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“Volatility obscures the future but does not necessarily determine the future.” – Peter Bernstein

Below is a snippet of commentary from today’s Morning Lineup. Start a two-week trial to Bespoke Premium to view the full report.  

After yesterday’s sharp declines, bulls were in no rush to get back to work this morning ahead of the January CPI report, with futures on the major indices all down about 0.20%. The 10-year yield was basically unchanged at 4.10%, down from 4.23% earlier in the week. Crude oil was also modestly lower, while gold is marginally higher and silver rallies close to 3%. Bitcoin is up a little over 2% but still below $67K.

In Asia, equities were lower across the board with the Nikkei down 1.2%, Hong Kong down 1.7%, and China’s Shanghai Composite falling 1.3%.  Despite those losses, Japan still finished the week 5% higher, while South Korea rallied more than 8%!

In Europe, equities were mostly lower but by more modest amounts. The STOXX 600 is down 0.4%, putting it in the red for the week, while Germany bucks the trend with a gain of 0.1%. Q4 GDP for the continent grew 0.3%, which was right in line with expectations.

CPI just hit the tape, and the market liked it! Headline CPI came in weaker than expected, with the y/y reading was 2.4% compared to forecasts for 2.5%. Core CPI was right inline with forecasts at 0.3% m/m. In reaction, futures have bounced into positive territory, while the 10-year yield dropped to 4.07%. Is a 3-handle on the way?

It was a rough day for two very important sectors often considered leading indicators of the physical and digital economy, as the Dow Transports fell 2.5% while the Philadelphia Semiconductor index (SOX) plunged just over 4%. That’s enough to instill some fear in the minds of already nervous investors.

Starting with the Transports, yesterday’s pullback found support right at the index’s uptrend line that has been in place since late last year. Looking at the chart, even bulls have to admit that as painful as yesterday’s sell-off was, the surge in the prior couple of weeks had also gotten ahead of itself.

Moving on to the transports of the digital economy, the SOX has been on a tear for nearly a year now, and even after yesterday’s decline, it has more than doubled off its April lows. Doubled! That being said, yesterday’s decline came right after the index had come up just shy of taking out its prior high from January, so until that resistance is taken out, the burden of proof is on the bulls.