So Much for That V-Shaped Recovery as Dow Sheds 1861 Points, NASDAQ Drops 527

That rally - the one that started on right away on March 24 with a 2100-point gain, the day after the Dow bottomed out at 18,591.93 - is over. Smart traders made money. Anybody who was fretting about their retirement account and didn't exit, well, there's still time. The market giveth and taketh away. In this case, thanks to emergency measures by the Fed, the market gave almost everybody who didn't get out a gold opportunity to make for the hills.

If you're still in, you're either a day-trading maniac or just plain stuck on stupid. There are other asset classes. There's always cash. This second leg down is likely to be much more severe than the first because it will take months instead of days to wipe out trillions in invest dollars. Rest assured, at the end of the second leg, everybody's a loser.

Putting it all into perspective, after the major indices fell into bear market territory - defined as down more than 20% - the duration of the bear market was record for brevity: five weeks. Not that those five weeks in the doldrums will go down in the history books as a traditional bear market; they'll likely be remembered as the start of the Greatest Depression, spawn of the coronavirus, oil shock, and global plebeian protests because the stock market decline began again in earnest on Thursday, June 11.

The loss on the Dow was nearly seven percent, ranking it just outside the Top 20 in percentage terms, but number four in regards to points lost. It ranks behind three other losses, all from this year, which is about all one needs to know about stocks in the year 2020. The NASDAQ loss of 527.62 was also the fourth-highest, point-wise. Similarly, the three greatest point losses in NASDAQ history also occurred just this past March.

No, there will not be any v-shaped recovery as the market charts suggested. That was all a fantasy, spun out of whole cloth from the Federal Reserve. After all, how could stocks rally when unemployment was somewher in the neighborhood of 15%, people around the world were dying from a pandemic, whole nations and most states in the US were shut down for anywhere from a month to ten weeks, corporate earnings were in the toilet and second quarter results were still a month down the road?

The fairy tale rally never made any sense and never will except in regards to some very rich people making even more money without doing a damn thing. Rest assured, most of them were selling today or have either significantly trimmed their positions or added hedges, by which they'll enrich themselves even further on another downdraft.

There is likely to be a snapback on Friday. No telling which way it will eventually eventually turn, but recent market action offers a strong indication that a 1200-point swing to the upside on the Dow might be key to understanding the psychology of crazy. Anything less than that would leave the Dow just below its 200-day moving average.

Be mindful that despite the Dow's 9,000-point gain (yes, that's right, 9,000 points!) over the past 12 weeks, the current chart is one of a primary BULL market according to Dow Theory. The Industrials exceeded the December 2018 lows to the downside, and then erupted to the upside, cancelling out the bear reversal. Dow Transports confirmed the move, doing the same.

Nobody is betting on conformity with current market conditions. The Fed's emergency rescue facilities have only added to the overall distortion from QE, ZIRP, and other experiments in currency counterfeiting. Hanging one's hat on theories dating back to the early 20th century might engender more anguish than reward.

Some will call Thursday's pullback "healthy", but those are probably the perma-bulls in the room. Anybody who can say with a straight face that the US or global economy is healthy ought to be selling used cars rather than stocks.

WTI crude fell more than $3 on the day, from a range around $39 to $36. Gold and silver were unceremoniously smashed lower on futures markets, but, as has been a repeating theme, will likely bounce back quickly as premiums and shortages persist.

The long end of the treasury complex continued to rally, dropping yield in the 10-year note and 30-year bond from 0.91% and 1.68% last Friday to 0.66% and 1.41%, respectively.

Stay liquid.

At the Close, Thursday, June 11, 2020:
Dow: 25,128.17, -1,861.82 (-6.90%)
NASDAQ: 9,492.73, -527.62 (-5.27%)
S&P 500: 3,002.10, -188.04 (-5.89%)
NYSE: 11,659.17, -790.05 (-6.35%)