Daily Research Updates
Morning Briefings
Expert market analysis delivered every morning. Stay informed with comprehensive research and data-driven insights.
How Much Rate Hiking Does QT2 Equal?
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: The Fed may have 100bps less of rate hiking to do thanks to the tightening effects of the strong dollar and QT2, the Fed’s balance-sheet-reduction plan. That means the Fed may be done raising the federal funds rate in September after just two more 75bps increases to 3.00%. … Indeed, the Treasury market appears to be discounting a 3.00% peak, sooner rather than later. … The mortgage market in particular must be discounting QT2, as the Fed’s rate hiking alone can’t account for how high mortgage rates have soared, depressing housing and weakening the economy.
Anatomy Of A Mid-Cycle Slowdown
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: Investors still have plenty to fear. But our earnings and economic data analyses plus recent stock market action tend to support our relatively constructive outlooks for the economy and stock market (especially relative to the fears). … Specifically, we think the S&P 500 likely hit its bear-market low of 3666 on June 16 and will remain range bound between 3666-4150 pending economic improvement; the peaking of inflation should limit further valuation downside. … As for the economy, we think it’s undergoing a mid-cycle slowdown that could flatten expected earnings growth—but not a conventional recession that causes earnings to tank.
Financials, China & Russian Gas
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: Banks have been navigating rising interest-rate seas remarkably well, managing to keep low the interest rates they pay out on deposits and raise the rates they take in on loans. As a result, net interest margins have been improving nicely from last year’s depressed levels. If banks can keep that up, the income upside would be substantial. … Also: China may regret not opposing Russia’s war in Ukraine if emerging market nations, struggling under the burden of war-induced food and energy inflation, aren’t able to make good on their debt payments to China. … And: A timely look at innovative ways to generate and store energy.
The Dollar & Earnings
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: Although Fed officials rarely discuss the US dollar’s impact on the economy, the dollar’s recent strength does exert an impact comparable to some degree of interest-rate hiking. Ditto the Fed’s latest quantitative tightening program, QT2. Both effectively will lower the federal-funds-rate endpoint of this tightening cycle. … The dollar’s recent strength reflects massive inflows into US financial markets from overseas given the troubled economies most everywhere else. So we continue to recommend a Stay Home investment strategy for US investors. … How does the dollar’s strength affect corporate earnings? There’s no rule of thumb to go by, but with S&P 500 companies deriving about 40%-50% of their revenues and earnings from abroad, the impacts can be significant.
More On Inflation
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: Consumer prices, wages, home prices, rent: They’ve all been surging northward at stunning rates. Today, we take a deep dive into the wage-price-rent spiral. … We examine recent rent data, how they’re measured, and the forces that drive them—such as the plummeting affordability of home purchasing. … Regarding wages, one measure suggests wage inflation may be moderating, while the other shows it is still very high. … We still expect inflation to moderate, led by nondurable and durable goods inflation. The risk is that the wage-price-rent spiral continues, forcing the Fed to trigger a recession—which always has brought inflation down in the past.
Bear Market Rally Or A New Bull Market?
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: What’s ahead for the stock market? That depends on the significance of the S&P 500’s June 16 low-to-date in the current bear market, of 3666. If that turns out to be the bear’s bottom—which sure would be freaky since the previous one was at S&P 500 666—then either a bull market or a sideways-drifting one is just ahead. Alternatively, deeper lows may be in store if the gain since June 16 was just a short-covering rally within a bear market (as the reversal in sector leadership suggests). … Today, we examine both the bull and bear scenarios, laying out the cases for each.
Europe Sans Gaz (ESG)
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: Russia’s not above weaponizing its natural gas supplies to European nations; it has already frozen out Denmark, Poland, Bulgaria, and Finland in retaliation for decisions Putin didn’t like. So does Russia’s recent close-down of Nord Stream 1 for “repairs” mean that the pipeline critical to heating Germany this winter won’t be reopening? Jackie looks at the potential for an energy crisis in Europe and how various nations might fare. … Also: China faces mountainous economic challenges of its own. … And: With electric vehicle prevalence forecast to skyrocket this decade, an important new industry is born—lithium battery recycling.
Earnings, Inflation & Europe
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: Industry analysts are starting to lower their earnings estimates for some of the companies they follow. They aren’t doing so because they suddenly see an imminent recession but rather profit margins getting squeezed. …We don’t expect this morning’s June CPI release to show a peaking of inflation just yet. July’s CPI should do so. We see inflation moderating during the second half of this year and further in 2023. … Also: A peek into the world of Europe’s credit markets. These markets have been buffeted lately, first by the ECB’s hawkishness, then by its reassurances of help for the most indebted of the Eurozone’s nations.
Thumbs Up or Down For Q2 Earnings?
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: Ready for the earnings season? Investors have been fearing a recession since this year began, as depressed stock valuations attest, while industry analysts have catapulted their earnings and revenues estimates to record highs. There’s certainly no recession evident in forward revenues or forward earnings. … We think Q2 earnings calls will be full of examples of inflation boosting companies’ results and the Fed’s response to inflation not yet depressing them. However, the strong dollar and weaker global economic growth will weigh on earnings. Today, we provide a sector-specific rundown of issues that we expect to hear a lot about on Q2 earnings calls.
Reassessing the ‘Banana’ Scenario
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: Is a recession imminent? Is it here already? How big an impact will it have, if it comes, when it comes? The dreaded “R” word has everyone in a tither, and so does the weakness in the LEI. But the CEI suggests everything’s just fine. We recap the latest economic releases and how they’ve led us to the subjective probabilities we assign to four alternative economic scenarios. … We also assess how well peaks in the S&P 500 presage recessions. ... And: The stock market may have hit its bear bottom already according to the Da Vinci Code, if inflation is peaking and that tempers the Fed’s hawkishness. Also: Dr. Ed reviews “Staircase” (+ +).
China, Earnings & Batteries
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: China’s stock market has enjoyed a nice bounce this year as President Xi’s policies have grown more business friendly as the Chinese Communist Party meeting approaches. We remain concerned about the heavy debt loads forcing Chinese real estate development companies to restructure. We’re also watching Covid cases and Chinese exports to the slowing US and European economies. … We also take a look at which industries’ consensus earnings have been revised down by analysts so far this year. … Electric vehicles may emit less CO2 than internal combustion engines, but manufacturing and disposing of lithium batteries is an awfully dirty business.
A Recession: To Be or Not To Be?
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: The latest batch of leading economic indicators suggests weaker coincident indicators to come. As a result, we’re raising our odds of a shallow, short-lived recession in the US economy to 55% (from 45%). That makes a recession now our base-case scenario from which we derive our earnings and stock market forecasts. … Higher recession odds lower our expectations for what S&P 500 companies will earn, what investors will pay for their stocks, and where the S&P 500 price index may stand at year-ends 2022 and 2023. … Also: Melissa looks at the factors contributing to global food inflation and the regions most vulnerable to food shortages.
The Second Half of 2022
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: The US economy is probably heading into a mild recession, recent indicators suggest. We now see real GDP contracting by 1.9% this year. … The good news: The recession should be over next year and should slow the rate of inflation in H2-2022 and 2023. The sooner the business cycle bottoms, the sooner the stock market will. … Analysts will be getting the recession memo shortly and cutting their estimates accordingly. We’re doing so now, lowering our earnings estimates for S&P 500 companies this year and next.
Health Care, Finance & Batteries
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: The S&P 500’s Health Care sector is pumped: It has outperformed most other sectors ytd and is tied for first place (with Utilities) measured since the S&P 500’s recent low on June 16. Jackie parses the opportunity, examining the investment pros and cons of the sector overall and of specific industries and companies within it. … Also: Which fintechs deserve master accounts with access to the Fed’s payments system? A couple of recent controversies put that question front and center as the Fed works on rules to govern the process of granting master accounts. … And: A look at where Tesla is going with its battery technology.
Relative Valuation & Dalio’s Big Short
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: Around the world, as inflation concerns, interest rates, and recession fears have risen, stock market valuations have fallen. They’ll fall further if recessions actually materialize. Against this backdrop, we examine how the valuations of various indexes have fared relative to one another. … Also: For Europe, recession appears particularly likely given a brewing energy crisis, as Russia has been choking off natural gas supplies. Melissa assesses the ramifications for European households and businesses. … And: The ECB’s hawkish turn has hurt most EMU MSCI sectors’ valuations; we take a look at the deterioration relative to analysts’ still-strong earnings and margin expectations.
Right & Wrong Tracks
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: This year’s first half has been treacherous for most investors; what will the second half bring? Today, we take stock of what’s going right for the economy and financial markets—and may be bullish over the rest of the year—and what could prolong the bearish pain. … Among the bullish: sentiment indicators’ contrarian buy signals, super-low joblessness, strong bank balance sheets, the “CFO Put,” and (counterintuitively) the Fed’s QT. … The main bearish scenario is a familiar fear: Inflation proves so intractable that the Fed tightens to the point of recession, which sets off a credit crunch. And that’s not all that could morph bearish.
Green Bad Deal
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: The best laid plans of climate activists have gone majorly awry: Soaring fossil fuel prices haven’t increased demand for and supply of “clean” energy sources, as they’d expected, while demand for fossil fuels exceeds supplies. And activists’ pressure on European governments to suppress production of fossil fuels has really backfired, creating an unholy dependence on Russian oil with dangerous geopolitical ramifications. As a result, fossil fuel sources are making a remarkable comeback. … Also: US analysts still haven’t gotten the recession memo, blithely raising estimates even though investors and managements alike are girding for the worst. Even analysts overseas have on rose-colored glasses, particularly in Europe where the risk of a recession is rising as energy shortages worsen.
Energy, EVs & Crypto
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: The price of oil has begun to come down. But countervailing forces are exerting both downward and upward pressure on oil prices. Among the former, production has ramped up greatly. Jackie examines the dynamics affecting oil industry pricing. … And: Electric vehicles are gaining traction in the marketplace. But they’re costing more to make with commodity prices so high and costing more to buy with manufacturers passing their cost increases onto consumers. … Also: Many of the many cryptocurrency players are bound to succumb to hypothermia during the brutal industry contraction dubbed “crypto winter.”
The Latest Business Cycle
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: The Census Bureau’s monthly “Manufacturing and Trade Inventories and Sales” report is chock-full of valuable information that often goes unnoticed by the media and economists alike. Last week’s release, with data through April, shows inventories starting to rise relative to sales, especially among retailers. That implies good and bad news—good for constraining inflation, bad for economic growth, increasing the risk of a goods-led recession. … And: With global inflation surging, are the major global central banks tightening with Fed-like fervor? Not exactly. Melissa examines the unique issues in Europe, Japan, and China that are tempering their monetary policy responses.
Revisiting Venus and Mars
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: “What planet are you from?,” analysts and investors may be wondering of each other these days, with the former super bullish and the latter super bearish. Analysts weren’t bullish enough about Q1 earnings. Yet investors are solely focused on the recession risk as the Fed fights inflation and have been pounding down valuations. … Barring a recession, the S&P 500 appears fairly valued, though we look today at a couple of still concerning valuation models. And of course, the odds of a recession aren’t trivial. … Also: The MegaCap-8 stocks are no longer “the Magnificent 8”; we examine their rise and fall. … And: Dr. Ed reviews “Jurassic World: Dominion” (- - -).
Damage Assessments: Stocks & Crypto
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: Ready for an unflinching look at the mauling the bear market has inflicted on specific S&P 500 sectors and industries? Jackie assesses the valuation and share-price carnage among the worst and best performers relative to both one year ago and January 3, when the S&P 500 peaked at its record high. … Also: Crypto lending markets have blown up for the second time in as many months. We look at the unregulated business that’s been called the “Wild West” of lending—the players, their troubles, and the SEC’s concerns. … Also: Car-sharing companies like the soon-to-be-public Turo aim to disrupt the car rental industry with an Airbnb-like business model.
It’s Fed Day!
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: Now that May’s CPI report has dashed hopes that inflation has peaked, it’s clear to investors that tethering inflation will take more aggressive tightening by the Fed. Today we will find out if the FOMC has decided to put more muscle into the fight. Will Powell show the same conviction to stay the course as his predecessor Volcker did decades ago? This may be Jerome Powell’s Volcker Moment. … Also: We look at what various Fed officials have said recently about the battle against inflation. … And: Tuesday’s inflation numbers mostly showed that inflation isn’t getting worse, but it isn’t getting better either.
Bull Market, R.I.P.
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: The S&P 500 breached bear market territory yesterday, and this week’s economic releases could drive the index deeper into bear terrain by highlighting the persistence of the inflation problem. … Bear markets nearly always are accompanied by recessions. But while we did recently raise our odds of recession to 45%, we’re still not in the recession camp; notably, analysts’ earnings expectations are still rising to record-high levels. Our higher recession odds combined with the unfolding bear market have lowered our sights for the S&P 500’s valuation multiple and price index for the rest of 2022 and for 2023.
That ’70s Show On Fast-Forward
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: May’s CPI report showed scant signs of inflation peaking, though we still expect peaking soon. The report also suggests a more hawkish Fed and higher recession risk. We’re raising our odds of a mild recession to 45% from 40%. … Investor and consumer sentiment both have soured. But this time, pervasive bearishness may not be as useful a contrarian bullish signal as in the past. There may not be much upside for stocks until the Fed is done tightening later this year. … Also: We revisit the question of the decade: Will the 2020s resemble the Great Inflation of the 1970s or the Roaring 1920s? … And: Dr. Ed reviews “Gaslit” (+ + +).
Energy & Consumers
Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: President Biden says he wants to bring down gas and other energy prices. But his actions on the margin have been ineffectual so far. We doubt he’ll solve the problem without unshackling the US oil and gas industry’s production. Environmentalists wouldn’t be happy, but American citizens likely would. … And: We’re starting to notice industry analysts trimming earnings estimates for companies in the S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary sector. We examine which industries have seen estimates drop the most. … Also: A look at some innovative new products for these high-energy-cost times.