Republic Risk: Monster Day

Equity Storm Watch Is YELLOW on the S&P 500 and RED on the Russell 2000

Futures are flat-headed into June’s triple-witching options expiration, which will see over $5 trillion of notional open interest coming off the table, making this the largest expiration on record. 

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), trading at multi-year lows, gained nearly a dollar, up 7.9%, heading into Friday. At the same time, the yen continued to sell off for six days, bringing the currency back to the level of the last intervention by finance ministers, which created additional pressure on neighboring Asian markets.  In commodities, oil is on track for its first back-to-back weekly gain since early April, as inventory levels came in lighter than expected, down 2.5 million barrels. 

It’s all a welcome sight for our energy positions in OXY, PBF, and OVV. 

The S&P 500 hit 5,500 yesterday and peeled back from that key level. The rest of the market saw a bit of a breather finally, but the stocks at the top took the bi…