We had a little backtracking today, but stocks bounced into the close.
VIX climbed a bit, and I took the highly levered bets off the table remarkably near its apogee. Thanks. Every little bit helps.
I have a balanced short riding just for grins, but it is greatly reduced.
So what next. I still am thinking that the wiseguys will have a go at 1570 on the SP futures before this thing falls apart, but keeping the leverage under tight control at such a dodgy time is not so bad either. To put it in a briefly pithy statement, these Wall Street jokers are barking mad, and Washington is living on their own planet. Words do not quite capture how I feel about this.
The event risk here is enormous. These markets remind me of a big fat souffle, full of the air of HFT, QE, arrogance, and leverage. If someone slams the oven door it could go quite flat without much more provocation.
