23Dec2015 Market Update: Market Volume Falling To Anemic Levels Market Liquidity May Be Gone As Well As A Santa Claus Rally

Written by Gary

DOW up triple digits, moderate melting up, but, trading is mostly sideways as oil trends higher. Investors are worrying about US economy heading into 2016 and the ‘Grinch’ stealing the Santa Claus Rally’. Some analysts are saying that holiday liquidity is here. Don’t expect it back in the full swing until at least January 4.

Here is the current market situation from CNN Money
	North and South American markets are mixed today. The Bovespa is up 1.13% while the S&P 500 gains 0.92%. The IPC is off 0.11%.

What Is Moving the Markets

Here are the headlines moving the markets.
	U.S. manufacturing struggles; rising income brightens outlook WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New orders for U.S. manufactured capital goods fell in November and the prior month’s increase was revised sharply lower as the drag on manufacturing from a strong dollar and spending cuts in the energy sector showed little sign of abating.
	Oil up 3 percent after U.S. crude stocks drop, trade thin TORONTO (Reuters) – Oil rose more than 3 percent on Wednesday in thin, pre-holiday trading, buoyed by a surprise drop in U.S. crude inventories, but prices stayed near multi-year lows as global supplies remained abundant and OPEC lowered the demand outlook for its exports.
	Wall Street rallies on crude oil recovery (Reuters) – Wall Street rallied for the third straight day, led by sharp gains in energy stocks, as a rebound in crude oil prices boosted sentiment heading into the Christmas holidays.
	Money-go-round fuels buybacks, leaves workers sidelined WATERLOO, Iowa (Reuters) – Matt Happel and Pam Egli are first cousins, part of a sprawling family so big it rents a church hall for Christmas parties.
	Wal-Mart considers closing 5 percent of Brazil stores: report SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Wal-Mart Stores Inc is considering closing about 30 stores and renting some of its property in Brazil next year, Brazilian newspaper Valor EconÃ´mico reported on Wednesday, as the world’s largest retailer looks to exit poor-performing markets.
	Venezuela PDVSA says it is object of smear campaign after U.S. arrests CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA on Wednesday said it was the target of a smear campaign by opponents who are trying to link it to corruption, and said its hiring processes followed the law.
	Pep Boys says Icahn could further sweeten offer (Reuters) – Pep Boys – Manny Moe & Jack said investor Carl Icahn was willing to pay as much as $1 billion for the U.S. auto parts retailer to keep rival bidder Japanese tire maker Bridgestone Corp at bay.
	U.S. new home sales rise in November; momentum slows WASHINGTON (Reuters) – New U.S. single-family home sales in November rose less than expected and the prior month’s increase was revised down, suggesting some loss of momentum in the housing market.
	Apple allows long-term shareholders to nominate board members (Reuters) – Apple Inc on Tuesday became the latest U.S. company to amend its bylaws to allow long-term shareholders to nominate members to its board.
	Is This The Secret Behind Santa’s Rally? We exposed the ugly truth below the surface of Santa’s rally yesterday, but today it just got even more fantastical… The “Arms Index” or “TRIN” is a technical analysis indicator that compares advancing and declining stock issues and trading volume as an indicator of overall market sentiment. Remember, you have to believe (in The Fed) to receive (from The Market) before these jaws of doom will snap shut one way or the other. And it’s not FANGs that are dragging the index higher… And in case you are wondering what is driving the divergence (which is all top-down index buying), it’s this… Tick for tick correlation with crude off the OPEX-lows from Friday. Driving panic-buying into Energy stocks… But credi …
	The Keynesian Recovery Meme Is About To Get Mugged, Part 2 Submitted by David Stockman via Contra Corner, Our point yesterday was that the Fed and its Wall Street fellow travelers are about to get mugged by the oncoming battering rams of global deflation and domestic recession. When the bust comes, these foolish Keynesian proponents of everything is awesome will be caught like deer in the headlights. That’s because they view the world through a forecasting model that is an obsolete relic—one which essentially assumes a closed US economy and that balance sheets don’t matter. By contrast, we think balance sheets and the unfolding collapse of the global credit bubble matter above all else. Accordingly, what lies ahead is not history repeating itself in some timeless Keynesian economic cycle, but the last twenty years of madcap central bank money printing repudiating itself. Ironically, the gravamen of the indictment against the “all is awesome” case is that this time is different——radically, irreversibly and dangerously so. High powered central bank credit has exploded from $2 trillion to $21 trillion since the mid-1990’s, and that has turned the global economy inside out. Under any kind of sane and sound monetary regime, and based on any semblance of prior history and doctrine, the combined balance sheets of the world’s central banks would total perhaps $5 trillion at present (5% annual growth since 1994). The massive expansion beyond that is what has fueled the mother of all financial and economic bubbles.
	A Christmas ‘Safe-Space’ – Cornell Bans Menorahs, Crosses, & Mistletoe Happy Holidays from the ‘friendly’ micro-aggressives at Cornell… From page 2 of Cornell’s “Fire Safety Guidelines For Holiday Displays” Beware of those dangerous ‘Star of Davids’ and terroristic Mistletoe? It seems ‘inflammatory’ has a whole new meaning. h/t @JudithShulevitz
	“Mission Accomplished” – S&P 500 Soars Back To Unchanged For 2015 Now what?
	Global Stocks Rise as Commodities Climb A rally in commodity stocks led the broader market higher Wednesday as oil prices advanced.
	Oil Prices Rally on Supply Data Oil prices rallied to a nearly two-week high Wednesday after government data showed an unexpectedly large decline in U.S. stockpiles, a rare reprieve from the flood of oil that had been flowing into storage.
	Final December 2015 Michigan Consumer Sentiment Highest Since July. by Doug Short, Advisor Perspectives/dshort.com The University of Michigan Final Consumer Sentiment for December came in at 92.6, a 0.8 point increase from the 91.8 Decemeber Preliminary reading. Investing.com had forecast an even 92.0.
	The Tell: Santa rally can’t fix the real problems plaguing stocks This year in particular, a Santa Claus rally would be welcome, since so far monthly and yearly returns for the S&P 500 look bleak
	Deep Dive: 10 favorite stocks on Wall Street for 2016 Sell-side analysts love this select group of oil producers, says Phil van Doorn.
	Tim Cook oversimplifies U.S. ‘skill’ problem The real problem is that it is so difficult for tool and die makers to turn a profit, says Phil van Doorn.