3,977.00, and $3,959.25.
Disclaimer: Click here to load the updated key levels via the web-based TradingView platform. New links are produced daily. Quoted levels likely hold barring an exogenous development.
Graphic: 65-minute profile chart of the Micro E-mini S&P 500 Futures.
Definitions
Volume Areas: Markets will build on areas of high-volume (HVNodes). Should the market trend for a period of time, this will be identified by a low-volume area (LVNodes). The LVNodes denote directional conviction and ought to offer support on any test.
If participants auction and find acceptance in an area of a prior LVNode, then future discovery ought to be volatile and quick as participants look to the nearest HVNodes for more favorable entry or exit.
POCs: Areas where two-sided trade was most prevalent in a prior day session. Participants will respond to future tests of value as they offer favorable entry and exit.
Options Expiration (OPEX): Reduction in dealer Gamma exposure. There may be an increase in volatility after the removal of large options positions and associated hedging.
Volume-Weighted Average Prices (VWAPs): A metric highly regarded by chief investment officers, among other participants, for quality of trade. Additionally, liquidity algorithms are benchmarked and programmed to buy and sell around VWAPs.
About
The author, Renato Leonard Capelj, spends the bulk of his time at Physik Invest, an entity through which he invests and publishes free daily analyses to thousands of subscribers. The analyses offer him and his subscribers a way to stay on the right side of the market.
You may view this letter’s content calendar at this link.
Disclaimer
Do not construe this newsletter as advice. All content is for informational purposes. Capelj and Physik Invest manage their own capital and will not solicit others for it.
Physik Invest’s Daily Brief is read by thousands of subscribers. You, too, can join this community to learn about the fundamental and technical drivers of markets.
Graphic updated 8:00 AM ET. Sentiment Neutral if expected /ES open is inside of the prior day’s range. /ES levels are derived from the profile graphic at the bottom of this letter. Click here for the latest levels. SqueezeMetrics Dark Pool Index (DIX) and Gamma (GEX) with the latter calculated based on where the prior day’s reading falls with respect to the MAX and MIN of all occurrences available. A higher DIX is bullish. At the same time, the lower the GEX, the more (expected) volatility. Click to learn the implications of volatility, direction, and moneyness. Breadth reflects a reading of the prior day’s NYSE Advance/Decline indicator. The CBOE VIX Volatility Index (INDEX: VVIX) reflects the attractiveness of owning volatility.
Positioning
Markets think the Federal Reserve (Fed) raises its benchmark rate by 25 basis points. Notwithstanding the less aggressive hike, strategists believe the Fed will stay tougher on inflation for far longer and, accordingly, crush traders’ optimism.
“I suspect the Fed messaging tomorrow will push back against the pivot narrative and thereby current bond market pricing,” DoubleLine Capital CIO Jeffrey Gundlach said. Former investment banker and trader, as well as the president of the Minneapolis Fed, Neel Kashkari warned the Fed is set on finishing the job and cutting inflation, even if it costs millions of Americans their jobs. “I’ve spent enough time around Wall Street to know that they are culturally, institutionally, optimistic,” he said.
Further, relief in markets (e.g., stocks, housing) is a boon for asset owners and may enable companies to raise cash, bid up equipment prices, and demand new hires.
Graphic: Retrieved from Mortgage News Daily. “A trend of [increasing] purchase applications implies home buyer demand is [increasing].” The prevailing narrative is that the Fed wants less inflation and less demand. This narrative’s been disrupted, in part. Recall our Monday letter talking about investors’ desire to put their cash to work and the demand for treasuries (i.e., bond bid and yield pressured) which forced investors into previously depressed assets.
With inflation still a problem, regardless of whether there are better solutions as we put forth in the January 31 letter, the Fed is looking to keep rates above 5% for the rest of 2023, though markets are pricing a pivot far earlier and at a lower rate.
Despite the expectation of toughness from the Fed, markets have not broken down. Rather, if we zoom out, they are trending sideways to higher and may continue to do so. That’s according to Kai Volatility’s Cem Karsan who says that implied volatility (IVOL) is heightened across options with very little time to expiry (1- to 3-days).
“Event vol, which is the pricing of one-, two-, and three-day options, is significantly higher than everything else behind it right now,” he said, noting that customers’ or traders’ demands for downside put protection is the culprit. That said, despite the committee’s recent hawkishness, “the market responded relatively well at those levels, and you’re seeing vol come back down.”
Graphic: Retrieved from TradingView. First included in SpotGamma’s PM Note for 1/31/2023. During Tuesday’s strength, measures of IVOL, such as the Cboe Volatility Index (INDEX: VIX) fell, though the VIX did not move lower in as sharp of a fashion that the S&P 500 (INDEX: SPX) traded higher. In fact, the VIX trended up into the close, after a mid-day bottom, suggesting some left-over hedging demands ahead of some important macroeconomic drivers this week.
“I think that’s kind of likely what you’re going to see, regardless of what the Fed does,” Karsan added. That’s because, barring some unexpected development, traders will not be able to justify the pricing of ultra-short-dated options post-Fed; the supply and expiry of short-dated options will coincide with the dealers or market makers who are short-stock against the puts they supplied buying back their hedges.
“Vol structurally affects how markets move. Puts are the way people hedge in the market and dealers are short the puts. If you have an event vol that comes down, those vanna and charm effects will naturally lead to a buyback,” post-Fed.
For context, vanna is the change in an options delta with respect to changes in IVOL. Charm is the change in an options delta with respect to changes in time. These are second-order derivatives of an option’s value, once to time or IVOL, and once to delta.
You might have heard the old #trading adage "never short a dull market", Cem Karsan @jam_croissant explains how some second order Greeks, vanna & charm, play a role in proving out that phrase. #Vol411pic.twitter.com/AMnd7kQQdA
As your letter writer explained in a SpotGamma analysis yesterday, we saw an interest to hedge heading into this week’s Fed announcement. This coincided with a slight rebound in measures like the Cboe VIX Volatility (INDEX: VVIX) (which, in general, reads low and suggests convexity is a good place to be), and put a damper on the rally, hence its climax on Friday.
Moreover, if “macroeconomic events do not disappoint, IVOL compression may provide markets a boost,” SpotGamma explained. “Notwithstanding, the marginal compression of heightened IVOL, because of its lower starting point, probably does less to encourage a longer-lasting rally,” hence the thought that, if there was to be relief post-Fed, it would likely last up until the mid-February monthly options expiration (OpEx). OpEx’s removal of traders’ options protection (as well as dealers’ supportive buyback to those options that were demanded), may leave the market at risk of bearish macro-type flows.
Compounding the risk is traders’ expected reaction in case of weakness. The desire to hedge during a drop would coincide with a re-pricing in IVOL dangerous to anyone who is short volatility, hence this letter’s recent focus on owning the S&P 500 (INDEX: SPX) via call butterflies and call ratio spreads, the sorts of trades that would benefit from an SPX and VIX up environment (the result of traders bidding up call options due to their fear of missing out, in the context of less liquidity to absorb those demands).
To summarize everything, we have the Fed rate decision coming up. After, markets will be volatile but more likely to trend higher into mid-February, bolstered by traders’ fears of missing out in the context of a lower liquidity environment, as well as stimulus (e.g., falling Treasury General Account played into an easing of financial conditions by making it easier for banks to lend and finance trading activities). After mid-February, the window for markets to weaken and accelerate to the downside may open, based on the information we have today.
As an aside, the last time the Nasdaq 100 (INDEX: NDX) was up more than 10% in January was in 2001, The Market Ear informed subscribers yesterday.
Graphic: Retrieved from BNP Paribas ADR (OTC: BNPQY) via The Market Ear.
Should you wish to hedge, longer-dated SPX IVOL is cheap, relative to recent history.
Graphic: Retrieved from Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) via The Market Ear.
Finally, if you’re interested in following further along the fundamental conversation in Tuesday’s letter, check out Dr. Pippa Malmgren’s post on “ancient empires springing back to life.”
Technical
As of 8:00 AM ET, Wednesday’s regular session (9:30 AM – 4:00 PM ET), in the S&P 500, is likely to open in the middle part of a negatively skewed overnight inventory, inside of the prior range, suggesting a limited potential for immediate directional opportunity.
The S&P 500 pivot for today is $4,087.00.
Key levels to the upside include $4,100.25, $4,122.50, and $4,136.75.
Key levels to the downside include $4,071.50, $4,055.00, and $4,028.75.
Disclaimer: Click here to load the updated key levels via the web-based TradingView platform. New links are produced daily. Quoted levels hold weight barring an exogenous development.
Graphic: 65-minute profile chart of the Micro E-mini S&P 500 Futures.
Definitions
Volume Areas: Markets will build on areas of high-volume (HVNodes). Should the market trend for a period of time, this will be identified by a low-volume area (LVNodes). The LVNodes denote directional conviction and ought to offer support on any test.
If participants auction and find acceptance in an area of a prior LVNode, then future discovery ought to be volatile and quick as participants look to the nearest HVNodes for more favorable entry or exit.
POCs: Areas where two-sided trade was most prevalent in a prior day session. Participants will respond to future tests of value as they offer favorable entry and exit.
About
In short, Renato Leonard Capelj is an economics graduate working in finance and journalism.
Capelj spends most of his time as the founder of Physik Invest through which he invests and publishes daily analyses to subscribers, some of whom represent well-known institutions.
Separately, Capelj is an equity options analyst at SpotGamma and an accredited journalist interviewing global leaders in business, government, and finance.
