It has been another volatile, see-saw day with the major indices starting off in the red led by Nasdaq, only to turn positive, led by Nasdaq.  Investor have continued to digest the CPI data from yesterday, along with the PPI data this morning.  That, coupled with comments from St. Louis Fed President Bullard, known for his more hawkish stance, stating that he believes a 75-basis point is not currently needed, helped the market go green, albeit it, short lived.  Then the major indices went back where they started, all in the red. 

Geopolitical concerns continue to mount. Finland said today they plan to bid to join NATO. Russia’s actions in Ukraine have led Finland decision to join NATO to help secure and defend their country.  Sweden will likely follow suit. Russia has threatened to take “retaliatory steps” against Finland should it join NATO, which isn’t helping ease any concerns on Wall Street. 

Currently, there are only 2 S&P500 sectors in the green, Communications Services and Consumer Discretionary, but that could change on this see-saw action day.  The 10-year yield is actually taking a bit of a breather, down to 2.87%, weighing on Financials, which are among the worst performers today, down around 1.5%.  The U.S. Dollar Index continues to rise as a flight to safety, and is up 0.8% to 104.65, a 20-year high.

Energy is a laggard today, despite oil prices rising.  Currently, WTI is up .80% to $106.50 even as the IEA lowered its global oil demand growth forecast for Q2 by 200,000 to 1.9 million barrels per day. 

Breadth continues to be negative, but the real gotcha is the new lows of 2,396 versus 12 new high….yep, that isn’t a typo.

Take a look at the meme stocks such as GameStop (GME), AMC Entertainment (AMC), and Bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY),  which have all been hard hit on large short positions, are now up 12%, 6.3%, and 4.6%, respectively.  

We want to reiterate what we said this morning, the turn is close.