Morning Note: If Only...

Quick note this morning (this time I mean it); will circle back later today with our weekly macro update.

Not much to report from Asia overnight (other than red); 10 of the 16 markets we track were closed. All of the 6 that were open closed lower.

Europe's looking better (than Asia) this morning, with 12 of the 19 bourses we follow presently in the green.

U.S. major averages (save for SP500 EW) are down (a little) to start the session: Dow down 22 points (0.09%), SP500 down 0.08%, SP500 Equal Weight up 0.08%, Nasdaq down 0.27%, Russell 2000 down 0.70%.

The VIX (SP500 implied volatility) is down 1.08%. VXN (Nasdaq 100 i.v.) is up 0.85%.

Oil futures are up 0.41%, gold's down 0.59%, silver's up 0.12%, copper futures are down 0.31% and the ag complex is up 0.30%

*The 10-year treasury is getting crushed (yield higher) and the dollar is up a not-small 0.25%.

*Remember, all the bubbly FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) sentiment notwithstanding, higher interest rates and a higher dollar are ultimately -- and utterly -- intolerable for equities, given the present (historic) state of general conditions!

Led by financials, banks, energy, ag commodities and materials -- but offset entirely by the likes of miners, gold, utilities, the yen and tech -- our core portfolio is flat (+0.01%) to start the day.

My, if only the Fed -- whose ever-changing (as the priors fail) "remedies" serve to shorten the length between epic bubbles, and, in the process, make the next bubblier than the last -- would heed Seneca:

"...nothing hinders a cure so much as frequent change of medicine; no wound will heal when one salve is tried after another."

Have a nice day!
Marty