Monday Morning Musings

After a very strong week last week, the market is starting off the new one on a weak note. Selling is pretty heavy in early trading, with all of the 10 major sectors in negative territory. The ARMS Index is above 1.32.

Wachovia (WB) ousted its CEO over the weekend, but its stock is still down as are the rest of the financials so far.

Oil was also down a lot this morning, nearing the $125 level, but it has since bounced back above $127. The energy stocks are mixed.

Drug and biotech stocks are going to get the lions share of attention this week as the big ASCO conference is underway, so look for plenty of big swings coming out of that one. Those indexes are lower so far this morning, fwiw.

Asian markets were higher across the board overnight. The Yen is also higher this morning vs. the dollar, while the Euro is lower. Go figure. The 10-year yield is lower at 4.00% despite a slightly stronger than expected May ISM report (49.6).

The selling is very sharp this morning, and the fear indicators are spiking. The VIX is up a whopping +13% already, topping 20.15. That is a big spike, to be sure. The CBOE put/call ratio opened at an elevated 1.07, while the ISEE call/put was equally low at 69.

The silver lining here is that usually when we see a rush to buy puts like this, as everyone rushes to protect against any downside, it often proves to be short-lived. I suspect that could be the case again, and I am still looking to use weakness to put more cash to work in names I like.