Better volume than yesterday, but still below average, saw the S&P suffer its devastatingly worst day (and first down day) in the last 10 days. The sell-off appeared to start on some Esther 'hawkess' George comments and were stick-saved by rumors of a Hilsenrath article (which appeared and was full of nothing). *The S&P futures 'miraculously' reverted perfectly to VWAP but still ended its 10-day-winning-streak*. Bonds were very modestly bid but liquidity was thin and activity muted. Gold and Silver had a positive day (up 0.55% on the week) as the USD kept falling (down a matching 0.55% on the week). WTI limped a little lower holding at $105.75 as gas prices continue to surge. *Builders remain worst on the week (despite the 'awesome' NAHB print today) and Utilities best.* Since 6/19's FOMC meeting, QE-sensitive sectors Energy, Materials, and Homebuilders remain the biggest losers with the winners (Financials and Discretionary) giving some back today. *VIX was relatively well bid today as hedgers dug in ahead of Ben's speech*.Do not panic - "*it was still a victory for the bulls*" was the anthem cried out from Maria B before the close...
The S&P 500 futures managed a remarkable miracle ramp to perfectly end at VWAP... all the volume on the downswing and the algo-ramp to VWAP with no volume...
But evidently hedgers were active this afternoon as VIX pushed notably higher...
Gold and silver managed modest gains...
amid the USD weakness... (AUD surging 2% this week)...
As Bonds went nowhere fast...
So the question is - was the USD weakness a sign of exit from USD assets (signaled by equity weakness amid modest moves in the bonds) or is the FX market (and bonds to some extent) front-running another dovish evulsion from Bernanke tomorrow that stocks already took care of...
Sine the 6/19 FOMC, the QE-sensitive sectors remain underwater still...
So Financial stocks are dramatically outperforming... but notably, the credit markets are not at all synced with that momentum-chasing exuberance...
Charts: Bloomberg and Capital Context Reported by Zero Hedge 3 hours ago.