Global equities kicked off December positively as most Asian equity benchmarks finished the first trading day of the month with gains of between 0.5% and 1.0%. In China, the 10-year yield fell to a record low just below 2% after the country’s services PMI came in weaker than expected at 50.0 even as the Manufacturing component increased modestly to 50.3. While growth in China remained anemic, Japan’s Manufacturing PMI remained in contraction territory for the sixth month.

In Europe, equities have also gotten off to a positive start in December although the magnitude of the gains has been more modest with the STOXX 600 trading up just under half of a percent. Manufacturing in the region remains in contraction as the PMI index fell from 46.0 to 45.2 for its 29th straight month below 50.

US equity futures were modestly higher earlier but have now dipped slightly into negative territory as we await the December release of the ISM Manufacturing report. While it hasn’t been quite as weak as its European counterpart, the ISM index is expected to remain below 50 for the eighth month in a row and the 24th time in the last 25 months. It will be interesting to see, though, if the election results had any impact on manufacturers’ sentiment.

December 2nd may not seem like much of a day to most people, but today marks the 23rd anniversary of Enron’s bankruptcy filing. At the time, Enron was the largest corporate bankruptcy in US history, but 23 years later, it only ranks as the ninth largest. At an estimated $66 billion, Enron’s bankruptcy was less than a tenth of Lehman’s (largest ever) which occurred less than seven years later, and a fifth the size of Washington Mutual which collapsed just after Lehman. The fact that Enron’s bankruptcy was so large at the time but now pales in comparison to some of the largest illustrates once again how despite the power and strength of the US economy, never underestimate the ability of companies to screw things up and ultimately screw their employees, customers, creditors, and shareholders.

Enron’s bankruptcy hit the market at a particularly vulnerable time. Just over two months earlier, the bottom had fallen out of the market following the 9/11 attacks, but the market quickly rebounded giving hope to investors that the whoosh lower when the markets re-opened in September had been a market clearing event. Enron’s bankruptcy stopped the rally in its tracks, and after treading water for a few months, the bottom fell out of the market again as accounting scandals at Tyco and WorldCom hit the market. Enron may not have been the sole cause of the post-9/11 rally losing steam, but in bear markets, there’s always something.

Turning to the present market, the Treasury market has done its best to confuse markets in the last few months. In early September, all you would hear about was how the start of the Fed easing cycle would unleash a period of lower rates and ease borrowing costs for Americans. While short-term rates declined, the Fed has little control over the long end of the curve, and the 10-year yield made its low for the year just before the September cut. From there, the yield marched steadily higher.

Then, leading up to the election, a Trump victory was considered a harbinger of higher rates as lower taxes would balloon the deficit. The verdict is still out on what a Trump Administration will mean for the deficit as he’s not even in office, but once again, nearly the exact opposite occurred. Yields peaked shortly after the election and finished off November 11 basis points lower than where they started the month.

It’s not just longer-term Treasuries that have rallied, though. The snapshot below from our Trend Analyzer shows the performance of various Treasury and fixed-income-related ETFs. Not only have they all rallied over the last week, but they’re also mostly at or above their 50-day moving averages (DMAs).

More By This Author: