Stocks Surging into Afternoon on Russia/Ukraine De-escalation Optimism, Virus Case Plunge, Short-Covering, Tech/Alt Energy Sector Strength

Broad Equity Market Tone:

• Advance/Decline Line:  Substantially Higher
  

• Sector Performance:  Almost Every Sector Rising
  

• Volume:   Around Average

• Market Leading Stocks: Performing In Line
  

Equity Investor Angst:

• Volatility(VIX) 25.6 -7.6%
• Bloomberg Global Risk On/Risk Off Index 3,053.0 +275.0 points

• Euro/Yen Carry Return Index 133.10 +.56%

• Emerging Markets Currency Volatility(VXY) 9.4 -3.5%

• CBOE S&P 500 Implied Correlation Index 41.6 -3.0% 

• ISE Sentiment Index 88.0  -8.0 points
  

• Total Put/Call 1.0 -2.0%

• NYSE Arms .82 +32.3%

Credit Investor Angst:

• North American Investment Grade CDS Index 60.62 -1.2%
  

• US Energy High-Yield OAS 416.71 -.57%

• European Financial Sector CDS Index 67.09 -1.3%

• Italian/German 10Y Yld Spread 128.0 -5.0 basis points
  

• Asia Ex-Japan Investment Grade CDS Index 91.38 -.01%
  

• Emerging Market CDS Index 213.89 -1.0%
  

• China Corp. High-Yield Bond USD ETF(KHYB) 31.57 -.03% 
• Ukraine Sovereign Debt Credit Default Swap 788.33 -1.7%
  

• 2-Year Swap Spread 15.5 unch.
  

• TED Spread 14.25 +1.75 basis points
  

• 3-Month EUR/USD Cross-Currency Basis Swap -12.75 unch.
  
• MBS  5/10 Treasury Spread  83.25 -2.75 basis points
  
• IHS Markit CMBX BBB- 6 74.5 -.5 basis point
  

Economic Gauges:

• Bloomberg Emerging Markets Currency Index 54.35 +.82%
• 3-Month T-Bill Yield .18% unch.
  

• Yield Curve 59.5 -3.5 basis points
  

• China Iron Ore Spot 137.75 USD/Metric Tonne +1.2%

• Citi US Economic Surprise Index -6.7 -5.0 points

• Citi Eurozone Economic Surprise Index 51.4 +.7 point
  

• Citi Emerging Markets Economic Surprise Index 32.90 -3.3 points

• 10-Year TIPS Spread 2.46 +1.0 basis point
  
• 0.0%(unch.) chance of no change at May 4th FOMC meeting, 0.0%(unch.) chance of no change at June 15th meeting

US Covid-19:

• 1,088 new infections/100K people(last 7 days total). 63.0%(-11.0 percentage points) of 1/14 peak -177/100K people from prior report.
  
• New Covid-19 patient hospital admissions per 100K population -17.7%(-7.1 percentage points) from peak 7-day avg. of 1/9/21 - 1/15/22
  

Overseas Futures:

• Nikkei 225 Futures: Indicating +164 open in Japan 
• China A50 Futures: Indicating +85 open in China

• DAX Futures: Indicating +41 open in Germany

Portfolio:

• Higher: On gains in my tech/consumer discretionary/industrial sector longs, index hedges and emerging market shorts
  

• Disclosed Trades:  Covered some of my (IWM)/(QQQ) hedges
  

• Market Exposure:  Moved to 100% Net Long