There was blood on the streets in US trading yesterday as we saw the S&P 500 fall by 3.6%, the Nasdaq down 5.0%, and the Dow fall by 3.1%. It was rather ugly, especially more so as stocks puked right after having rallied the previous day after the FOMC meeting.
For now, US futures are keeping calmer and near flat levels on the day. But there’s just an inkling that the calm we’re seeing now won’t last through the day before the weekend.
There will be the US non-farm payrolls release to contend with later but I don’t see that as being a major factor for equities at the moment. Sentiment is on a knife’s edge and I fear that some added deleveraging (in both stocks and bonds) will tip things over and the rout will kick start again.
This is one ugly-looking pinbar shaping up on the weekly chart in the Nasdaq: