Stock Traders Are The Most Bullishly Positioned In Six Years
In Late 2006, the S&P 500 futures market traded around 1435 and the commitment of traders was at an extreme net long position. The market fell shortly after only to manage a miraculous rise in the face of hedge funds going bust and an exploding and over-leveraged credit market. In mid-2008, the S&P 500 futures also traded around these levels, from where the epic collapse really began. Six years later, the S&P 500 futures traders are the most bullishly positioned they have been since those heady over-confident days…. 
Chart: Bloomberg
Worst U.S. holiday sales since the recession
U.S. holiday retail sales grew 0.7 percent this year versus analysts’ expectations of 3 to 4 percent growth according to MasterCars’s Spending Pulse. This year’s figures mark the most tepid pace of expansion since 2008, when the U.S. economy was in recession. WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. holiday retail sales this year grew at the weakest pace since 2008, when the nation was in a deep recession. In 2012, the shopping season was disrupted by bad weather and consumers’ rising uncertainty about the economy. A report that tracks spending on popular holiday goods, the MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, said Tuesday that sales in the two months before Christmas increased 0.7 percent, compared with last year. Many analysts had expected holiday sales to grow 3 to 4 percent. In 2008, sales declined by between 2 percent and 4 percent as the financial crisis that crested that fall dragged the economy into recession. Last year, by contrast, retail sales in November and December rose between 4 percent and 5 percent, according to ShopperTrak, a separate market research firm. A 4 percent increase is considered a healthy season…
Chinese rating agency puts U.S. on negative watch
Chinese rating agency Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. on Tuesday put U.S. sovereign debt on a negative watch and highlighted what it said was a lack of political consensus on how to tackle Washington’s debt problem over the long term. In a statement on its website, the rating agency said “each political party insists on the proposition favorable for its own interest. Therefore, it is difficult to form a long-term consensus on solving the debt problem ultimately, which leads to the unceasingly fiscal deterioration of the government.” Dagong said outstanding U.S. federal debt will rise to 105% of GDP and 609% of fiscal revenue by the end of 2012. It warned that the “solvency of the federal government is on a descending trend.” It also warned of a difficult 2013 if there was no resolution on how to avert the fiscal cliff of austerity measures due to take effect at the start of the year. “The U.S. economy will probably fall into recession in 2013, and stay weak in the long term, which will further weaken the material basis for the government to repay debt.” In August 2011, Dagong cut U.S. Treasurys to A from A+, with a negative outlook, saying growth in U.S. debt is still outpacing revenue growth.
Richmond Fed Manufacturing Misses Expectations And Falls To 5
The December Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index is out and it’s a miss.The headline number fell to 5 from 9 in November. Economists were looking for a reading of 8. “Looking at the broad indicators of activity, new orders were virtually unchanged, shipments grew more slowly, and employment declined,” wrote the Richmond Fed. “Other indicators were mixed. Capacity utilization turned positive, while backlogs fell further. Moreover, the gauge for delivery times inched higher, while finished goods inventories grew at a slightly slower pace and growth in raw materials inventories edged higher.” The survey tracks manufacturing activity in the central Atlantic region of the U.S….
GALLUP: Half of America Expects No Deal
PRINCETON, NJ — Americans’ optimism that President Barack Obama and congressional leaders will reach a budget agreement before Jan. 1 has waned somewhat over the past week. Fifty percent now believe this and 48% are doubtful, a change from the previous three weeks, when the solid majority of Americans were generally confident leaders would reach a deal to avert the so-called fiscal cliff.
