Some crazy Friday we're having today. Asia tanked on the Bloomberg story that Chinese officials have sent a memo around to the banks in advance of putting a reign on lending. (Note Shanghai has fallen ~20% from recent peak.) Oddly though, most of the Asian markets put in a huge rally either just before the close, or futures rallied (Taiwan, Tokyo) after regular stock trading closed. Then we get big rallies in Europe and the US. Just wondering how much of these rallies are short-covering ahead of Bernanke's 10am EST appearance in Jackson Hole. Jackson Hole is a weekend event, no? So we are looking at a whole weekend with central bankers from around the world getting drunk in Wyoming? So ... if we only have some innocuous pronouncements out of Jackson Hole Sunday night ... we should see those shorts put back on first thing Monday morning? Hmmm ...
we are not expecting much here, but you never know! http://www.thefxmarkets.com/forexlearning/Bernanke-In-The-Hole-Any-Hints-82003.cfm The Event: At 10:00 AM on Friday, August 21st, Federal Reserve Chairman, Benjamin Bernanke, will speak at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's Annual Economic Symposium at the resort town of Jackson Hole. Description: Although this is a minor event, it's a slow release day Friday. Whenever Bernanke speaks it's important that traders listen carefully for potential hints on the future course of monetary policy. The title of the talk is "Reflections On A Year Of Crisis" so traders can expect some back patting rhetoric and perhaps a few hints for future policy decisions. Trader Take: These are confusing times for the US http://www.thefxmarkets.com/forexlearning/Bernanke-In-The-Hole-Any-Hints-82003.cfm
I don't know ... not sure I would call it a minor event given the highly coordinated 'stimulus' -like activity central bankers have undertaken around the world. Now the question is, how will all of this extraordinary stimulus be unwound? China seems to have gotten the ball rolling unilaterally. Of course we know central bankers only say positive things about the market. I'm of the view that we are seeing a huge short-covering ralling across global indices today, ahead of anything from the banking cabal over the weekend. Besides, I'm sitting on a sh*tload of puts ...
I have no doubt taht we'll break the 1015 resistance on ES today. What else can central bankers say other than everything's flowers?