The 3 day ATR is around 40 points and the Bollinger Bands are pinched at their tightest contraction in 120 bars. Price is wound tight across every stock index, SPX is dinging off the upper edge of the range, and RUT is ping ponging until something gives. Inside: the swings, the crypto read, and why sideways still hits target.

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Bollinger Bands Pinched Tightest In 120 Bars As Indexes Wind Up

Friday’s payrolls contraction took 16 points off September pricing. Monday handed back 10 for a headline containing no news at all. We tried to work out which one the Fed is actually watching.

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What Does The Front End Actually Read, The Economy Or The Barrel?

Friday’s jobs contraction took 16 points off September. Monday’s shut-strait headline handed back 10. Only one of them contained a statistic, and it was not the one that won.

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16 Points For A Jobs Report. 10 Back For A Boat.

Nothing weird or funky happened over the weekend. The VIX has returned to normal, almost violently, and the S&P pushed slightly higher. I’m still concerned overall, and as the first third of the month gets X’ed off the calendar, are we still setting up to meet the grim reaper in September? Or is that my fever dream paranoia kicking in? A shorter one today, because I am sick as a dog.

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A Violent VIX Reversion, A Bollinger Pinch, And A Nervous Nod To September

July payrolls fell 23,000 and September hike pricing dropped sixteen points before lunch. The trouble is that the chairman has said the September call rests on inflation, not employment.

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The Jobs Number Moved The One Thing It Was Not Meant To Move

July payrolls fell 23,000 and the S&P closed at a record. Sixteen points came off September hike pricing in a morning. We had spent a week arguing that could not happen.

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Jobs Went Missing. The Index Sent Flowers.

The markets go up and the markets go down. It is when they do it to extremes with nothing fundamentally changing that you get price extremes, and then a course correction post news. Buy the rumour, sell the news. So is this recent rally hot wind and thin air, a Fugazi? We find out in a few hours, and no doubt you already have.

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Buy The Rumour, Sell The News, And A Rally Built On Thin Air

Wednesday’s jobs miss moved the two-year almost nothing. Thursday, a committee reading a document moved it seven basis points. We try to work out what the front end is actually listening to.

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Why does a draft nobody has voted on outrank a jobs number that missed?

A jobs miss moved the front end nothing. A draft nobody has voted on moved it seven basis points. Payrolls land at 08:30 into a curve that has just told you what it actually reads.

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7 Basis Points for a Draft. Nothing for 21,000 Missing Jobs.

The VIX pushed higher then spiked higher, despite the overnight and morning moves up. Gold is breaking out like it means it. Then the turn came. Is this the top? A blow off top? I remain a nervous bull, I am staying sidelined on the swings, and I am taking the day trades instead. Plus crude’s sell the rally and a Popper day that started with a loss.

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Gold’s Monstrous Breakout, A VIX Spike, And I Stay Sidelined