Well, well, the Biden decision to withdraw from the presidential race certainly put a new spin on stock market behaviour. According to Ryan Detrick, stock prices don’t behave well during election years of lame duck presidents. That said, “lame duck” years often refer to a second term president. The closest analogues to the...
In the wake of Biden’s subpar debate performance and the assassination attempt on Trump, the prediction markets’ odds of a Trump victory in November have substantially risen. Equally important is Wall Street’s reaction, which has investors sitting up to take notice of the implications of a second Trump Administration in 2025. Despite the...
The closely watched April PCE moderated as expected. Headline PCE came in 0.3%, in line with expectations, while core PCE was 0.2% (blue bars), which was softer than expectations. Supercore PCE, or services ex-energy and housing, also decelerated (red bars). This latest print represents useful progress, but won’t significantly move the needle on Fed policy....
I am not fond of the ritual of “year ahead” forecasts. Street strategists’ forecasts are far more dispersed compared to past years. The 2024 year-end target for the S&P 500 varies from 4200 to 5200. So let’s make this brief. Analysis from Ryan Detrick of Carson Group shows that the S&P 500 rises an...
Two weeks ago, I rhetorically asked if investors should be buying into the cyclical recovery theme (see Buy the cyclical and reflation trade?). Global green shoots of recovery were appearing, but I identified the "uncertainty of additional fiscal stimulus" as a key risk to the cyclical rebound thesis. Now that Biden appears to be winning...
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. ...
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. ...
With the US election just over two weeks away, it's time to look past the election and focus on how the economy and markets are likely to behave. Barry Ritholz correctly advised investors in a recent post to check their political beliefs at the door when analyzing markets. Stock prices have done slightly better under...
Labor Day is the traditional kickoff of presidential election campaigns. Before that, only die-hard political pundits and devotees pay attention to the election. It is with that in mind we revisit the economic criteria for Trump’s political fortunes that I outlined just after his inauguration (see Forget politics! Here are the 5 key macro indicators...
This is war! A global war against the pandemic. Analysis from the IMF showed that government debt levels have spiked to levels not seen since World War II. How will the world win the peace in a post pandemic era, and what does that mean for investors? A hopeful view Morgan Housel...
Risk takers are fond of the line, "No guts, no glory". With that in mind, I present three cases of risks, and possible opportunities. The Turkey in the FX coalmine In late June, I highlighted analysis from Research Affiliates of country values by CAPE relative to their own history. At the top of the...
On this 4th of July Independence Day weekend, let's try a change of pace and indulge in some technical analysis of a different sort. The behavioral finance basis for technical analysis is the wisdom of the crowds. Francis Galton observed a competition at a local fair in 1906 where about 800 people tried to guess...
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...
Is the bull on his last legs? It is starting to look that way. I alerted readers to an unconfirmed bullish monthly MACD buy signal in late July (see A (deceptive) long term buy signal). The buy signal was confirmed in late October by both the Wilshire 5000 and non-US markets (see Buy the breakout,...
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...
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...
Mid-week market update: I have been writing in these pages about the remarkable muted equity market volatility. Indeed, Luke Kawa observed on Monday that realized volatility had fallen to historical lows. Recent developments indicate that volatility may be about to return to the markets. This reminds me of the lyrics of a song that I...
I am somewhat at a loss of why Trump is putting so much pressure on the Federal Reserve. In a recent CNBC interview, CEA chair Kevin Hassett projected that growth would rise again to 3% later this year. “Everything we see right now is teeing us up to have a year like last year -...
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...
President Trump has threatened to impose a State of Emergency in order to get his Wall built. Can he do that? Analysis from The Economist indicates that there is historical precedence for such actions: Presidents do have wide discretion to declare national emergencies and take unilateral action for which they ordinarily need legislative approval. A “latitude”,...
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