Today’s broad sell-off was once again led by small-caps, and their persistent weakness continues to warrant caution from a short-term perspective. It seems that risk of a global recession, the political uncertainty in the U.S., and today’s scary Asian headlines were too much to handle for bulls, and the risk-off shift was confirmed by the Volatility Index (VIX), which closed at its highest level in a month. The major indices finished significantly lower today, as the combination of the escalating tensions in Hong Kong and a much worse-than-expected manufacturing survey triggered another global pullback in risk ... (full story)