The recent price action, and in particular, the sideways trend in many segments of the capital markets, reflects the challenge investors are having in separating the wheat from the chaff. The strong co-movement of risk assets has weakened. There is a lack of near-term visibility and contradictory signals, while the trends in place since March have stretched valuations and complicate risk-reward calculations. The US followed the much better than expected jobs report with news that retail sales surged by 17.7% in May, more than twice what economists were expecting, and April's decline was pared. The real signal is more ... (full story)