The monitor flashed quite a bit of red last month. But the market was seemingly undeterred and pushed higher anyway. Should this continue?
Fixed Income: 2-Yr Treas Yield 3.91% | 10-Yr Treas. Yield 3.91%
The bond markets saw volatility in August as questions mounted about an impromptu rate-cut by the Federal Reserve Bank (FRB). The most meaningful fall came at the beginning of the month. The perceived weakness in jobs data prompted a move to safety as expectations increased for a rate cut. At the time, people were calling for 0.50% before the September meeting. Cooler heads prevailed and the market is now expecting a 0.25% cut in September. The more impressive data point over the last month was the parody reached on the last trading day of August. This was the first time the two closed at parity since July 5th, 2022! It is still to be determined if rate normalization (higher rates on longer dated fixed income) will prevail. It is a good sign that the anticipated rate cuts are making a large enough impact for us to reach parity.
Equities: Dow Jones 1.76% | S&P 500 2.28% | NASDAQ 0.65%
The market moves that led to a strong month for fixed income signaled weakness for the equity markets. The Nasdaq lost almost four percent in the first week of the month to spend the next two weeks crawling out of that hole. The last week of the month saw the index continue to falter. Strong earnings from bellwether Nvidia (NVDA) was not enough to bolster confidence. Investors seemed to come to the realization that the FRB will likely take a slow methodical path towards rate reductions. That path did not buoy equity markets. In a retracement of the July trades, other major market categories failed to capitalize on weaker large caps:
S&P 400 (Mid Cap Index): 0.21%
Russell 2000 (Small Cap Index): 1.59%
Conclusion
It was, in all, a good month… That’s for two reasons, 1) fixed income made up ground that equities lost, 2) the spread between the 2-yr treasury and the 10-yr treasury reached parity. Something of a signal that the soft landing the FRB is looking for has been achieved. Generally, a recession (that would be evident by this point) would have caused a normalization of the curve.
A Look Ahead…
We see two key reasons to expect further volatility in equity markets during the next month:
- The 22.40 price to earnings (P/E) ratio for the S&P 500 will need to narrow further before markets can start a real rally.
- September is notoriously the worst month of the year for equities:
- 2023: 5.35%
- 2022: 8.92%
- 2021: 4.89%
- 2020: 4.12%
- 2019: 2.32%
Some logic would point to the high frequency in recent years being a signal that volatility should weaken in September. I find that unlikely given the elevated P/E referenced.
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In spite of a rocky start, markets grew nicely this last week. Should we expect more growth to come?
Monday
Markets dove to open the week. The S&P 500 lost 1.6%. Fears over slower growth due to the Delta Variant and rising inflation gripped the markets. Earnings did not fail to impress for the day, which resulted in a few highlights. However, they did not burn bright enough to offset the negative sentiment.
Tuesday
Markets rebounded strongly as the Monday move turned into a ‘buy the dip’ mentality. The S&P 500 ended up gaining 1.5% on the day. Housing starts out-performed, coming in at a 6.3% increase versus 2.1% the prior month.
Wednesday
The move higher continued on Wednesday, as earnings were in focus. Earnings pushed the markets higher as Netflix was the only major company to miss earnings on the day. The economic data calendar was light with mortgage data being the highlight.
Thursday
The S&P 500 advanced .20% on Thursday. It was a day where it felt as though the markets were chasing their own tail. Markets actually opened in the green, despite initial jobless claims missing expectations. It then fluctuated into the red fulfilling the economic data that was released, but ended back in the green… Investor sentiment has been running strong ever since Monday’s sell off.
Friday
Markets rallied into the end of the week, with the S&P 500 climbing 1.01% on the day. Manufacturing data outperformed, coming in at 63.1, beating the 62.0 expectation. Services fell short, falling to 59.8. While strongly expansionary, it missed the intended mark of 64.8. This is an indicator that the re-opening is moving slower than expected. A slower re-opening could signal that inflation may not be as ramped as initially thought by many investors.
Conclusion
The strong Friday performance brought the week to a close up 1.95% on the S&P 500. This was an impressive week of gains when you consider that the S&P 500 lost 1.6% on Monday. The rebound and strong close on Friday are a testament to earnings. They are currently running at 86% of companies beating expectations. We are about a quarter of the way through earnings season, so there is still much to look forward to.
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Always remember that while this is a week in review, this does not trigger or relate to trading activity on your account with Financial Future Services. Broad diversification across several asset classes with a long-term holding strategy is the best strategy in any market environment.
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.