What’s spooking the bond market, and why it matters to equities

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...

How the USD could sink the S&P 500

Correlation isn’t causation, but the USD Index has shown a close inverse correlation to the S&P 500. The relationship partly ended when the S&P 500 surged on AI mania. However, small-cap stocks, which are less subject to the enthusiasm over the AI revolution, maintained their inverse correlation.     The USD Index is approaching a...

Is there an inflation threat in your future?

On Valentine's Day, the European Central Bank tweeted a poem to underscore its commitment to fighting inflation.     The ECB tweet is also indicative of the tight monetary policy undertaken by most major central banks. Only two central banks, the BoJ and the PBoC, are meaningful suppliers of global liquidity. The rest are raising...

Why the pivot may be closer than you think

Richard Nixon's Treasury Secretary John Connally famously said in 1971, "The dollar is our currency, but it is your problem". Nixon's actions at the time closed the gold window, imposed a number of tariffs, and drove the USD down in the aftermath of the collapse of the Bretton Woods Agreement of fixed exchange rates.  ...

Wars are equity bullish, but there’s a catch…

Four weeks ago, I suggested that investors buy to the sound of cannons. Now that the cannons have sounded, is that still a good idea?   Yes, but there's a catch. A detailed list of past crises from Ed Clissold of Ned Davis Research reveals that stock prices usually rebound strongly after sudden shocks such...

How to engineer inflation

Both the June CPI and PPI came in hot and well ahead of expectations. There was the inevitable debate about the transitory nature of the price increases. Looking longer-term, however, the conventional models for explaining inflation have been unsatisfactory.   Notwithstanding the numerous failures by Japanese policymakers, consider the US as another example. Let's begin...

Do valuations matter anymore?

How expensive are US equities? Fed Governor Lael Brainard warned about "stretched valuations" in the preamble to the May 2021 Financial Stability Report:   Vulnerabilities associated with elevated risk appetite are rising. Valuations across a range of asset classes have continued to rise from levels that were already elevated late last year...The combination of stretched...

How Powell, the Un-Volcker, is remaking the Fed

Jerome Powell may turn out to be the Un-Volcker Fed Chair. Paul Volcker wrung all the inflation expectations out of the system and convinced everyone that the Fed is an inflation hawk. By contrast, Jerome Powell is attempting a mirror image policy of convincing everyone the Fed is an inflation dove.   A considerable gulf...

Biden’s American Rescue Plan: Bullish or bearish?

If you thought that Biden would govern as a centrist, you were wrong. In the wake of the passage of a $1.9 trillion stimulus package, President Joe Biden is planning to attack the enduring challenge of inequality by expanding government spending with a second ambitious $3 trillion economic renewal plan and a revamp of the tax...

A valuation puzzle: Why are stocks so strong?

One of the investment puzzles of 2020 is the stock market's behavior. In the face of the worst global economic downturn since the Great Depression, why haven't stock prices fallen further? Investors saw a brief panic in February and March, and the S&P 500 has recovered and even made an all-time high in early September....

How the Fed’s Policy Review received an incomplete grade

It has been over a week since Jerome Powell's virtual Jackson Hole speech in which he laid out the Fed's revised its updates to its Statement on Longer-Run Goals and Monetary Policy Strategy after a long and extensive internal review. There were two changes. one was a shift towards an "average inflation targeting" regime, where the...

Can a bull market begin without the banks?

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...

The bears are capitulating

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...

3 supply shocks that could derail the economy

As the market reacts the weekend attack on Saudi oil facilities, the level of anxiety is mounting. Forbes published an article on Sunday entitled "Attacks on Saudi Arabia are a recipe for $100 oil". Bloomberg that this represents the biggest disruption to global oil supply since the Iraqi 1990 invasion of Kuwait.   As visions...

Is this the long awaited value investing revival?

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...

Questions for Judy Shelton and gold standard supporters

President Trump has nominated Judy Shelton as one of the candidates for the open seats on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors. While Shelton is a controversial nominee, she is less problematical than the previous two, Herman Cain and Stephen Moore. While I certainly understand the reasoning behind a gold-backed currency, which is a way...

The boom of 2021

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...

The macro risks that keep me awake at night

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...

Buy gold for the late cycle inflation surge?

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...