July 28, 2023

Markets:

Stock futures rose early Friday as Wall Street digested new inflation data.

Earnings season continued with Dow member Procter & Gamble shares gaining more than 1.1% in premarket trading Friday. The consumer goods company behind Tide and other brands beat analysts’ earnings and revenue expectations in its most recent quarter.

Investors absorbed June data for the personal consumption expenditures price index. The data showed core PCE gained 0.2% month-over-month, in line with the 0.2% increase expected by economists polled by Dow Jones.

The data is of particular interest after the central bank raised interest rates earlier this week in a widely expected move. The Fed targets inflation at 2% annually.

Wall Street is coming off a losing session. The Dow’s nearly 0.7% tumble marked the end of a 13-day win streak, a length not seen since 1987. The S&P 500
and Nasdaq Composite each finished around 0.6% lower.

U.S. Treasury yields were mixed on Friday as investors looked to the release of the latest instalment of the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge. They also assessed the outlook for global monetary policy after a series of interest rate decisions from central banks around the world.

Portfolio:

Absolutely insane session yesterday.  85% of price activity was clearly driven by directional algo's.  Both sides of the trade hit for premium.  Even the close yesterday was a wild look as we quickly bounced 15 points on SPX.  A sign of how crowded the short side gets.  So many folks want to be "right" on the short side.  A move that has destroyed traders over the past 1200 points higher on the S&P.  They continue to chase, "I'm calling the top".  Regardless, monster open in play and they will chase the upside once again.  We'll be watching price activity very closely today.  Not really concerned with todays price activity, more concerned with next weeks opening trade and how we hold into Apple's & Amazon earnings.  This is the key for us, personally.  

We enter todays session holding set-ups in RIVN & KEY.  Be ready today for further updates.  Be patient.  Remember it's end of the month trading as well.  Expect swings.  We are positioning ourselves for the move in August now.