DC Lite #50

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1. Consumer sentiment. All 3 components of the University of Michigan survey jumped sharply in January. The collective increase in consumer sentiment (blue) over the past 2 months is the largest since 1991.

2. US equity fund flows. Equity funds saw outflows of -$6.81bn this past week (vs. -$9.5bn last week).

3. Small-cap positioning. "Multi-cap fund managers remain persistently underweight small caps, with positioning up just slightly off of record lows as of 4Q."

4. Small-cap breadth. "The only fools who still think small-caps haven't been doing well are the ones who haven't actually counted. We're seeing the most amount of small-caps making new highs in years."

5. Net profit margin (II). Only 4 sectors are reporting YoY increases in Q4 margins: Utilities, Communication Services, Tech, and Consumer Discretionary.