Following five consecutive days of gains, US equities – the Dow and S&P at least -squeezed out miniscule gains on Friday to make it six from six, in front of a three day holiday weekend (Washington’s Birthday). This followed an ‘up’ day for European stocks and the Nikkei – the latter despite the further sharp falls in USD/JPY to new post-2016 lows. On the week, gains of 4.25-5.25% for the main US indices puts them all back in the black YTD. The VIX was little changed (+0.33) at 19.46 and down almost 10 points on the week. While of course still elevated versus recent years, it is now almost exactly on its long term ... (full story)