Short-Term Tactics
* I was very active on the short side yesterday
On the last day of trading for the month and quarter, S&P futures rose as high as +65 handles in what seemed like an algo-driven markup — and closed about +41 handles (as it dropped about 20 handles in the last few minutes).
This morning S&P futures are -30 handles.
Ignored throughout Tuesday was a sharp rise in yields:
Observation
TLT low of the day, yields at the high of the day as quarter-end markups started early in the equity markets.
Position: None
BY Doug Kass · Jun 30, 2026, 1:09 PM EDT
As posted in my Diary, fearful of a quarter-end mark-up, I shorted equities more aggresssively yesterday — but on a scale higher (giving the market a wider berth) than I have in several weeks:
* Most notably, on strength and steadily through the day I moved from very small sized to small sized to medium sized index shorts ($SPY and $QQQ).
* I put on three tranches of my high-octane tech short basket yesterday. I can’t remember when I did so aggressively in the past but it reflects my view of the exceptionally poor reward vs. risk on the market darlings.
* I added meaningfully to my $GRNY short and added to $JOET short.
* On the buy side I added to $PEP and $PG, which should prosper in a correction.
* With the rescheduling of cannabis hearings going so well, I added to individual weed longs. The group looks like it might finally be breaking out of a range.
Position: Long PEP (S), PG (S), VRNOD (S), GLAS (S), GTBIF (S), TRLV (S), CURLD (VS); Short SPY (M), QQQ (M), GRNY (M), JOET (S), High-Beta Tech Basket
