U.S. equity markets accelerated their sell off today after January ISM numbers came in much worse than expected. The number came in at the lowest levels in eight months sparking acceleration to the sell off and sending E-mini S&P 500 futures lower by over 40 points by the close. We also saw a huge bid higher in the VIX with the index closing at 21.44, up over 16%. Gold markets also responded to the sell-off in equities and rallied $17.00. Tomorrow will see the release of more manufacturing data with Factory Orders set to be released at 10am ET. After today’s price action eyes will surely be on the release of the Employment Situation this Friday as traders continue to struggle to find direction in this market. We continued to move to cash today and will continue to look for stocks that may have been oversold in the past 2 weeks. As far as earnings plays we shorted YUM via options and got long KORS. Neither company has released their results yet so whether or not these trades are successful remains to be seen.
Andrew Keene
http://keeneonthemarket.com