I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;I fled Him, down the arches of the years;I fled Him, down the labyrinthine waysOf my own mind; and in the mist of tearsI hid from Him, and under running laughter. 5Up vistaed hopes I sped;And shot, precipitated,Adown Titanic glooms of chasmèd fears,From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.But with unhurrying chase,And unperturbèd pace,Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,They beat—and a Voice beatMore instant than the Feet—‘All things betray thee, who betrayest Me.’
Francis Thompson, Hound of Heaven
As I am sure you have all heard by now, the Swiss National Bank shocked the markets this morning by dropping their export-trade motivated peg to the Euro.
This certainly moved the currency markets, and toasted those who were short the franc, of the hedge fund variety.
All this overshadowed the US economic news which, in the vernacular, blew chunks.
The Philly Fed slumped badly, the unemployment claims were much higher than expectations at 316,000, and Core PPI was higher than expected. Holy hints of stagflation, Batman.
Stocks are really back down hard on support now, after putting in some wide ranging days over the past week or so. This is described technically as 'not good.'
Barring some central bank kabuki words, which are getting a little thin by the way, we might see a continuance of a slack stock market where even 'ok news' gets sold.
This seemed to be the case with Intel after the bell, that came in-line with its financials, and sold off.
Have a pleasant evening.
