Monday, stocks fell 0.4% in Asia and just slightly in Europe. In the U.S., stocks gained slightly on very low volume. Tuesday, stocks in Asia and Europe moved little. In the U.S., stocks declined 0.7% on very low volume as a Federal Reserve hawk made a few statements that troubled the bulls.
Wednesday, stocks fell slightly in Asia but rose 0.5% in Europe. In the U.S., four Federal Reserve presidents spoke at separate events and the latest FOMC minutes were released. In response, stocks rose 0.7% to erase the losses of the previous day on even lower volume. The VXO fear gauge tumbled 9% to end the day at the unsustainable level of 11.19.
Thursday, Asian stocks played catch-up with the West — rising 0.9%. In Europe, stocks changed little, and in the U.S., they rose just slightly to near record territory again on abysmal volume. Perhaps traders were heading out early for Memorial Day.
Friday, stocks rose 0.4% in Asia, slightly in Europe, and 0.4% in the U.S. on another day of abysmal volume. That was just enough juice to take the S&P 500 Index to another incremental all-time high and have it close over 1900 for the first time ever. With the Federal Reserve tapering QE, the question arises just what phony scheme is fueling demand for stocks and real property now? We’ve been hearing a lot about the yen carry trade related to Japan’s QE program. Here’s an interesting article on that.