Kristal Daily Brief- Aug 22

1.) Market ended their 4 week win streak on Friday as major equity indices ended in red. SPX Index could not overcome the 200d Mavg?(4320.86) last week and closed at 4228.48 on Friday (-1.29% down on the day) – right near the 50% Fibonacci retracement level from June lows. Only healthcare closed in green (+0.27%) with consumer discretionary (-2.09%), financials (-2.02%), and materials (-1.85%) lagging. On a weekly basis SPX was down 1.21% while NDX 100 index suffered 2.38% drawdown.

?2) The US 10-year yields continued to push higher and closed at 2.98% up 20bps on the week pushing for the 3% level again which doesn’t seem to be good news for tech sector bulls. Commodities broadly were down on the week as dollar continues to gain momentum with DXY now above 108 level.

?3.) August has turned out to be the calmest month this year for SPX with VIX averaging 21 this month till date on course for the lowest level since November. The volatility has stayed dampened into the expiration on Friday, however according to estimates by Goldman Sachs, about 2 trillion of options expired on Friday obliging holders to either roll over existing positions or start new ones. Traders will be closely watching the market action post this OPEX for hints whether the tranquility will last.

4.) The event risk this week is really centered on Fed chair Jay Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole forum and the PCE data on Friday.

Have a great week ahead.

"The most contrarian thing of all is not to oppose the crowd but to think for yourself."?

Peter Thiel

Disclaimer: views and commentary are as at the date of which it is published and the company is not obligated to issue any communication should this view or commentary vary, differ or diametrically change and the reader should assume that the information is not up to date and shall not make reliance on the information for any investment decision.?