Why This Flush

By Monica Kingsley of MonicaKingsley.co

Friday, August 2, 2024 8:24 AM EDT

S&P 500 tried to rally after the post Powell spike and retreat, ignoring the almost 250K unemployment claims. It was though a bit worse than expected manufacturing PMI (46.8 vs. 48.8) that sustained the heavy selling into the opening bell strength with NVDA touching $120. All the three indices and real assets except gold were hit hard, and not even all the defensives and interest rate sensitive sectors provided refuge.

I can‘t avoid the notion of disappointment over no Jul cut (remember Dudley?) and fear of the economy getting worse than it currently seems getting (resulting in bad news being sold, and no more soft landing talk). Simply too restrictive rates in the now. Whether we get 3 or 4 rate cuts this year and 2 more early 2025, doesn‘t matter to equities much (profits ahead are being questioned).

See VIX and extensive commentary published in our channel.

(Click on image to enlarge)

S&P 500 and Nasdaq