Archives of “business cycle” tag

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Overnight US Market : The stock rotation continues out of high-tech and into cyclicals

  
Analysis, US Market
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Higher yields remain the catalyst

The longs in the technology stocks continue to get hammered and the rotation into the cyclical continues as fears of interest rates have traders repricing the high flyers of 2020.

The final numbers are showing:
  • S&P index -20.72 points or -0.54% at 3821.23
  • NASDAQ index -310.98 points or -2.41% at 12609.16
  • Dow industrial average rose 306.21 points or +0.97% at 31802.51
The NASDAQ index closed below its 100 day moving average for the 1st time since October 30.
Some of the oversized decliners today included:
  • Doordash -11.92%
  • Snowflake, -10.74%
  • Chewy, -8.01%
  • Zoom, -7.91%
  • Nio, -7.66%
  • Nvidia, -6.99%
  • Square, -6.74%
  • Broadcom, -6.57%
  • Palantir, -5.91%
  • Tesla, -5.86%
On the positive side, some of the Reddit meme stocks were in the big gainers:
  • Express, +62.6%
  • Gamestop, +40.1%
  • Koss, +26.79%
  • AMC, +15.52%
  • Bed Bath and Beyond, +10.32%
Airlines also rose sharply:
  • United airlines, +7.03%
  • Southwest Airlines, +6.41%
  • American Airlines, +4.94%
  • Delta Air Lines, +3.61%
Big cap high flying names of 2020 had a tough time of it today as well:
  • Facebook -3.35%
  • Amazon -1.58%
  • Apple, -4.13%
  • Netflix, -4.48%
  • Microsoft -1.79%
  • Alphabet -4.3%
Other winners included:
  • Walt Disney, +6.27%
  • Whirlpool, +3.46%
  • Ford, +3.10%
  • MasterCard, +2.9%
  • Citigroup, +2.82%
  • Cisco Systems, +2.79%
  • Exxon, +2.39%
  • General Motors, +2.29%
  • Home Depot, +2.16%

Copper and silver prices spike as governments decarbonize

  
  Analysis
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Money is flowing into the markets for such materials as copper, silver and aluminum on growing demand thanks to a shift to renewable energy and electric cars.

The trend was triggered by solid demand in China, which brought the COVID-19 pandemic under control ahead of other countries. Now investors around the world are trying to get ahead of the curve on the so-called green cycle poised to lift the commodity markets over the long term.

Three-month copper futures on the London Metal Exchange, the global benchmark, hit a seven-year high earlier this month. With the price at $7,984.50 per ton as of Friday, copper futures have risen about 80% from a low in March when the coronavirus was wreaking havoc in China.

Ever since the spread of infections settled down there, the Chinese government has been propping up the economy through public works investment and other steps. “In China, there is a shortage of many industrial products, and this is spreading to materials,” said Naohiro Niimura, a partner at Japanese commodities consultancy Market Risk Advisory.

China’s monthly imports of copper ingots and related products are well above year-earlier levels in volume terms. Meanwhile, many mines in South America and elsewhere have been forced to cut output due to COVID-19 infections. (more…)

Traps and Pitfalls:

  
Analysis, Education
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  1. Bad Markets – A good pattern won’t bail you out of a bad market, so move to the sidelines when conflict and indecision take hold of the tape. Your long-term survival depends on effective trade management. The bottom line: don’t trade when you can’t measure your risk, and stand aside when you can’t find your edge.
  2. Bad Timing – It’s easy to be right but still lose money. Financial instruments are forced to negotiate a minefield of conflicting trends, each dependent on different time frames. Your positions need to align with the majority of these cycles in order to capture the profits visualized in your trade analysis.
  3. Bad Trades – There are a lot of stinkers out there, vying for your attention, so look for perfect convergence before risking capital on a questionable play, and then get out at the first sign of danger. It’s easy to go brain dead and step into a weak-handed position that makes absolutely no sense, whether it moves in your favor or not. The bottom line: it’s never too late to get out of a stupid trade.
  4. Bad Stops – Poor stops will shake you out of good positions. Stops do their best work when placed outside the market noise, while keeping risk to a minimum. Many traders believe professionals hit their stops because they have inside knowledge, but the truth is less mysterious. Most of us stick them in the same old places.
  5. Bad Action – Modern markets try to burn everyone before they launch definable trends. These shakeouts occur because most traders play popular strategies that have been deconstructed by market professionals. In a sense, the buy and sell signals found in TA books are turned against the naïve folks using them.

NBER says US recession began in February

  
Analysis, Economy
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Business Dating Cycle Committee says contraction ongoing

The US National Bureau of Economic Research says the American economy fell into recession in February to end an expansion that started in June 2009.
It was the longest expansion in US history at 128 months.
In determining the date of the monthly peak, the committee considers a number of indicators of employment and production. The committee normally views the payroll employment measure, which is based on a large survey of employers, as the most reliable comprehensive estimate of employment. This series reached a clear peak in February.
There’s no magic in determining a recession but the NBER generally gets the privilege of making the call in the US.

Fitch says : Deep Global Recession in 2020 as Coronavirus Crisis Escalates -Full Text

  
Analysis, Economy
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Fitch Ratings-London-02 April 2020: A deep global recession in 2020 is now Fitch Ratings’ baseline forecast according to its latest update of its Global Economic Outlook (GEO) forecasts.

The speed with which the coronavirus pandemic is evolving has necessitated another round of huge cuts to our GDP forecasts. We now expect world economic activity to decline by 1.9% in 2020 with US, eurozone and UK GDP down by 3.3%, 4.2% and 3.9%, respectively. China’s recovery from the disruption in 1Q20 will be sharply curtailed by the global recession and its annual growth will be below 2%.

“The forecast fall in global GDP for the year as a whole is on a par with the global financial crisis but the immediate hit to activity and jobs in the first half of this year will be worse”, said Brian Coulton, Fitch’s chief economist.

The spread of the pandemic and the actions necessary to control it mean that we now have to incorporate full-scale lockdowns across Europe and the US (and many other countries) in our baseline forecasts. This was not the assumption used in our March 2020 GEO forecast. There are many moving parts, but we now judge that lockdowns could reduce GDP across the EU and US by 7% to 8%, or 28% to 30% annualised, in 2Q20. This is an unprecedented peacetime one-quarter fall in GDP and is similar to what we now estimate occurred in China in 1Q20.

On the assumption that the health crisis is broadly contained by the second half of the year there should be a decent sequential recovery in activity as lockdowns are removed, some spending is re-profiled from 1H20, inventories are rebuilt and policy stimulus takes effect. But this has to be set against the many factors amplifying the depth of the dislocation, including job losses, capex cuts, commodity price shocks and the rout in financial markets.

“Our baseline forecast does not see GDP reverting to its pre-virus levels until late 2021 in the US and Europe,” said Coulton.

 

(more…)

Fed’s Bullard: Zero rates, forward guidance, QE still in the play book for “ordinary recession”

  
  Analysis
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Bullard Q&A session after his earlier speech

Suddenly, he’s back to a bit of a more dovish stance following his earlier comments about possible rate hikes if the economy improves again. That said, he’s hardly pushing the issue for a 25 bps rate cut this month and I think that’s the key takeaway in all of this.

Guggenheim’s Recession Probability Model shows US recession can not be avoided

  
  Analysis
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Guggenheim recession forecast model showed a 58% chance of the economy being in a recession by mid-2020

  • 77% chance of one beginning in the next 24 months
  • “aggressive policy action can delay recession, but not avoid it.”
From a note written by Guggenheim Partners global chief investment officer Scott Minerd.
  • Minerd oversees more than $US240 billion in assets under management
via Reuters, more at the link
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As an aside, when folks quote probabilities at something like 77% instead of rounded to 70, or 80, or 75 or some such they tend to gain more credibility.
I’m not dissing Guggenheim here, just making an observation. Which is accurate 76.38% of the time.
😉
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And another thing …. if the probability is 77% then it can be avoided, right? (at least in the time frame specified)

Surging household debt clouds Asia’s growth outlook

  
Analysis, Economy
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The rapid expansion of household debt in emerging Asian countries, particularly China, has become a risk to the global economy.

In Thailand and Malaysia, debt has ballooned due to booms in the auto and housing markets, and the growing repayment burden has dampened consumer sentiment. In China, household debt as a percentage of nominal GDP is now over 50%. Countries such as Thailand have begun curbing their consumption in response to rising debt levels.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates at the end of this month. Emerging economies also have room for interest rate cuts, which would boost growth in the short run but could deepen the scars from indebtedness over the long term.

Somprawin Manprasert, chief economist at Bank of Ayudhya, pointed out that household debts have ballooned as a result of incentives for the purchase of cars and other items introduced by the Thai government in 2011. This is a structural factor that will weigh on future consumption, Somprawin said.

Thailand’s household debt ratio is close to 70%. That is higher than in Japan and other advanced economies, which have ratios of about 58%, and well above that of the eurozone. The main reason is auto loans. To support the car industry, the Thai government introduced tax incentives to encourage purchases, which took off in 2012. As a result of the higher debt load, personal consumption has been sluggish and inflation has been weak.

(more…)

US vs. German yield spread breaking down from a multi-year support line!

  
Analysis, Economy
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Last two times coincided with the peak of the tech & housing bubble.

Fed policy turning uber dovish with stocks already at record valuations & late in the business cycle? Never ends well.

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