**Bonds & Bullion Burst Higher, Banks Battered As JOLTs Plunge Ahead Of Jay Powell**
Bonds & Bullion Burst Higher, Banks Battered As JOLTs Plunge Ahead Of Jay Powell
A surprise RBA rate-hike, hotter than expected headline EU inflation, weak JOLTS, poor US factory orders, a sudden realization of the urgency and seriousness of the debt ceiling debacle, Europe back from vacation, and/or just pre-FOMC jitters?
...or was it this?
> As a reminder, the Fed NOW has next week's dire SLOOS report in hand
>
> — zerohedge (@zerohedge) May 2, 2023 (https://twitter.com/zerohedge/status/1653400481199161345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
US Macro data is serially disappointing...
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_Source: Bloomberg_
US debt ceiling anxiety is serially increasing...
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_Source: Bloomberg_
Bank stocks were a bloodbath as the world and his pet rabbit realized JPM hadn't saved the universe. Regionals were smashed lower as whack-a-mole resumes...
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_Source: Bloomberg_
And even the big boys suffered...
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_Source: Bloomberg_
Overall, all the majors were lower today with Small Caps hardest hit...
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'Most Shorted' Stocks puked hard...
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_Source: Bloomberg_
0-DTE fought hard against the initial down-thrust in stocks from the cash-open. Stocks stalled around 4100 then rebounded and then around 1400ET, 0-DTE call-buyers took profits...
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_Source: SpotGamma_ (https://spotgamma.com/hiro-indicator/)
VIX1D soared today, breaking back above VIX for the first time since April 11th (ahead of CPI) and April 6th (ahead of payrolls)...
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_Source: Bloomberg_
And as we noted earlier, equity markets remain somewhat more sanguine about the debt ceiling threat that other markets
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_Source: Bloomberg_
And then there was Chegg, down 50%... AI's first victim...
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_Source: Bloomberg_
Treasuries were aggressively bid as Europe's liquidity returned and the heavy corporate calendar eased up. **The long-end underperformed but the entire curve plunged** (30Y -10bps, 5Y -18bps, 2Y -16bps)...
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_Source: Bloomberg_
2Y Yields fell back below 4.00%...
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_Source: Bloomberg_
Rate-hike odds plunged today ahead of tomorrow's FOMC statement. The market adjusted down to an 85% chance of a 25bps hike tomorrow...
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_Source: Bloomberg_
...but most notably, June went from a 35% chance of 25bps hike to a 15% chance of a 25bps rate-cut today...
?itok=PHS4LNqG (https://cms…