Goldman Sachs trader says the US stock market landscape has become clearer as we enter December

Jinse Finance reported that Goldman Sachs' trading division stated that although the S&P 500 Index may end November roughly flat, the outlook has become significantly clearer as volatility recedes, market breadth improves, and trend-following strategies turn to the buy side. Multiple indicators show that as we enter December, the market is stabilizing. Lee Coppersmith of Goldman Sachs wrote in a client report that the five-day average of the number of rising S&P 500 constituents minus the number of declining ones—a measure of market breadth—once dropped to -150 earlier this month, indicating "considerable damage beneath the surface." However, on the eve of Thanksgiving, this indicator rebounded to around +150. "This is a huge change—the participation is much broader, not just a narrow squeeze, and it further indicates that the market has released a significant amount of pressure in the middle of this month," he added. Goldman Sachs' volatility panic index conveys similar information. The index is currently around 5, slightly above the average level of the past three years and far below the peak at the beginning of November. The positions of so-called systematic strategies have also been reset. Goldman Sachs traders estimate that over the past month, the scale of sell-offs related to the S&P 500 Index was about $1.6 billion, and stated that these trades drove the previous market decline. After this round of de-risking has been largely digested by the market, the bank's baseline scenario for next month has shifted to net buying, with a scale of about $470 million. "This means that, compared to a few weeks ago, we are entering December with a much cleaner starting point," Coppersmith wrote.