Slow? Epic Slow!

by Larry Levin

Like yesterday, today was so slow and once again someone shouts "how slow was it!?" Once again the 10-minute chart of the pit traded S&P500 contained one single trade (in 10 whole minutes?). Said another way, these "bars" were more like dash marks; they were not open, high, low, close bars...just a dash.

Let's be honest, regardless of chart you traded it resembled the overnight market more than the regular session. About 90% of today's range traded in an amazingly narrow range of just 4.00-points. It wasn't just slow; it was epically slow!

Today's economic data somehow came in where economists expected them to. What a surprising change: a correct economist!

The S&P Case-Shiller HPI showed home prices remained 99.9% unchanged regardless what a few clowns in the media are reporting. Consumer overconfidence data was the same: as expected.

Not wanting to be the odd-man out, the latest mass pile of IOUs issued by the US Treasury went of "mostly" without a hitch. The colossal $42 billion 5-YR Note IOU was sold approximately where the previous 5-YR Notes had been sold, only a touch worse.

Bloomberg said the following...

Today's $32 billion 5-year auction was mixed but still stronger than yesterday's soft $44 billion 2-year auction. Coverage at today's auction, despite the record size, was strong at 2.59, down slightly from the two prior auctions but compared with a 2.32 average. But like yesterday's 2-year auction the stop-out rate was about 1 basis point over expectations, at 2.665 percent for today's auction.



Previous Day's Trading Room Results:

Trade Date: 12/29/09

E-Mini S&P Trades*
(before fees and commissions):


1) VA buy @ 9:50am at 1124.75 = -0.50 (1 lot)

2) Algorithm positions (2)

3) "Reading the Tape" positions (0) ...combined Secret's, Algo, & "Reading the Tape" total...-0.25



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