(New York)

Where to put one’s money in 2019? That is the difficult question every investor must face at the moment. For a long time “TINA”, or “there is no alternative”, was the mantra which kept guiding capital into stocks alongside miniscule yields. Now with rates and yields rising and stocks having seen big losses, where should investors turn? The reality is that bonds seem likely to outperform stocks next year, at least according to JP Morgan. The bank thinks EM debt is likely to have a good year as once the Fed stops tightening the Dollar will likely weaken, giving a boost to EM assets.

FINSUM: In our view, a lot of damage has already been done to stocks and there are now some very interesting buys. Furthermore, short-term debt has seen yields rise high enough that you can get decent returns without a lot of interest rate risk.

(New York)

If this stat doesn’t put the current state of the market into perspective for you, nothing is likely to: the fall in shares this month has been the worst December since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Stocks have fallen 10% alone this month, a big chunk of the 16% fall since the September peak.

FINSUM: So some of the fears about the Fed have been eased today because of the NY Fed’s comments (not that those mean much), but the new fear is about the threatened government shutdown. We imagine the shutdown will work itself out, but the trade war and threat of recession loom large. It is hard to imagine any significant rally before the New Year.

(Washington)

For the last few weeks, the Fed looked like an out of touch ivory tower central bank committed to driving the US economy into a recession through relentless rate hikes (or at least that was the anxious view). However, the Fed has finally made an announcement which gave investors some calm. The head of the NY Fed commented that being “data dependent” meant listening to markets too, not just the economy. He also contextualized the language from the last Fed meeting, softening its impact. The market jumped immediately on the news.

FINSUM: Too bad it isn’t Jerome Powell making the comments. That said, the Fed must be starting to get nervous that we are close to a bear market.

(New York)

How do you know when the market is bad? When the safest stocks are also the best performing. It sounds like an old market joke, but it couldn’t be more true right now. Stocks are down around 10% this month, the worst December since the Great Depression. A good sample of these low volatility stocks can be found in Invesco’s S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF (SPLV). That ETF has fallen just 7% from the market’s September peak, while the S&P 500 has fallen 16%. Looking at correlations, the majority of stocks with the best 90-day momentum are also those with the lowest volatility.

FINSUM: The market is playing defense, and with good reason.

(New York)

Are you looking for places to ride out the current storm in markets? It is a tough time to be doing so, as even traditional bastions of safety—utilities, healthcare, and consumer staples—have been deeply wounded lately. Here is one you probably haven’t thought of—Berkshire Hathaway’s stock. The captain of the Berkshire ship, Warren Buffett has long been a master of profiting in down markets, and with the company’s $100 bn in cash, the combination looks appealing. One CIO put it this way, saying “As a long-term Berkshire holder, this is the kind of environment that you hope for given all the cash … I love the risk-reward, embedded safety, and diversity of the earnings flows”.

FINSUM: Berkshire is not the kind of stock that is going to get hammered in down markets, and it would seem to have a lot of upside in such environments. Seems like a potentially good buy.

(New York)

Markets are ugly right now, but one of the important questions is whether the bottom is really going to fall out. Well, one measure suggests the market is steadier than it seems. Both the put-call ratio and the TRIN ration (ratio of advancing versus declining stocks) both suggest investors aren’t panicking. The put-call ratio is only at 1.04, or 104 puts for every 100 calls, a very modest reading. Additionally, the TRIN is only 1.27, not drastic.

FINSUM: One institutional investor made a good point about the market right now—that it might take some hard economic data to show the market that its fears are real, and thus set the stage for a recovery. In other words, the specter of a recession may be worse for investors than the downturn itself.

(Washington)

Yesterday was a big moment for Fed and the markets. Trump has come down hard on the Fed for its relentless hikes, and the market is in the midst of a very rough period. Additionally, labor figures and inflation data have started to slip. All of that meant the Fed had the option of backing off the pedal on hikes. They didn’t, raising rates another quarter point. The central bank did make the small concession of saying they only planned to hike twice next year instead of the four increases they made this year.

FINSUM: The housing market is bad, the stock market is terrible, credit markets are weak, and inflation is falling. Why is the Fed still hiking?

(Portland)

A lot of investors may be looking for stocks with good value at the moment. Stocks that are badly beaten up, but have good underlying businesses, can be prime buys during adverse market conditions. With that in mind, take a look at Nike. The sportswear giant has shed 16% this quarter and will release earnings later today. Investors’ skepticism will either be proven correct, or wrong. The thing is, the core business looks compelling. The company gave guidance in September that it was expecting currency-neutral revenue to grow 9%. One analyst summarized the stock this way, saying “buy Nike into earnings. Nike sales are gaining momentum and the company is gaining market share across channels and geographies.”

FINSUM: Nike has done an admirable job catching up to rivals recently, as well as in passing on rising costs to consumers. Our instinct is that this is a good buy.

(New York)

This is quite a market storm investors are facing. The rolling bear market has blossomed into a widespread rout with few hopeful signs. One of the scary parts for investors is that the old places to ride out such market storms are not collapsing. In other words, even safe havens aren’t safe. Consumer staples, healthcare, and utilities, all typically bastions of protection during downturns, fell to being this week. Utilities, for instance, fell over 3%, their worst tumble since the 2016 election day.

FINSUM: One analyst sees a silver lining in this. Their argument is that since this is becoming a broad pullback (instead of a rolling bear), it may indicate the worst is near to being over.

(New York)

Goldman Sachs has been sending some seriously mixed messages on stocks. Just a few days ago they published a bearish outlook for 2019. Now the bank’s investment management arm is taking the opposite stance, saying that equities are the place to be. Goldman thinks global growth will continue nicely in 2019, giving support to stocks. It does, however, favor emerging markets over developed equities. The bank still thinks US stocks look attractive after the recent selloff, however.

FINSUM: To be honest it annoys us when one institution puts out some many competing views, but then again, each of the divisions has its own interests. We are not as bullish on stocks as Goldman money management arm.