Dow Hits Record High As Vaccine Hope Trumps COVID 'Casedemic' Tyler Durden Mon, 11/16/2020 - 16:02 COVID cases are exploding higher, hospitalizations are rising, and deaths have increased, but for the second Monday in a row, big pharma has dropped a press release proclaiming a "miracle" vaccine efficacy against the deadly pandemic. Stocks soared initially... but just like last Monday, those early futures gains were quickly sold and Tech/momentum/growth was sold (weighing on Nasdaq)...From the vaccine headline, Nasdaq is unch, Small Caps significantly higher, Dow closed at cash high of the day... The Dow (cash) hit a new record high today as futures tried (but failed) to peg 30,000 once again overnight... As The Dow soars, Smart Money is not playing... Source: Bloomberg One thing we do note - if the exponential rise in cases is so worrisome, as the media, career bureaucrats, and liberal politicians proclaim endlessly - then why are bonds just shrugging it off? Source: Bloomberg Hint - either the election really made a difference or no one is buying the real terror being pitched from the casedemic and are heaping all their hope on the vaccine. In fact, 'hope' is soaring overall as the real economy is weakening... Source: Bloomberg Momentum crashed back to last week's lows... Source: Bloomberg Cyclicals soared... Source: Bloomberg Bank stocks ripped like last week (even if rates barely ended higher)... Source: Bloomberg VIX pumped and dumped intraday to end modestly lower with a 22 handle... Treasuries spiked notably on the Moderna vaccine headlines but were quickly bid back lower to end barely higher on the day... Source: Bloomberg 10Y Yields ended less than 1bp higher on the day, giving back the early vaccine spike... Source: Bloomberg The dollar ended the day lower, unable to hold the spike gains from the vaccine... Source: Bloomberg Bitcoin soared to over $16,800... Source: Bloomberg This is the highest close since Jan 2018... Source: Bloomberg Oil prices ended the day higher on vaccine hopes presumably, but once again staled at $42 and faded back... Gold futures plunged on the vaccine headlines but buyers stepped right in to bring it back to unch... Finally, we note that fear of the virus has collapsed to its lowest since early March... Source: Bloomberg And the work-from-home/re-opening trade signals a big shift... Source: Bloomberg And the VIX term structure has collapsed... Source: Bloomberg