Not a lot going on in US markets with respect to headlines (besides FedEx’s big earnings disappointment) ahead of this afternoon’s FOMC meeting where the committee is also expected to do nothing.  Whenever we find ourselves in these types of “not a lot going on” situations, though, the market always finds a way to surprise everyone, so we’ll watch and wait.

Please click the link below to read today’s Bespoke Morning Lineup.

Bespoke Morning Lineup – 3/20/19

As noted in this morning’s report, data released by the Semiconductor Industry Association showed the fastest decline in global semiconductor sales on a 3m/3m basis since April of 2009. The 20% annualized rate of decline for nominal semis sales is consistent with global manufacturing PMI around 49 (versus 50.6 in February data). Declines are broad across various regions.

While sales rates have been in decline, the rebound in semi stocks has been anything but “semi.”  We’ve been highlighting the relative strength of a sector frequently, and most recently in last week’s Bespoke Report, but even yesterday when the market started to sell off in the afternoon (blue line), semiconductor stocks held up very well as evidenced by the rising relative strength versus the S&P 500 (gray line).