Published January 9, 2017

The year 2016 started poorly, with the market dropping more in January than any other time in history. The equity market struggled throughout the year, continuing a trend which saw the S&P gain 1.9 percent from the end of 2014 through the first half of 2016. The California Public Employees Retirement System, the largest public pension fund in the U.S., with all its access to the best investment advisors, gained only 0.06 percent for the trailing 12 months ending June 30, 2016.

It’s no wonder that investors were unhappy with returns. They flocked to low-cost index funds in the belief they were better off, as low interest rates and no-growth policies sucked the gains out of the markets. Once interest rates start to rise and earnings return to the markets, stock pickers will regain the upper hand.

Fixed-income markets, coming off a 35-year bull market, saw massive drops after the election and two trillion dollars in market value in bonds was lost. So much for “low risk” fixed-income investments. Despite the poor performance of the equity markets, they were still the best place to be.

Everything appeared to change with the presidential election. With the Republicans retaining the House and Senate and claiming the White House, a pro-business outlook appeared to be winning the day. Visions of tax reform, fewer regulations and a business-friendly environment filled boardrooms and small businesses across the country. The market jumped nearly 7 percent by the end of the year.

It also helped that the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter-point and hinted at more rate increases in 2017. Corporate earnings in the third quarter had jumped 3.1 percent from […]

Published December 12, 2016

November began with the impending U.S. election pitting Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump. Clinton was the odds-on favorite and the favorite of the market too. Investors had largely made their bets on a Clinton win. When Trump pulled the upset of the century, investors had to quickly redirect their investments. Equity investors switched from a risk-off scenario to a risk-on scenario.

As President-elect Trump gave a speech outlining his plans, the bond market had a heart attack. Two trillion dollars were wiped out within days. The Financial Times called it the worst bond rout since 1990. Interest rates jumped over 50 basis points within days – an astonishing move for a bond market, culminating in a move of almost 100 basis points since Sept. 1.

Additionally, the Federal Reserve had been signaling a rate hike of 25 basis points, with the futures market suggesting that the increase was more probable than not. Immediately after the Trump talk, the futures market’s certainty of a rate hike rose to 100 percent. The market did the Fed’s work for the Fed. Indeed, with the increase in interest rates of nearly 100 basis points, the Fed could easily raise rates 50 basis points, and probably will in the near term.

Investors picked winners and losers from a Trump presidency that sometime brought surprises. For instance, a conservative stock like Constellation Brands, a purveyor of Mexican beer, dropped nearly 20 percent in a flash because of Trump’s threatened tariffs on Mexican imports. Tech share values dropped and have continued to decline, because Trump is a perceived threat to international trade. What was conservative became risky and what was growth (tech is […]

Published November 14, 2016

In echoes of Brexit, Donald Trump rode a wave of dissatisfaction to win the Presidency of the U.S. His campaign was directed to white working class voters, formerly reliable Democratic voters. With the U.S. economy growing at a very slow pace, workers have not had a real pay raise in years. Many workers felt left out of the economy while the “elite” class prospered. Trump dispensed a bromide of nationalism and xenophobia which carried him to victory. It was the same message that worked in the Brexit vote to the surprise of pollsters and the ruling class. Although Trump had trouble staying on message, he eventually got his message across to unhappy voters who were willing to accept his approach.

The campaign was unorthodox, but that had an appeal to voters who saw themselves as left out. Voters wanted unorthodox solutions. The campaign was devoid of plans to solve the problems of the country and quickly descended into name calling. It stayed there for 18 months. Voters were fed up with the campaign. The country became deeply divided. Trump told a dark message. He portrayed himself as the only one that could make things better. The disaffected were receptive.  At the end of the day voters did not vote for a candidate, but against the other candidate.

The immediate reaction to his impending win was a huge drop in the market averages. At one point in pre-dawn trading the Dow futures were down 900 points.  Circuit breakers were triggered which required a time out. When the time out expired, the averages began a recovery.   The dollar dropped in value, as did most other currencies, especially […]

Published October 10, 2016
As we head into the fourth quarter of this year, the outlook is decidedly mixed. European bank worries, the Federal Reserve and interest rates, elections and corporate profits all weigh on the economy. After a long period of negative interest rates, the European economy is softening and its banks are struggling. The negative rates have hurt those most intended to benefit. Bank profits have fallen, interest yields have collapsed and European economies have suffered.

The most notable bank to suffer is Deutsche Bank, with over 100,000 employees and 1.6 trillion euros in assets. Long a bulwark of the German economy and itself a large investor in German companies, Deutsche Bank has seen its market capitalization plummet. Other banks have declined to do business with Deutsche Bank, and hedge fund managers are shorting the stock. Market value has dropped dramatically. Nor is Deutsche Bank alone: Commerzbank, Germany’s number two bank, is laying off 10,000 workers, Greek banks have become penny stocks and Monte De Peschi, the oldest bank in the world, is barely surviving.

It is not just that Deutsche Bank is struggling, but that it represents great systemic risk – perhaps the biggest financial risk in the world right now, according to Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund. The implications of a failure of Deutsche Bank extend throughout the world. In addition to Deutsche Bank’s internal problems, the U.S. Department of Justice has threatened to fine the bank $14.5 billion. I lived and worked in Germany for many years; my office was there when I was CEO of Dresdner Bank’s international Asset Management Company and again when I did the restructuring of Metallgesellschaft. […]

Published September 12, 2016

Each week Fed leaders take to the luncheon circuit to speak in favor of higher interest rates. Each time they seem ready to raise rates something gets in the way. If it is not China, it is Brexit, or it is employment data. The one time the Fed did raise rates, the market corrected sharply.

Ever determined, the Fed speakers are again calling for rate increases. After Chairwoman Janet Yellen opened the door just a crack at the Jackson Hole economic conference, it seemed very likely that the Fed would raise rates in September. This contrasts with previous Fed expectations not to raise rates before December and maybe not at all this year. But a subpar jobs report showing hiring of 151,000 workers in August stunned the markets, again reflecting the weak economy. With 24,000 fewer jobs than expected, the jobless rate held steady at 4.9 percent.

The labor participation rate remained at a meager 62 percent. The report is likely to keep the Federal Reserve on hold when it meets on Sept. 21.

Furthermore, the Institute for Supply Management Non-Manufacturing Business Activity Index showed a surprise massive slowdown in growth in August, raising new warnings about the economy. This servicesector index represents a large portion of the economy. Coming on the heels of the recent decline in the manufacturing index, these gauges represent a twin blow. Expectations of a rate increase in the futures markets showed a sharp drop, with expectation of a September rate increase dropping to 13 percent.

There is a strong case for raising rates. Except for the single raise in December 2015, rates have been extremely low for many years. These low […]

Published August 8, 2016

The gross domestic product numbers just posted show U.S economic growth at 1.2 percent for the second quarter of 2016, and when added to the numbers for the first quarter, they show anemic 0.9 percent growth for the year to date. Economists had expected 2.6 percent growth after seven years of slow to no growth; the U.S. now exhibits more of the same.

The U.S. economy has grown at a 2.1 percent annual rate since the recovery began in 2009. The current expansion remains smaller than the one during Richard Nixon’s administration, and that expansion lasted a mere three years. Even Janet Yellen, the Federal Reserve’s chairwoman, sees slow long-term growth.

During this “recovery,” 3.1 million more people fell into poverty, and the percentage of Americans in poverty climbed from 14.3 percent to 14.8 percent.

Sixty percent of households saw their income shrink between 2009 and 2014, while the bottom 20 percent saw their incomes decline by 8 percent over that time.

More people are on food stamps. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 8.7 million more people were on food stamps in April than when the recovery started.

The number of people who dropped out of the workforce climbed 14 million. There is less optimism. The IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index was 45 in July; anything below 50 represents pessimism.

With these numbers, it is no wonder that so-called “establishment” candidates are rejected and candidates of “change” surged during the presidential primaries. With pessimism so strong, Donald Trump mines discontent with his dark campaign. Hillary Clinton counters with an optimistic message. It is not clear at this time which message the voters will like better. Despite all this […]

Published July 11, 2016
Voters in the United Kingdom awoke with a bad hangover recently. They were dazed and angry, but mostly confused. The nation had just voted to leave the European Union. Millions of people signed a petition in protest. The opinion polls had said that after 43 years, Britain would vote to remain in the European Union. The markets were positioned for a vote to remain. But by a razor-thin margin, the voters said to leave. Some votes in favor of leaving may have been in protest, not expecting them to contribute to such a result. But there it was, for better or worse: Leave!

In rapid order, the prime minister offered his resignation to take effect in October, with an election to find a new leader. The person thought most likely to succeed was Boris Johnson, former Lord Mayor of London and a proponent of Britain leaving. But Johnson dropped out of the race when one of his best friends and supporters, Michael Grove, filed for the office. That prompted one member of Parliament to say that there had to be a special place in hell for Grove.

Johnson consulted other members of Parliament and decided he was not the one to lead the exit negotiations that were necessary because of the vote. So now, in one of the most difficult times in British economic history, Britain was leaderless. Johnson, it appeared, made no plans for a leave win, because he did not really believe Brexit would succeed.

European ministers made immediate demands for Britain to leave the EU, posthaste. Like a scorned lover, they want Britain out of the house. France especially wants Britain out, because […]

By now you are probably aware that the U.K. has voted to leave the European Union (EU). The vote came as a shock to the markets even as it was known that the margin go or remain was razor thin.

What began as an experiment after the Second World War has run aground in a very short time from a historical perspective. For centuries Europe has had a history of turmoil with major wars following about every fifty years. After World War I an attempt was made for a lasting peace with the League of Nations, but that did not last long. After the carnage of World War II, Konrad Adenauer and Charles DeGaulle set about avoiding yet another major war on the continent. If the countries of Europe could be united economically, it was reasoned, maybe they could avoid future wars. Beginning with small agreements, initially about coal, and later about tariffs in general, the seeds of the European Union were planted. Out of that initial effort came an economic union, a common currency and the ability to travel and ship goods freely throughout Europe. No longer were hours long waits at borders necessary to cross the borders. No longer did you need a different currency in each country. Young people in Europe began to think of themselves as European, not Germans or Poles. Military conflict was almost unknown, except for the breakup of countries like Yugoslavia or the Russian invasion of Crimea. The example of Western Europe was so strong that Eastern European counties wanted to be part of the EU and use the Euro currency.

But this all fell apart when the crisis in the […]

Published June 13, 2016
Last month I asked a rhetorical question: Should we sell in May and go away as the old market saw suggests? I pointed out that what was once a predictable market event has shown, in recent years, to be unreliable.

This May turned out to be no exception, as the markets once again confounded the experts. If you sold in May, you left the party too soon. The Standard and Poor’s index rolled up a 1.53 percent gain in May – 1.8 percent with dividends reinvested. For the three months ending in May, the blue chip index was up 9.12 percent with dividends. The markets were expected to decline because the Federal Reserve was expected to raise rates in June or July.

Once again the Fed has egg on its face, as the most recent jobs report showed that only 38,000 jobs were created in May. The consensus forecast of economists was 160,000 new jobs. This was the worst job growth number in five years. Jobs growth for previous months was also revised downward. Even 160,000 new jobs is a paltry number, because the economy needs to create 250,000 jobs each month to absorb the new workers. Furthermore, for the past several months, the new jobs created have declined sequentially. The unemployment rate fell 0.3 percent, as over 664,000 workers left the workforce; the labor participation rate declined.

Fed speakers had been out in force on the rubber chicken circuit declaring that rates were going up and that the economy was strong and growing stronger. The economy was gaining steam, they said, with employment near capacity. That scratching sound you hear is the Fed members rewriting […]

Published May 9, 2016

Sell in May and go away. This mantra has been a market staple for years. It used to have a solid basis, but not so much anymore. For instance, the market has been up in May for three of the past five years, so what will this year bring?

This year a disappointing start was followed by a strong rally to get the market to essentially break even by March 11. The market as of May 3 is 3.2 percent off of its all-time highs reached on May 21, 2015, but doesn’t seem to be able to mount a breakout. Telecommunications and utilities have been the best performing sectors year to date, and health care and financials the worst.

Various headwinds have stalled the markets: This recovery is long in the tooth. It is the second longest bull market in U.S. history, surpassed only by the boom after World War II. From its low in March 2009, the recovery is now over 2,600 days old and counting. It has been a weak recovery with GDP recently barely growing more than 1 percent. Indeed, GDP growth was 0.5 percent in the first quarter of 2016 – the lowest in two years as consumer spending disappointed. Consumer spending makes up about 70 percent of the economy, so it’s very important. Inflation has been missing Federal Reserve targets.

The market is fully priced at around 23 times earnings versus a normal price to earnings ratio of 15.59 percent.

Earnings are weak. Including energy, expectations are for an earnings decline of 8.9 percent for this year’s first quarter. That certainly is not encouraging; however, Thomson Reuters reports that Q1 earnings are […]