Volatility Stubbornly High – Proven Wrong Quickly
By the slightest margin, stocks closed for the second day in a row, breaking a 30+ day streak. Does that really matter? I don’t think so. Seasonals are weak this week, but nothing powerful. It has been a real nothing burger this month which probably means something will come out of the blue.
Retreading an old topic, the Volatility Index (VIX) is below. With stocks at new highs, the VIX should not even be a teenager, let alone stubbornly close to 20. I know the election is coming, but this still seems odd. We know for a fact that one of two people will win the presidency. We may like that. We may dislike that. But, it’s a fact.
Last week, I showed a trade in bonds using the TLT ETF. It had sold off hard and was trying to stabilize around $93. I liked the trade as the downside was clearly defined, meaning that if it closed below $93, I was definitely wrong. It didn’t take long, but I was wrong. Take the 1% and time to move on.
Markets that grind or creep higher are tough if you’re not in early. I usually try to upgrade my positions, but that hasn’t been easy without volatility. That day will come, probably sooner than later.
On Monday we bought SPYB. We sold PCY, EMB, GDX, QLD and RYCIX. On Tuesday we bought QLD and more KIE.
