Analysis: Wall St hits reset after market 'froth' but Fed fears loom

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Investors who used the stock market's recent swoon to scoop up shares are hoping the last weeks of the year bring renewed strength to equity prices, even as worries over the Omicron variant and a more aggressive Federal Reserve continue to loom.

Uncertainties remain over Omicron even as optimism it may cause milder illness has helped boost markets, while next week's Fed meeting could bring unwelcome news for investors worried that the central bank may begin to normalize monetary policy at a faster-than-expected pace to fight surging inflation.

Extremes in investor sentiment are sometimes viewed as potential turning points in markets, and therefore opportunities to buy or sell stocks. After a period of placid trading, some indicators of investor sentiment and positioning had swung towards caution during last week's selloff., known as Wall Street's "fear gauge," which hit 35.32 last week, its highest level since January. The index has eased in recent days and stood near 22 late on Tuesday.

Several other options market measures, including put-call ratios, volatility futures prices and skew, showed that a lot of "froth/downside" had left the market during the recent pullback, Susquehanna International Group's Chris Murphy said in a note. Meanwhile, investor bearishness on the market's direction hit its highest level of the year in last week's survey from the American Association of Individual Investors. Deutsche Bank's measure of investor equity positioning saw its largest decline since March 2020.At the same time, the Omicron-fueled pullback attracted its share of buyers. As stocks fell last week, BofA Securities clients were "big buyers of the dip," buying $6.

 

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