The one consistent theme I’m reading about these days… and I’m certainly inclined to agree with it… is the puzzlement about the complacency with respect to a forthcoming change in Fed policy. In other words, the “great unwind†of $4.5 trillion in assets the Fed has gorged upon during the past eight years. Tomorrow is the big day, and as I suggested yesterday, things are going to be boring until then (as we collectively observed the changes of a few hundredths of a point across our computer monitors).
Anyway, in an effort to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, I offer you the chart below (which, as always, you can click for a bigger version). It offers up a parallel, or analog, if you like, with respect to financial stocks. I’ve got November puts against the XLF. It will be interesting, to say the least, to see what effect the Fed’s big announcement on Wednesday at 2 p.m. has on equities in general and financials in particular.
