MONDAY 6/9/14; Japan GDP; Spain 10-Year Yield Falls Below US 10-Year Yield; AAPL Stock Split; SPX, Dow and TRAN New All-Time Highs

There is no trading in Sydney today due to the Queen’s birthday. The Aussie Dollar is 0.9356. Futures in Asian indexes are higher across the board before the new week of trading begins. Japan’s Q1 GDP is above estimates at 1.6% on quarter and 6.7% annualized. The forecast was 5.6%. The bump higher is due to the increase in consumer purchasing before the sales tax rise took effect and GDP will likely pull back down in Q2. Q3 will be key for Japan to see if the economy recovers and grows after the sales tax fluctuations line out.

[Text is Redacted: Purchase June 2014-06 to Read the Complete Chronology]

Fed’s Rosengren discusses methods for reducing the balance sheet after the targeted levels of inflation and employment are achieved. Equities weaken from noon on. At 2 PM, the SPX slips negative, only briefly, after running to a new all-time high at 1955.55 earlier. The broad indexes then stagger sideways into the closing bell.

The session ends with the SPX up a smidge printing a new all-time intraday high at 1955.55 and new all-time closing high at 1951.27. The Dow gains a small 18 points printing a new all-time intraday high at 16970.17 and new all-time closing high at 16943.10. TRAN is up a touch also printing a new all-time intraday high at 8256.79 and new all-time closing high at 8214.99.

The COMPQ gains 15 points, +0.3%, to 4336 nearing the February highs. Ditto the RUT up 11 points, +0.9%, to 1176. Small caps are the clear winner. The VIX moves higher closing above 11. Since both volatility and equities are up, one of them is wrong. Copper leaks lower helping market bears as commodities move higher helping market bulls. IGT gains +14% on news that it is exploring a potential sale of the company. NFLX drops -1.6% after a shareholder vote elects to leave the CEO role as is and not split the responsibility into a dual CEO and Chairman structure.

The global 10-year yields are remarkable with folks tripping over each other to buy troubled Spain, France and Ireland debt rather than US debt. The 10-year yields are; Italy 2.72%, US 2.61%, Spain 2.59%, Ireland 2.41% and France 1.70%. Spain can borrow money more cheaply than the US. The central bankers have twisted global markets into knots.

After the bell, CHS leaps +13% higher on news it is exploring options to sell the company. A study shows that the three worst majors to study in college from a job prospect perspective are fine arts, graphic design and archaeology.

A WFC report shows that four in 10 young people are consumed by debt mainly student loans with over one-half of their limited incomes going towards paying off the debt. Nearly 6 in every 10 young adults are living paycheck to paycheck. No wonder many are living at or moving back home to stay with their parents to reduce expenses.

A LUV jet collides with a JBLU jet on the tarmac at Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Wings are clipped but no injuries are reported. Flights are rescheduled since both planes require repairs. The near misses in the air, and now an actual ground collision, reinforce the perception that airline and airport safety practices are becoming lax.