Considering what’s at stake with the President’s weeklong trip to Asia, I think it is fitting to begin with:
These are doubtless interesting times. Just off the top of my head we have:
- A host of Asian deals, negotiations, and announcements;
- Most notably, the ostensible cessation of the U.S./China tariff war;
- META earnings
- AMZN earnings
- GOOGL earnings
- AAPL earnings
- MSFT earnings
- The FOMC on Wednesday
There’s plenty of others, but you get the idea.
Besides all that, the government has been shut down for about a month, but if your experience is anything like mine, the fact has been utterly immaterial to my life except for the lack of data.
The mere mention of a “framework” for a deal with China vaulted equities to lifetime highs for the umpteenth time this year, and the big gap was padded with additional gains all night long, as shown here with the /NQ futures.
Conversely, fear is nowhere to be found, as the VIX is now down to a 15-handle (about half what it was merely a few weeks ago).
Likewise, precious metals are soft, with gold continuing to test crucial psychological support at the $4,000 level.
I am coming into the day exceptionally light – – three “all cash” portfolios and the other two less than half-committed – – which lets me think much more clearly in this maelstrom. This is going to be quite the barnburner of a week, so good luck out there.
