This is weekly market update, starting in the US, Europe, then Asia and then the US, as I get my thoughts organised!
This week, punctuated by a Wednesday US holiday, saw markets taking a breather following recent volatility and record highs. The Nasdaq had hit record highs on Thursday, boosted by strong gains in tech, and indications of a gradual easing in the labor market and inflation levels.
But on Friday, in New York, the S&P 500 closing modestly lower thanks to the quarterly expiration of about $US5.5 trillion of options during the quarterly “triple witching” in which derivatives contracts tied to equities, index options and futures mature. Around 18 billion shares changed hands on US exchanges, which is 55 per cent above the three-month average volume. The options’ expiration coincided with index rebalancing as well.
Remember that S&P 500 is up 14.6% this year, but most of the broader index’s gains have been concentrated in the information technology and communications sectors – up 28.2% and 24.3%, respectively. The rest of the market has been more subdued: the next best performing sector, utilities, is only up 9.5% year-to-date. More than 7% of stocks are down this year. So the huge price gains, including Nvidia’s 155% year-to-date run, have stirred worries that the tech rally might be overheated.
http://www.martinnorth.com/
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