NASDAQ-100 AND SP-500 NAVIGATING FRAGILE MARKETS- T-bills to be issued by the end of Q3 drain liquidity and have an impact similar to a 25 basis point increase in benchmark rates.
- Further market extension is challenging due to possible overtightening.
- Unemployment data is a significant turning point.
- Unsatisfactory market breadth.
- Significant divergence between Nasdaq and Treasury 2-year.
Hello everyone,
Today I present a couple of ideas regarding the fragility of the Nasdaq 100 and the consequences for the S&P 500.
Firstly, I want to remind you that once the US debt agreement is reached, approximately 1 trillion dollars' worth of short-term Treasury bills (T-bills) will enter the market by the end of Q3, resulting in an inevitable liquidity drain from the stock market. According to industry reports, this issuance of government bonds may act as an additional 25 basis point increase in Fed rates. Furthermore, following the bank failures in recent months, we can expect further deterioration in the credit market, also comparable to a 25 basis point increase in Fed rates.
This leads us to a potential overtightening by the Fed due to the indirect rate increase described above. It will, therefore, be challenging for the markets to grow solidly due to the likely resulting economic contraction. Additionally, recent reports indicate that inflation is decreasing less than expected, and further rate increases by the Fed may be necessary, as dictated by their econometric models.
The unemployment data for this week will be crucial. If it indicates a potential rise in unemployment, we may see a pause in rate hikes, thus mitigating the possibility of a sustained market collapse in the short term. Otherwise, further credit tightening will be necessary, which will have a negative impact on the markets. If another Fed rate hike materializes, we could witness the liquidation of long positions built over time based on optimism about potential rate cuts at the end of the year. Without a year-end rate cut, the possibility of a credit squeeze continuing into 2024 arises, which would be detrimental to heavily indebted companies that will have to consider refinancing ongoing operations at much higher than expected rates. This will have a negative impact on future corporate profits.
We now observe the deterioration in the breadth of the index, displaying a negative divergence with three descending peaks. For the tech rally to continue, we will need further advances in AI-related stocks, the last line of defense before a correction (in the chart, market breadth is indicated in gray, calculated as the percentage of stocks above their 200-period moving average).
Finally, I would like to mention the significant divergence between the 2-year Treasury and the Nasdaq-100 since the beginning of May (in the chart, the 2-year Treasury is represented in cyan, with the axis inverted). I believe that this divergence will be corrected, but since a reduction in 2-year Treasury yields is unlikely, the possibility of a correction in the index remains.
Nice trading,
Cheers
