Trader Talk

It's not Comey who's moving the markets

Key Points
  • The S&P is moving in a narrow 6-point range, volume is average, and the CBOE Volatility Index is once again below 10
  • However, there is notably heavy volume in Treasury ETFs across the yield curve
John Zich | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The is moving in a narrow 6-point range, volume is average, and the CBOE Volatility Index is once again below 10. This indicates that neither the Comey testimony, nor the British election, nor the ECB meeting (where rates were left unchanged) are rattling the markets.

However, there is notably heavy volume in Treasury ETFs across the yield curve (SHY, IEI, IEF) as yields have moved higher. This has sparked heavy volume in bank ETFs (KBE, KRE), with many regional banks up two percent or more. This may indicate some traders are abandoning using Treasuries as a hedge against a stock portfolio.

Of special note is Citigroup, which alone among the big banks has broken through to a 9-year high.

Finally, there is no rally at all in oil despite the terrible drubbing the commodity took yesterday, when it was down five percent. We are again seeing many high-profile energy stocks at 52-week lows, including Anadarko, Transocean, Devon, Marathon, and Hess.