(San Francisco)

No matter how good you may feel about stock indexes being back near all-time highs, one fact cannot be ignored: the market seems to be heavily overweight on the five largest tech stocks— Microsoft, Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon (the new acronym, named by Goldman is FAAMG). These stocks have been powering the market, but the whole situation feels like past peaks where their outperformance could not go on forever. Concentration in the S&P 500 is now at its highest in decades, with those five names accounting for 22% of the total capitalization, up from just 16% a year ago. According to Barron’s “Simple arithmetic limits the continued outperformance of the biggest names, the Goldman team observes, because many portfolio managers have 5% limits on holdings of any given stock. The strategists’ analysis shows that the average large-cap mutual fund already has a 5% position in Microsoft and about 4% positions in the other big four names.”.

FINSUM: It seems these stocks are reaching their institutional allocation limits, which mans retail needs to power them higher. The whole situation feels ripe for a correction.

(New York)

It took almost ten years, but gold finally just passed its nominal all-time high (set way back in 2011 during the European debt crisis). That is not a good sign for the market. Gold is rising because of increasing worries about a prolonged economic downturn caused by a renewed COVID second wave. Gold hit $1,944 per troy ounce today, cruising past its previous high of $1,921 per ounce. “Gold has finally come on to Main Street as an asset people actually need to have”, says the CEO of Sprott, a precious metals specialist.

FINSUM: Gold has been helped by fears over the economy, and the fact that rates are near zero, which flatters zero-yielding gold.

(Washington)

Republicans are supposed to debut their new stimulus package today—after a long wait that neither side was happy about—but the details are still unclear. Some prominent party members hinted at details of the proposal on CNN yesterday. So far, it looks like enhanced unemployment benefits will be continued, but at a lower amount, an eviction moratorium would be extended, and direct $1,200 payments may continue for a subset of Americans. Republicans say they want to negotiate a stop-gap deal while a larger package is hashed out. House speaker Pelosi wants the full package negotiated now.

FINSUM: Given the length of time it may take to hash out a complete new deal, millions of Americans would probably be happy if a basic short-term package was agreed ASAP.

(New York)

If Biden wins the presidency and Democrats take the House and Senate, tax hikes look inevitable. Biden is already publicly planning for them, and the way the polls are going, advisors would be wise to give the eventuality some thought. Even if Democrats don’t win the Senate, there may still be a tax overhaul. With that in mind, these are the stocks likely to be the hardest hit by a Democrat-led tax package. Based on Biden’s plan, it looks like a 10% rise in overall corporate taxes. Zion Research is leading the charge into the analysis, and here is an overview (quote from Barron’s): “Zion notes that 117 companies [in the] S&P 500 have over $100 million in net income that had cash tax rates less than 15%. Biden’s plan for a 15% minimum tax on book income would mean that group combined pays another $37 billion in taxes. According to Zion, nearly half of that would come from five companies: Berkshire Hathaway (ticker: BRK.B), Intel (INTC), AT&T (T), Duke Energy (DUK) and Amazon.com (AMZN). Biden called out Amazon specifically during his speech, when he said, ‘The days of Amazon paying nothing in federal income tax will be over’”.

FINSUM: This is quite astute analysis as these are stocks that are benefiting in a very significant way from the current tax regime. Amazon seems to have a big risk here that is not properly understood by the market.

(Washington)

Many feel that the current version of the DOL’s Fiduciary Rule might be in jeopardy if Biden wins the election. The thinking is that he would quickly undue the current proposed legislation and replace it with something similar to the Obama era Fiduciary Rule. However, that seems unlikely since many courts have now blocked that version of the rule, clearing saying it overstepped its bounds. That means that a return to the Obama era version is unlikely unless Democrats also win the House and Senate, in which case they could introduce new legislation.

FINSUM: Based on how the old version of the ruled fared in courts, we think it is highly unlikely it returns intact. That said, a much stronger version than the current proposal seems likely if Biden wins.

(New York)

Bank of America’s head of global research, in conjunction with the head of their private bank, has just given a major midyear update to clients. The message: we are at the start of a bull market. While they think the recovery might be a little bumpy, in the longer term, they believe there is a great economy on the other side and long-term investors would do well to get into the market on down days in the immediate future.”

FINSUM: Inside these broader predictions was another interesting one- so if stocks are going to rise, which sectors gain the most? BOA’s answer was that despite being overbought, tech still seems likely to see the most gains because the pandemic has accelerated areas that benefit them the most, including automation, cloud-computing, and live streaming.

(San Francisco)

For a lot of people, BlackRock brings two things to mind: fixed income and ETFs. Therefore, the firm making a bold call about a handful of single name stocks comes as somewhat of a surprise. However, BlackRock is the largest asset manager in the world and is also a leader in equities. The call they are making today is that big tech companies are looking strong and likely to keep seeing price expansion. On the one hand, this is a very easy call to make given tech stocks have been soaring, but on the other, it is somewhat of an interesting and risky call because many fear FAANGs can really only go down in the short-term. BlackRock says that the cash flow producing abilities of tech companies (a factor proven to be vital in this downturn) will be critical to their continued success.

FINSUM: There might be some short-term tailwinds, but in our view, big tech companies are going to keep moving higher because this crisis has created a huge opportunity to grab market share as more of life moves online.

(New York)

JP Morgan’s head of research, famed analyst Joyce Chang, published some very interesting views this week. She argues that the pandemic has forever changed financial markets, and highlights what she says are four “paradigm shifts” that COVID has caused. The biggest of those from a market direction perspective is about the Fed. She contends that the huge and extraordinary measures central banks have undertaken in the last few months have fundamentally changed the role of central banks towards financial stability (something they were arguably already focusing on).

FINSUM: In our mind it has become very obvious over the last few years, and especially during the pandemic, that the Fed’s most important mandate is financial stability.

(Washington)

The reality of the political situation in the US is that markets and the media are betting that Biden is going to win the presidency. Many also think the Democrats have a fair shot at sweeping Congress and the presidency. If either eventuality happens, especially the latter, tax hikes look likely. Biden formally announced his plan to do so recently. Therefore, a rise in corporation tax and a hike in the top tax bracket back to Obama-era levels seems highly probable.

FINSUM: The tax hikes that seem most likely will create a host of considerations for high earners. For instance, a reversion to previous tax levels would change the utility of certain pass-through entities versus other types of businesses.

(Washington)

On Friday we ran an article covering which sectors and stocks would do well if the Republicans swept the election. Today we are doing the opposite side of that coin—the stocks that will win big if the Democrats sweep. Democrats are currently leading in the presidential poll and seem likely to keep ahold of the House, while the Senate looks like much more of a stretch. That said, if a sweep happens, infrastructure may be a key sector to surge as a large infrastructure bill would seem likely. Other sectors likely to gain are renewable energy, semiconductors, consumer staples, and oddly, gun stocks (since sales will likely surge on fears of regulation).

FINSUM: The infrastructure play seems like a good one, semiconductors also (like Western Digital). We still think a more likely scenario is a split Congress.