Changing Leadership, Bearish Sentiment From Insiders, and Leaving the Era of Negative Yields Behind

We’ve spoken a lot about the rotation from large caps to small caps this year, but a look at the S&P 500^® Index shows an even more granular change taking place. Since the announcement of the Pfizer vaccine back in November, smaller members of the index have outperformed, wresting leadership away from the mega-caps. Insider selling activity has spiked this month, far outstripping buys in a strong display of bearish sentiment—do they know something the public doesn’t? Commodities meanwhile have been on a run recently in what could potentially give a boost to EM equities, and the French 10-year government bond has crossed back into positive territory after posting negative yields for much of 2020. And are QE efforts starting to wind down in Japan?

1. Within the S&P 500, leadership change has shifted from the mega caps to the large caps and broadened out significantly:

Source: The Daily Shot, from 4/20/21

2. A time for concern?

Source: The Daily Shot, from 4/20/21

3. Will the commodity price rally finally spur EM to outperform?

Source: The Daily Shot, from 4/20/21

4. Yields are rising across the globe, ending the era of negative yields…at least for now:

Source: The Daily Shot, from 4/20/21

5. Is the BOJ the first major central bank to start a (stealthy) taper of QE?

Source: The Daily Shot, from 4/20/21

6. Given their Covid situation, Brazil’s economy has fared relatively well:

Source: The Daily Shot, from 4/21/21

7. The Covid humanitarian crisis in India continues to worsen

Source: The Daily Shot, from 4/20/21

8. And finally, happy Spring from Boston!

Source: BCM, from 4/21/21