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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The Federal Reserve is telegraphing their moves. Does this put a target on the back of markets?
Monday
Markets opened the week in the green. The S&P 500 continued from Fridays gains and rose 0.85% on the day. This was in spite of softening PMI data. Specifically concerning was the fall in services data as that makes up the majority of economic activity in the US. The fall, however, was to a level that is still expansionary. It just means we should see a lower level of GDP in the 3rd quarter. Good news on the day included a rise in existing home sales, by 120K units for the month.
Tuesday
The S&P 500 rose marginally on Tuesday. Economic data was fairly light and the focus was on Federal Reserve Board (FRB) Chair Powell’s speech coming on Thursday. New home sales did increase from the prior month by 1.0% (July), missing expectations of a 3% increase.
Wednesday
In another muted day of trading, The S&P 500 was up 0.25%. Again, focus intensified on tomorrow’s Jackson Hole Symposium speech by the FRB. Core durable goods orders, a good indicator of future demand, rose 0.7% (July). All week, FRB members have been sounding the call for tapering of the FRB bond buying program. This has kept what would have been a strong week, rather tepid.
Thursday
The S&P 500 fell 0.65% on Thursday. This came as the FRB Chair confirmed concerns regarding tapering. They do intend to begin tapering later this year. Assuming the economy maintains I’s trajectory of growth.
Friday
In a re-occurring theme, the S&P 500 made back all of Thursdays losses and then some on Friday. It rose nearly 1%. Core PCE pricing was released Friday showing that inflation has increased 3.6% YoY (July). The black mark on the day was that consumer sentiment preliminary reports is reading at 70.3. A large drop from last month. This is concerning for future spending expectations.
Conclusion
The S&P 500 rose 1.52% in a week where the FRB confirmed tapering of bond purchases will occur later this year. The telegraphed nature of Chair Powell’s behavior should allow market shocks from FRB activity to remain muted. A major part of his statement was that tapering is contingent on continued economic strength, which appears to be fading. A tightening FRB is unlikely in an environment with waning economic production.
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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.