Greece Continues To Roil The Market

Equities start the day lower as Greece continues to roil the market, which is a SHAME SHAME SHAME (that wasn’t a big spoiler right? Actually if you didn’t see last night’s GoT finale it might be in your best interests to stop reading. I can’t help myself here). I don’t know whether to label this Greece thing a tragedy or a comedy but I’m sure it’s a mixture of both at this point. Here, this link sums up what everyone thinks when they read another “Stocks fall on Greek headlines” story. The problem is, this never ending parade of talks is causing our market to bleed out like Jon Snow. Every day another paper cut knocks 10, 15, 20 bps off YTD returns and frankly they are starting to add up. That being said, my hopes for the market are the same one’s I have for our now Ex-Lord Commander…..resurrection. Greek headlines are just noise, if we survived the goat rodeo that was 2008-2009 we can survive Greece leaving the Eurozone and the ECB backstopping every piece of Hellenic paper in existence. So while we don’t have access to any red priestesses we do have access to a gray haired central banker who just so happens to be one of the most powerful people in the world. Janet and her team meet this Wednesday and maybe, just maybe, something comes out of it that perks up the market. I’ll miss you Jon, and Jaime, and maybe even you Cersei, waiting a year for your favorite TV show to return is worse than volume-less markets and missing the VWAP. Hey HBO, I’ll pay triple next year if you bring GoT back in the fall!     

 After the open it felt like we’d get some “For the Watch” action as the S&P dropped nearly 1%. I was hoping to see a few stocks get stabbed in the stomach to rile up trading a bit.  But it was all for naught my fellow crows, morning weakness lasted as long as Stannis’ archers. The low of the day was made just 22 minutes into the session and we spent the rest of the morning grinding higher. Why the intraday rally? Absolutely no reason whatsoever, both Empire Manufacturing and Industrial Production missed so it’s not like we got some unexpectedly good data. Price action is noisy right now and the theme of the year continues to be “if you don’t like your position just wait a day, you’ll be proven right”. In fact you don’t have to sit around thinking you are a slubberdeguillion all the time, just be patient and it works out! (I’ll set the o/u at 3 for people who know what that word means). Winners were CI, FSLR, AET, NEM, and ALXN.   Losers MU, SNDK, TDX, STZ, and HUM. Just another fun filled Monday where we stare at the tape waiting for something to move the market.   Something not Greece….for the love of God…

 The rest of the day was fairly meaningless. We spent the 2nd half in a 4 point range (2082 to 2086). There just isn’t a lot going on right now ex-Greece so it’s getting pretty hard to keep you entertained. I assume the market will be dead tomorrow given the Fed decision on Wednesday so stay tuned for more channeling   

Final score:  Dow -60bps, S&P500 -46bps, Nasdaq -42bps, Rus2k -31bps.

News Highlights:

 I could only find one article today worth your time so please check it out.  It talks about the difference between ordinary investors and extraordinary investors.  I like this thought process a lot:  “When ordinary investors read a report suggesting that oil prices are sure to rise, they investigate which airlines have the best hedging strategies in place. When extraordinary investors read the same report, they investigate which aircraft manufacturers are working on future-friendly designs that dramatically increase fuel efficiency.  And when ordinary investors arrive home to find their teenaged kids ditched their chores to video chat with their friends, they get upset and take away the kids’ devices. Extraordinary investors also get upset and take away their kids’ devices, but not before figuring out what new apps they were using and how to invest in them.”

We’ll end with two sports related links because the NBA and NHL finals have inspired me  (go Hawks)

The first is a play that took 4 different actors to pull off.   You think they practice that?  

The second is the highest basketball shot ever recorded.    Wow.

Have a good night.