Citadel's Rubner (note the statistics were as of mid-September so they are even less favorable for equities):
The quarter-end rebalance starts from an unfavorable cross-asset move. The S&P 500 is still up roughly 1% in Q3, while bonds are down 2.2%, increasing the potential need for pensions to sell equities and buy fixed income into quarter-end.
The top 100 US pension plans are approximately 112% funded, their highest funding levels since 2001. Strong funding levels continue to incentivize plans to de-glide and immunize portfolios, creating the potential for mechanical equity selling and fixed income buying into quarter-end.
This note from Northland was also kinda funny because it's the first wallstreet analyst I've seen upgrade Intel on a belief that Taiwan will likely be blockaded or invaded in the next few years lol.
"In our view, it is not an if; it is a when, reuniting with China. China’s reunification of Taiwan could happen within the next 18 months. The war in Iran has created a window of opportunity for a Chinese blockade of Taiwan; the presidential election on 1/28 is also a potential catalyst. We expect INTC
will outperform in this eventuality."
I think we entering an acute period of risk towards Taiwan for next 24-36 months. Of course everything would crash except for Intel, which along with a few other stocks would soar. Not a reason to purely own Intel, but its effectively a portfolio hedge.
$INTC
"$7 trillion of Treasury bills are currently outstanding, the vast majority of which mature within one year. Assuming the Fed hikes rates by 75bp this year as we expect, annual interest costs on outstanding T-bills alone could increase by roughly $50 Bn or ~15bps of GDP" - BofA
I think next week’s payrolls print will disappoint, and has decent (though not our baseline) chance of being negative.
Supposed it is a negative print. There is no modern Fed era precedent of Fed hiking after two negative payrolls prints.
Still 50-50?
$SPY
IV very low: rank 7/100
High Call vs put demand: Skew Rank is 99/100
No one cares about vol nor puts and I don't think that matters for at least another 4-5 sessions.
each dot is single stock constituent - they are mainly lower IV and call skewed too
BofA's Bull & Bear Indicator is at 9.7. The scale ends at 10, and it has been this high only a few times since 2002.
The number does not tell you the top is in. It tells you there is nobody left to convince.
🚨 Warning: Bank of Japan Forces $6T Homeward — Prepare for the Biggest Liquidity Crunch Ever!
BoJ insider Yuto Kanzaki just revealed: Japan’s wealth returns home by any means necessary!
This is the Reverse Carry Trade (RCT) unwind going nuclear.
After decades of cheap Yen funding, Japanese institutions are being forced to dump their $6 TRILLION+ in foreign securities (mostly US Treasuries & stocks) and bring the money back.
Japan’s 250%+ debt-to-GDP bomb, exploding pensions, and weak Yen crisis leave them no choice.
Expect a brutal fire sale: US yields spiking, global stocks crashing, liquidity vanishing, and carry trades getting annihilated worldwide.
The world’s largest creditor nation just turned desperate. This isn’t policy normalization, it’s survival mode.
Markets are about to feel the pain.