Tuesday -- Default, Drowning, Trading Range

ES Futures:
Strong continuation of yesterday's rally.

News:
Red flags from China continue to inspire Risk On as Reuters reported news of a potential third bond default there. Now that China is playing the Easing For Equities game, bad news suggests more stimulus -- which further suggests that markets are still not able to thrive without help.

Bloomberg's candy-colored news website handled the following headline in a way that made me want to puke:

Banks Paid to Borrow as Three-Month Euribor Drops Below Zero

"Banks in the euro area can now get paid to look after each others’ cash for three months as the European Central Bank’s bond-buying program floods the region’s money markets with excess liquidity."

Can't figure out why they didn't add an exclamation mark to that sentence. Awesome!

However, in a world that runs on credit and debt, banks being paid to borrow means no one else is borrowing, which, like a shark that must swim or drown, does not bode well for the shark.

As a reminder, here's how things continue to look on this side of the Atlantic. Drowning in debt.

Call a lifeguard

FX:
Quiet today.

Treasuries:
Still unimpressive, but still in the game.

Energy:
WTI crude appears as a high-level consolidation. NG seems to have tipped its hand with yesterday's weakness (getting below 2.545) and goes back into the bounce category for the time being.

Metals:
Back below 1200.

S&P Outlook:
Seeing as there are still so many Fib extension targets overhead that it's difficult to pick just one, yesterday's bounce back from Friday's swoon -- even though it was on pitiful volume -- keeps it in the game, just like treasuries mentioned above.

There are Fib targets below, too. But targets don't mean much unless tested, and bears may have blown their best chance in weeks.

In that I'm in Florida all this week, the best gift the market could give me would be more trading range. I do not want to act unless there is a new all-time high or a test of 2039.69.