The market is breathing a sigh of relief on additional signs of consumer strength, but the surge is still contained in the trading range created on August 5^th.

I’ve been pointing out those giant gaps created from Friday August 2 close to the August 5^th open would remain a stubborn area of resistance.  Note, the S&P 500 did clear its August 2^nd close, but all the other major equity indices failed.

Now investors await the minutes from the last FOMC gathering while musing about the mountain of negative-yielding debt.  The number is equal to seventeen trillion USD and climbing fast.

How this influences the Federal Reserve remains to be seen, but this is just one of many signs which underscores the notion Jay Powell and company are behind the curve. The chart below shows how remarkable negative yields have become, hitting all durations from two to thirty years in the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland.