"It All Adds Up To One Word: Pain": Traders Forced To Chase Gamma Higher As Stocks Refuse To Drop Despite Dire News And Data "It All Adds Up To One Word: Pain": Traders Forced To Chase Gamma Higher As Stocks Refuse To Drop Despite Dire News And Data As we end the week, the question - according to JPMorgan''s trading desk - is whether the bear market current rally has ended and what that means for stocks moving forward. While the Banks painted a picture of strength in Consumer and Corporate sectors, bears will point to (lack of) hiring (and outright firing) in Tech and headlines from companies such as ATT that consumers are behind on payments on their phone bills! Recall ATT’s management said “we''re seeing an increase in bad debt to slightly higher than pre-pandemic levels, as well as extended cash collection cycles. However, it''s important to note that customers are making their accounts today consistent with historical patterns and previous economic cycles.” Here, JPM flow trader Andrew Tyler notes that his conclusion is that the economy is clearly slowing but it is not falling off a cliff, and "while recession risk (within 12 months) is elevated it may take a bit more time to eat through Consumer (~$2T remains in excess cash relative to 2019 level) and Corporate cash piles (SPX had record high cash levels coming into 2022 with near record interest coverage ratios)." Here, we find it amusing how everything still keeps harping about this "excess cash savings" (which have been spent long ago) some two years after the fact, yet nobody talks about the "excess savings" in the form of stock market investments and which are $10 trillion lower in the past 6 months.