Friday 16 December 2016

The increasingly regal USD

US equities closed moderately higher, sp +8pts @ 2262 (intra high 2272). The two leaders - Trans/R2K, settled higher by 0.4% and 0.8% respectively. VIX settled -3.0% @ 12.79. Near term outlook continues to offer further cooling to at least 2231.


sp'daily5



VIX'daily3



Summary

A day of moderate gains, and its notable that today's daily candle was spiky... much like the previous two. Equity bears just need a break under the fed day low of sp'2248 to open the door to a very basic fib' retrace to 2231.

VIX remains very subdued, but if sp'2230s, that will likely equate to the 14/15s. The key 20 threshold looks out of range for the remainder of the year.
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Meanwhile.. in FIAT land...

USD, monthly


A sig' net daily gain of 1.4%, breaking into the DXY 103s, for the first time since Dec'2002, a rather considerable 14 years ago. Clearly, a higher dollar puts downward pressure on $ denominated asset classes. We're especially seeing that in the precious metals. For the moment, the equity market just doesn't care... but eventually it will have to.

Goodnight from London