Is good economic news good news for equities or bad news? We know how to interpret macro news for the bond market. The Citi Economic Surprise Index (ESI), which measures whether top-down economic releases are beating or missing expectations, has been a bit weak. Historically, a weak ESI has meant lower bond yields. ...
Perhaps you remember the late-night television commercials selling tapes and courses on how to buy real estate with no money down. One memorable character from the early 1990s ran infomercials featuring him on a yacht surrounded by bikini-clad women to emphasize how he, a Vietnamese refugee, had made a fortune from nothing. You could do...
The Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite all achieved new all-time highs last week. It is said that there is nothing more bullish than a stock making a new high. This is not a time for caution. Higher stock prices are ahead. Here are the reasons why I am bullish. Bullish...
How worried should equity investors be about valuation? The S&P 500 is trading at a forward P/E of 20.6, which is elevated compared to its 5-year average of 19.1 and 10-year average of 17.8. Moreover, the 10-year Treasury yield of 4.5% is becoming a more attractive alternative to owning stocks. Here are the...
Now that Donald Trump has become the presumptive Republican nominee for President, Wall Street is scrambling to model how a Trump White House may affect capital markets. A recent Bloomberg article summarized the consensus: Bond market: Expect rising yields from upward pressures on term premium. Currencies: Rising yields will put a bid under the USD....
What’s bothering the bond market? The 10-year Treasury yield (blue line) has shot up to levels last seen just before the GFC. The surge in yields has occurred just as investors are seeing better news on inflation. At the same time, core PCE (red line) has been falling. Shouldn’t that be good news for the...
Mid-week market update: On the weekend, I stated that my base case was the S&P 500 decline would stop at August low support of 4350, but there was a 25% chance that it would test the next trend line support at roughly 4200, or the 200 dma. Now that we are nearing that level, what’s...
Preface: Explaining our market timing models We maintain several market timing models, each with differing time horizons. The "Ultimate Market Timing Model" is a long-term market timing model based on the research outlined in our post, Building the ultimate market timing model. This model tends to generate only a handful of signals each decade. The Trend...
Ever since the NYSE Composite monthly MACD flashed a long-term buy signal, I have been monitoring the risks to the bull. Past positive MACD crossovers have signaled long-term resilient equity bull markets and such signals have marked durable advances, which are subject to the normal equity risk of minor corrections without significant bearish episodes. ...
Periodically, the market is rattled by a “China is slowing” narrative. As the accuracy of official Chinese statistics can be doubtful, the real-time market reaction indicates nervousness, but no panic. The performance of the equity markets of China and her major trading partners relative to MSCI All-Country World Index (ACWI) shows that their trends are...
Strategists coined the term TINA (There Is No Alternative) for describing equities as an asset class during the low-interest rate era. Now that rates have risen, there is a new acronym, TARA (There Are Reasonable Alternatives). Today, U.S. faces a TARA challenge from elevated Treasury yields. The forward P/E ratio of the S&P 500 had...
Mid-week market update: The market reaction to the FOMC decision was mostly a yawn. The Fed raised rates by a quarter-point, which was expected, and Powell refused to commit to further hikes while repeating his data dependency mantra. As a consequence, the S&P 500 was mostly unchanged from before the decision to after the close....
Ever since the softer-than-expected June CPI report, the Wall Street narrative has pivoted toward disinflation and a soft landing. The disinflationary trend had been building for some time and inflation has been surprising to the downside around the world. As a consequence, the markets have taken a risk-on tone in anticipation of less...
Mid-week market update: I wrote on the weekend that Q2 earnings season is potentially pivotal for the stock market (see What to watch for in a pivotal earnings season). Going into reporting season, the consensus is calling for a rebound in earning, though the recovery is expected to be stronger in large and mid-caps compared...
The Q2 earnings reporting season could be a pivotal one. Earnings reports and subsequent corporate guidance are likely to give investors greater clarity on whether the economy is softening into a slowdown or undergoing a soft landing and recovery. The preliminary picture is a fragile recovery. Forward guidance for Q2 has improved from Q1. Negative...
I recently had a discussion with a reader about my Ultimate Market Timing Model (UMTM). The UMTM is an extremely low turnover model that flashes signals once every few years and is designed to limit the extremes of the downside tail-risk of owning equities. When extreme downside risk is minimized, investors can afford to take...
As at the time of writing, the White House and the Republican-led House haven’t come to a debt ceiling deal yet, though both sides are getting closer to a deal. But you only die once, and focusing on the fear of a catastrophe isn’t very useful. Hedging only works if there is someone you can...
Preface: Explaining our market timing models We maintain several market timing models, each with differing time horizons. The "Ultimate Market Timing Model" is a long-term market timing model based on the research outlined in our post, Building the ultimate market timing model. This model tends to generate only a handful of signals each decade. The Trend...
Is the U.S. economy headed into recession? The signs are all there. Even though a recession isn’t part of the Fed’s official forecast, Fed Chair Jerome Powell conceded during the May post-FOMC press conference that the Fed’s staff economists were calling for a mild recession. Carl Quintanilla of CNBC also reported that the overwhelming...
The main events in the coming week will be the interest rate decisions by Federal Reserve on Wednesday and the ECB on Thursday. Both are widely expected to raise rates. However, market expectations for the trajectory of the U.S. Fed Funds rate is a 25-basis-point hike at the May meeting, a pause, and rate cuts...
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