‘Hawkish’ Powell Sinks Stocks & Bonds As VIX Curve Re-Inverts

Just when you thought it was all over…

Video length: 00:01:55

Quite a chaotic day across asset-classes today – the most chaotic since the XIV crisis moves…

Once Powell had finished his prepared remarks and confidently expressed his expectations for the economy (and rate hikes), stocks tumbled (as rates spiked)…

Only The Dow managed to hold on to yesterday’s gains…

Nasdaq managed to get back into the green for the month but slipped notably lower all day…

DOW stalled at a 75% retracement of its losses…

All of which leaves stocks lower for February and unless tomorrow sees a heroic panic-bid in the S&P, will break the unprecedented 15-month win streak… although that hanging-man candle for Feb is stunning…

VIX jumped notably on the day…

Having shifted back into contango yesterday for the first time since the crisis, the VIX term structure snapped back into backwardation (inverted) today following Powell’s hawkish comments…

All major US Equity index ‘VIX’ measures are once again higher for the month of Feb…

Treasury yields spike today on Powell’s relatively hawkish comments… then rallied back lower in yields as stocks tumbled.

Notably, 10Y Yields tested the CPI/FOMC highs before fading this afternoon as stocks sank on infrastructure headlines…

As Treasury yields spiked during Powell’s testimony, Breakevens slipped lower after recoupling from the early Feb chaos…

The entire curve shifted in parallel on Powell but then 2s30s really started to flatten…