Market moves across the month were to the south. Fixed income markets seemed to have a more drastic message on the monitor than that of equities.
Fixed Income: 2-Yr Treas Yield 4.16% | 10-Yr Treas. Yield 4.28%
Bond markets went for a reversal ride in October. After several months of falling rates, we began to see a pullback in the bond market as interest rates rose. The 2-year treasury rose 0.55%, while the 10-year treasury rose 0.54%. The good news is that while rising, the rates did not invert again. The long picture remains intact. We are still in an elevated rate environment with them more likely to drift south rather than north. This move may have been the result of predictions for a potential structure that would mean tariffs. This would reflect a higher inflation potential which would signal a slower path in future rate cuts. Additional good news is that while rates from 6 months on rose, shorter duration rates continued to fall. This bodes well for the normalization of the entire curve.
Equities: Dow Jones 1.34% | S&P 500 0.99% | NASDAQ 0.52%
While it was a down month for equites, the overall move south was not bad for the month. From the top of the market for the S&P 500 (10/18/2024) to the end of the month logged a 2.83%. This proved to be a mild lead up to the beginning of November. The nice part is that while a correction has not materialized, earnings season did, bringing the P/E ratio for the S&P 500 back down to 21.19.
Throughout the month utility stock did well until the last week of the month. A shifting towards Financial and consumer discretionary was underway. Neither of which are surprising given interest rates (favoring financials) and the fact that we are in the fourth quarter… I like to say, ‘Americans spend money they do not have on things they do not need’, AKA: holiday season!
Conclusion
Equities pulled back less than was indicative of the rate move on the bond market. The move there signaled more concern about higher rates for longer than equities chose to price in. The shift in rates seemed like a long-term change in projection, while short rates seemed anchored to FRB actions. The longer rage rates often can be equated to long range GDP expectations. If the view is that we would have stronger forward GDP in 5 years, then we see a stronger 5-year rate.
A Look Ahead…
Market responses in October could have been far more drastic than they were. We should feel fortunate that we got the October that we did. This still leaves a correction (a market fall of 10% to 19%) unattended to. The last one ended 10/27/2023. While stretched P/E’s from over the summer have become more reasonable, that’s been due to strong earnings. Those may continue in the short run, but moving into 2025 those might be harder to come by. It may very well cause a correction in the first half of the year.
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After three weeks of loss, the S&P 500 eked out a gain for the week. Is there more to come?
Monday
Markets surged ahead on Monday attempting to make up ground from the last few weeks of declines. The S&P 500 rose .95% on the day. The Nasdaq led the way higher as it rose 1.4%.
Tuesday
Housing ruled the day for the markets on Tuesday. Markets ended the day mildly lower than they began. Elevated home prices (13.9% increase) and reduced new home sales (-5.9%) contributed largely to sentiment on the day.
Wednesday
The Russell 2000 (small cap stocks) led the way in gains for the day (2%). The major indices rose mildly for the day as it was a light economic calendar leading up to Thursday’s jobs data.
Thursday
Economic data was strong on Thursday, but the market reaction was tepid. Core durable goods increased more than expected and last months figure was revised to double the previous estimate. Weekly initial jobless claims data improved and remains under 500K for the fourth week in a row. It reached a post pandemic low of 404K this week.
Friday
Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) index rose to 3.1% YoY in April. This is the Federal Reserve Board’s (FRB) preferred measure of inflation. It gives us insight into how the FRB may react with rates. Michigan Consumer Sentiment fell to 82.9 for May. These data points led the S&P 500 higher for the day by 0.08%.
Conclusion
The S&P 500 staged a bit of a rebound this week. Between favorable jobs data, durable goods data, and a housing market that is seeing plenty of demand the reflation trade is well under way. The difficult thing will be for it to live up to expectations as it unfolds. This week, however, it did as the S&P 500 managed to gain 48.25 points and is up 11.93% year to date.
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Any and all third-party posts or responses to this blog do not reflect the views of the firm and have not been reviewed by the firm for completeness or accuracy.