Eq: Large Cap
(New York)
ESG is growing steadily in the asset management community. More and more capital is being to committed to green bonds and other sustainable investments. Yet, as anyone who pays close attention will know, the definition of “green” or “sustainable”, is poorly defined. Academics have not helped, as their research—a big part of the movement—has somewhat muddled the power of the brand. Now, however, finance is demanding more research from academics, and both are aiming to work together more closely to deliver a better ESG product.
FINSUM: We can speak from experience in saying that when you get down to actual company selection according to ESG factors, it becomes very difficult to make any informed choices because of how little core data there is on which to make a decision.
(New York)
The market finally had a down day yesterday (with the exception of the Nasdaq) after a good recovery. That said, many are worried about the market’s breadth, as most of the gains this year have come from just the six FAANG stocks. However, Barron’s notes that “just three sectors out of 11 are up more than the S&P 500 this year—that would be tech, discretionary, and health care—seven sectors have stronger breadth readings than the S&P 500, and all except energy have more than half their stocks trading above their 50-day moving average”.
FINSUM: Market breadth seems to have improved considerably over the last month, and generally speaking, the fundamentals underlying the market look healthier.
(New York)
In what seems like a series of warnings out of Morgan Stanley, the bank has put out another today on a critical sector. MS says that the market darling chip sector, often referred to as semi-conductors, are in for a rough road. The bank says the sector has the poorest risk-reward ratio in years. “Cyclical indicators are flashing red … Elevated inventory and stretched lead times leave no margin for error as any lead time adjustment or demand slowdown could drive a meaningful correction”, says the bank.
FINSUM: Gains of semiconductors have greatly outpaced the market over the last three years, and MS thinks it is all about to come crashing down.
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(Washington)
In what seems to have amounted to the “shot heard round the world” of financial markets, this week Elon Musk, Tesla CEO, tweeted that he may take the company private at $420 and that he already had the funding secured. As expected, this sent markets into a tizzy, with the stock gaining sharply as it moved towards the stated price. Now, however, the SEC has announced it is investigating the legality of the tweet, and is investigating the particular statements made. The SEC maintains that such a statement should have been made in an SEC filing rather than a tweet, and it wants to investigate if funding was actually secured. If not, it could mean Musk was intentionally misleading the market.
FINSUM: Musk has been on a very rocky path lately, and this SEC inquiry is not going to help. That said, the idea of taking Tesla private still seems like a good one to us.
(New York)
Morgan Stanley has put out a warning about the worryingly declining breadth of the stock market this year. The bank says that “Fewer stocks are carrying the load of the market, a sign of exhaustion and, in our view, a bad signal for further price gains”. The bank appears to be quite correct. According to the article “Bloomberg points out that Amazon.com, Netflix and Microsoft accounted for 71% percent of the S&P’s gains through early July. Along with Apple, Alphabet and Facebook, they accounted for 98% percent of the gains”.
FINSUM: Honestly that could not be a more worrying sign on breadth. 98% of gains from from 6 stocks. That does not spell widespread strength. However, earnings have been good for the last month (when the reporting period for these stats ended), so gains may have been better lately.
(New York)
Elon Musk shocked the world and the market yesterday. After several weeks of turbulent rhetoric and behavior, the CEO yesterday announced that he was seeking to take Tesla private. Musk said bluntly, “Am considering taking Tesla private at $420”, continuing “Funding secured”. The stock was trading at only $356 when he announced his intentions. There are three ways doing so would benefit Musk and Tesla. Firstly, they wouldn’t need to do anymore public equity funding issues. Secondly, he would not need to face anymore pesky questions from analysts. Thirdly, doing so would stick it to the short-sellers that Musk hates.
FINSUM: If we take a step back and examine it, Tesla does seem like the sort of company which might be better off private at this point. Just as Uber has stayed private while it has burned mountains of capital, Tesla might be wise to follow that lead.