Daily Chartbook

"U.S. investor home purchases ticked up 2% from a year earlier in the fourth quarter, coming in at just under 50,000. That’s the eighth straight quarter of minimal changes in investor activity."

-Redfin

"With low immigration and strong tailwinds to growth from AI spending, the industrial renaissance and the One Big Beautifull Bill, it is not a surprise that wage growth is rising for job switchers"

-Apollo Slok

"More Americans are digging into their retirement savings because of financial emergencies. Last year, a record 6% of workers in 401(k) plans administered by Vanguard Group took a hardship withdrawal."

-WSJ

"Cross asset credit hedging demand is elevated, and volumes continue to accelerate ... On February expiry, hedge open interest across credit ETFs reached an all-time high."

-Citadel Rubner

"This is a logical place for the MAGs to catch their breath and for the broader leadership across value sectors to consolidate."

-Ricardo Sarraf, All Star Charts

"Retail’s appetite to buy the dip has remained a dominant force in early-2026 flows. Year-to-date, average net notional traded on our platform has been 2.5x larger on S&P down days than on up days."

-Citadel Rubner

Gas prices: “this is the biggest such jump in over two decades.”

-Jim Bianco

Private US businesses added 63k jobs in February (vs. 50k est), most since July. Gains were driven almost entirely by small businesses.

via Greg Daco

ISM Services PMI jumped to 56.1 in February (vs. 53.5 est), marking strongest reading since Aug’22 as business activity, new orders, and employment accelerated while inflation pressures cooled.

via Augur Infinity

Equal-weight stocks ($RSP) saw a record $5.9bn inflow in February Equal-weight stocks hit record $5.9bn inflow in February | 5 key charts on inflation expectations, market insights and daily trends from Daily Chartbook.

5 of Tuesday's best charts and insights:

"China buys 89% of Iran’s oil exports"

-Apollo Slok

"Overall, 29% of U.S. adults in February cited some aspect of government or politics as the country’s most important problem."

-Gallup

"The typical U.S. homeowner stays put in their house for 12 years, the longest median tenure since 2022."

-Redfin

"The rest of the world is outperforming the US on a combination of better earnings growth, competitive payout ratios, and lower valuations."

-Jurrien Timmer, Fidelity

Hedge funds have been aggressively buying Healthcare stocks, now most overweight vs. the Russell 3000 in over 5 years.

via GS Morgan

Equal-weight stocks ($RSP) saw a record $5.9bn inflow in February. Meanwhile, the Magnificent 7 ($MAGS) saw record outflow.

"The currency no one wanted... is now the only pure global hedge."

-Macro Charts

"Meaningful move higher in inflation swaps, but below where we were last year during tariff drama. Trajectory and pace of the move shows where investors' heads are at though."

-Liz Thomas, SoFi

Worst day for RoW vs. US since Nov'24

"Claude’s mobile app saw over 500,000 downloads on Saturday – its biggest day on record."

-Azeem Azhar, Exponential View

"Economists project 60,000 jobs were added for the month — less than half the number created in January."

-Bloomberg

"The narrowing in interest rate differentials ... has contributed to the dollar’s weakness ... If policy outcomes exceed what’s priced in, the yield differential could compress further, adding pressure on the dollar."

-JPMorgan

"Foreign demand for US assets remains very strong"

-Apollo Slok

"Since the S&P 500’s last record close on January 27, the three worst-performing equity factors are earnings variability, trading activity, and volatility"

Luke Kawa, Sherwood

"A 'buy on the cannons, sell on the trumpets' trade usually works, though short wars are better for equities than long ones."

RBC Capital via Bryce Elder, FT

"The percentage of global markets hitting new highs in February contracted and for the first time this year, fewer than 70% of global markets are above their 50-day averages ... for the first time this year"

-Willie Delwiche, Hi Mount Research

Retail investors rotated from stocks to bonds in February and pushed cash allocations down to the lowest since Nov'21.

"The pain trade is likely higher for the USD due positioning becoming very short/underweight the USD"

-Cameron Dawson, NewEdge Wealth

"Shocks can keep Oil prices elevated over the next three-months, but persistence beyond that depends on how markets reassess Fed policy (via inflation) and the underlying growth cycle"

-SocGen Kabra

"The start of a new cycle in PMIs (inverted in chart) propels a broader earnings backdrop which makes investors reconsider many stocks they've avoided or been underweighting for 3 years. The most institutionally-owned stocks tend to lag when macro begins to broaden"

-Kantro, Piper Sandler