Ishares Russell 2000 ETF News

Nomura Warns Of Relief-Rally ''Squeeze'' Into OpEx From Massive Rise In "Fuel For A Melt-Up" Hopeful signs of a lowering in tensions on the border of Ukraine have sparked a ''risk-on'' push higher in markets, which will now likely prompt significant Equities “squeeze” flows from the Options space and covering from dynamic hedgers. Add to the news that Putin is pulling back the fact that China injected a net 100B Yuan into the banking system via the MLF, sending CSI 300 +1.1%, as a further signal of liquidity- and credit- pumping after January’s already all-time record $626B of new Yuan loans offered showed the extent that which Chinese authorities are willing to go to stifle the economic- and market- crunch in the country. All this combined to a strong session as cash-trading begins and as Nomura''s Charlie McElligott warns, "virtuous" second-order Greeks look set to take-over and further accelerate the spot rally / vol compression into expiration. On the Index Options side, the Gamma run-off this week is going to be substantial (SPX -35%, QQQ -41%, IWM -53%), with the majority of it in downside Puts —which could accelerate “trade up” into expiration (although this potentially then leaves us vulnerable next week, depending upon what clients choose to do with hedges btwn now and expiration-- i.

The small-cap index remains in a bearish trend.

Related Stocks: SPIP , IWM , FCAL , BSV , VLUE , VCSH , BYND , DFAS , EEM , UNH , LLY , PEP , BRK.B , VTEB , VV , SCHH , SCHX , DGS ,

The stock market volatility has spilled over into Large-cap ETFs.

At first glance, the iShares Russell 2000 ETF might seem like an attractive investment after the recent drawdown, as the forward P/E multiple is about the level of pre-pandemic years.

iShares Russell 2000 ETF: Avoid, It's Not As Cheap As It Seems

IVV: S&P 500 Dashboard For February

After Yesterday''s "Head-Fake", Stifel Says Wait For These 5 Signs To BTFD Surprise!!! US equity markets weakened from the moment cash trading closed yesterday, weakening overnight and puking at the open, erasing a large chunk of the unprecedented rampage higher in stocks yesterday afternoon ( driven by put-sellers ) before dip-buyers jumped in. Nomura''s Charlie McElligott said that this morning so far is what happens after the “burn out” of part of that Dealer “short hedge” cover, in conjunction with the lost “bid” from the client short-covering hyperactivity. And now to make things even spicier, the rally off the selloff lows yesterday on the US Equities Index has PERVERSELY brought us back to levels where Dealers are back near “max short Gamma” in SPX and IWM (QQQ however a touch away from “max vs spot”). But, SpotGamma warns , prices will remain unstable until implied volatility declines & puts are removed and does not expect either of these variables to shift significantly until after Wednesdays FOMC.

"The Market Is Starting To Think Recession" For the past few weeks we have been casually tossing around an apocryphal "modest proposal" - namely that the Fed is either hiking into a stagflation, which will have catastrophic consequences for markets, or worse - it is hiking with hopes of creating a recession. While seemingly ludicrous, this would make sense in light of concessions from bank that US demand remains red hot and is driving inflation higher, and only a sharp slowdown in the US economy could help reset the economy ahead of the midterms. Goldman: "inflation risksrather than improving growth expectationshave driven the recent hawkish pivot," Translation: the Fed is i) either hiking into a stagflation or ii) hiking with hopes of creating a recession zerohedge (@zerohedge) January 15, 2022 It now appears that at least one bank is starting to side with this view. Looking at the rout in the Russell 2000 index, which fell at least 1.5% every day last week and today tumbled into an official bear market ...

After a year of sideways trading, the iShares Russell 2000 ETF finally looks to have broken below a key support area which I expect to give way to further losses.

Nomura Warns Of Build-Up In "Combustible Fuel For A Mechanical Short Squeeze" Across Op-Ex Facing a massive $3.3tln of options notional, including $1.3tln of single stock options, expiring on Friday, Nomura''s Charlie McElligott warned yesterday that "its a doozy of epic short Gamma, short Delta But, SpotGamma notes that the shift lower in markets over the past several days has increased the concentration of put-heavy gamma tied to Fridays OPEX . We now see >=30% of S&P, and >=20% of QQQ rolling off on 1/21. You can see below that as long as the S&P is <=4600 the expiration brings a reduction in negative gamma (via the closure of puts). This suggests this index expiration is generally supportive of S&P prices. This view is supported by McElligott, who said in a note this morning that: "I am beginning to think that despite the volatility into / around Op-Ex ''Gamma unclench'' and as we continue to see liquidation-type de-risking in futures, that there is very much a potential path for a counter-trend rally in Equities in the coming-days. " And given the tumble in liquidity, that move could be aggressive...

IWF: 3 Ways The Current Growth Bubble Is Worse Than The Dot-Com Boom

The latest Fed minutes came across as hawkish which resulted in a wavering stock market. Bond yields started rising.

Nomura Fears "Fatigued" Bond Bears Face Imminent Squeeze As The Fed Is "Generally Priced-In" The "bearish US Rates / USTs" trade is locally feeling quite "fatigued" and Nomura''s Charlie McElligott warns that the extreme-positioned market is susceptible to further monetization from the payers/shorts. Source: Bloomberg Specifically, McElligott warns ''bears'' that we''d need to see fresh +++ data surprises to see the market able to price-in additional hawkish tightening at this juncture - or a stickier (and more dangerous) scenario being the much-discussed "Wage/Price-Spiral" kicking-off. Source: Bloomberg The Nomura strategist confirms this view even as more Fed speakers (now Daly and Harker) join the ranks of officials signaling March liftoff, and most communicating comfort with 3-4 hikes this year. A quick glimpse at the STIRs shows the last few days have seen March rate-hike odds hit a new cycle-high but the Dec 2022 expectations are fading very modestly (and are below the prevoious peak earlier in the week)

The latest Fed minutes came across as hawkish which resulted in a wavering stock market. Bond yields started rising.