I Found A Rarity ...

Japanese candlestick masters, this time from the house of Nomura, still maintain their bearish (a rarity these days) view on US equities in today's bi-weekly report. Click on chart to enlarge, courtesy of Nomura.

In the meantime, the European credit markets remain in bullish mood today, according to the highlights by credit strategists at Societe Generale:

Once the non-financial corporate new issue market opens for business, the clamour for paper will likely help all issues to push tighter. And this trend could well continue for several weeks, if not the whole of Q1. So far, so good. We'll also get a better idea on the level of sidelined cash, amount of new inflows and the type of investor still showing interest. However, we think that after two testing years, the cash investment grade, non-financial corporate bond market is approaching 'normalisation' status. That is, new issue premiums will be close to zero; not every deal will tighten vs reoffer and the retail support (measured through primary allocations) may wane if underlying yields eventually start to head higher. For now though, current lower coupons offer little protection against inflation and rising yields unless they are hedged out immediately or investors flip bonds quickly after locking in some small upside. The market has grown to over €1.2tn in size and become a core asset class, but investors will need to be more selective as to the type of paper they take down this year. As the year progresses, the traditional investor may become the only player in town, again.

Go, go ... On the other side of the pond, the bond king Bill Gross steps on my feet and is trying to get fiscal:

If 2008 was the year of financial crisis and 2009 the year of healing via monetary and fiscal stimulus packages, then 2010 appears likely to be the year of “exit strategies,” during which investors should consider economic fundamentals and asset markets that will soon be priced in a world less dominated by the government sector. If, in 2009, PIMCO recommended shaking hands with the government, we now ponder “which” government, and caution that the days of carefree check writing leading to debt issuance without limit or interest rate consequences may be numbered for all countries.