The coronavirus has imposed both a supply shock and a demand shock to the global economy. The supply shock was in the form of disruption to supply chains as factories were shuttered. The supply shock has largely been corrected. The demand shock was in the form of a loss of demand as lockdown and stay-at-home...
Regular readers will know that I have been cautious about the equity markets over the past few months. Good investors cannot be overly dogmatic, and in that spirit, I contemplate what the bull case may be, From a strictly technical perspective, price momentum has been strong. The Wilshire 5000 is on the verge of flash...
Earnings season has kicked off with reports from the major banks. The market reaction has been mixed so far. From a big picture perspective, history shows that whenever the relative performance of banking stocks have breached a major support level, such events have usually signaled periods of financial stress and bear markets. This...
As Elon Musk passes Warren Buffett in net worth, it is time to sound one more warning about the market's valuation. FactSet reported that the stock market is trading at a forward 12-month P/E of 22.0, which is well above its 5 and 10 year averages. Here is why these circumstances are highly...
The market has been getting excited by the prospect of a V-shaped recovery. It points to data such as the ISM Manufacturing PMI, which rose from 43.1 in May to 52.6 in June, indicating expansion. The employment index improved from 32.1 to 42.1, and the new orders index increased from 31.8 to 56.4.. ...
Some analysis has recently emerged pointing to a bleak decade for equities, and US equities in particular. Mark Hulbert highlighted a model outlined in the Philosophical Economics blog, entitled "the single greatest predictor of future stock market returns". The model is based on US household allocation to equities and uses the levels as a contrarian...
Mid-week market update: I have some good news, and bad news about a second wave. The bad news is new case counts are rising dramatically in the US. The good news is fatalities are not rising. Here is some more bad news. Marketwatch reported that Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of infectious diseases at the...
Last week, I discussed the professional career risk challenges in this market (see What professional career risk looks like). During these unusual periods of severe bifurcation between valuation and macro risk and price momentum, the investment professional is forced to make a decision based on what he believes the dominant investment regime will be in...
This is a market that defines professional career and business risk. Should investors adopt a momentum approach, or maintain caution in the face of valuation and macro risk? The stock market has recovered from the COVID-19 crash. The NASDAQ has made a fresh all-time high, and the SPX was briefly positive for 2020. Price momentum...
Joe Biden has officially clinched the Democratic nomination for president, and his odds of winning the Presidency in November have been steadily rising, and he is now at 54% on PredictIt. For the uninitiated, the contract pays off at $1.00 if a candidate wins, so buying the Biden contract at $0.54 implies a 54% of...
I don't usually offer instant reactions to economic news, but the May Jobs Report was a shocker. Non-Farm Payroll gained 2.5 million jobs, compared to an expected loss of -8 million. The Diffusion Index bounced back strongly, indicating breadth in job gains. This was a positive and highly constructive report for the economy....
Mid-week market update: As regular readers are aware, I have been increasingly cautious about the equity outlook for the past few weeks as the market advanced. This has become the Energizer Bunny rally that keeps going beyond expectations. Where will it stop? One of the indicators that I have been keeping an eye on is...
As we progressed through the pandemic induced recession, there have been much discussion about a second wave. Second waves appear in many forms, and they can threaten the current consensus expectation of a V-shaped rebound. Here are some of the second wave risks the market faces. A second wave of COVID-19 infections A...
There has been a recent continuing controversy about the usefulness of forward P/E as a valuation tool in the current recessionary environment. On one hand, past bear markets have typically bottomed out at a forward P/E ratio of 10, with a low of 7 (1982) and a high of 14 (2002). FactSet's reported market rating...
How badly has the pandemic affected the global economy? The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has some answers in a recent report. It expects global human development to decline for the first time this year, and EM economies will bear the brunt of the impact. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that up to half...
During past major market bottoms, the outperformance of small cap stocks has coincided with economic rebounds. The relative returns of small and microcaps appear to be trying to bottom. It is time to check in on how these stocks are doing. One way to monitor the progress of these stocks is to check...
This crisis has so far gone through two phases of market psychology. The first phase was panic, as it became apparent that COVID-19 had become a global pandemic, and economies around the world were shutting down. Stock prices rebounded during the hope phase, supported by a flood of fiscal and monetary stimulus, and the hope...
The San Francisco Fed recently created a Daily News Sentiment Index, which is derived from 16 major newspapers. In the space of a few weeks, market psychology has turned from "the market is going to retest the March lows" to "the Fed is supporting prices, valuation doesn't matter, the economy is recovering, - Buy". Regular...
In the past few weeks, a number of investors and strategists have turned bullish. I would like to address the reasoning for the bull case for equities, and the risks to the reasoning. History shows that recessions are bull market killers, and bear markets do not resolve themselves this quickly without a prolonged period of...
Mid-week market update: Back on March 9, 2020, which seems like a lifetime ago, I declared a recession (see OK, I'm calling it). The call was based on the combination of a coronavirus epidemic in China that disrupted supply chains that began to spread to other countries, and tanking oil prices due to a Saudi-Russia...
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