Eq: Large Cap
(New York)
Everyone knows it, but in case you were under a rock, the Dow had its worst day in six years yesterday. At one point the index fell around 1,600 points before recovering to close down 1,175 points, or nearly 5%. The S&P 500 fell 4.1% to close down 7.8% since last Monday. One commentator argues that the market is now in “full price discovery mode”, with no technical supports or trend lines holding whatsoever.
FINSUM: We are five years since the Taper Tantrum, and now it is actually happening. Is this the start of the huge sting everyone has been predicting for years?
(New York)
The markets had a wild day yesterday. Big loss at open, almost back to even, then a really steep fall, and finally, a little rally to close. Bloomberg says that the trading activity has all the telltale signs of algorithms wreaking havoc. For 15 minutes just after 3 pm, the volume of sell orders was so quick and so voluminous that nothing alive could have possibly executed them. The market tanked, plunging to a 1,597-point loss. Interestingly, the involvement of algorithms might help to assuage some fears, as brokers are using that dimension as a way to calm human investors that this was not an all out emotional panic, but rather technology gone wild.
FINSUM: So we know they are deeply ingrained and certainly going nowhere, but why, in principle, are non-human agents allowed to transact in markets? Market-making firms would say they add liquidity, but they certainly exacerbate, or even cause panic too.
(New York)
We appear to be in the middle of a long-absent bout of volatility for both stocks and bonds. After a year of almost no volatility, all the major US indices fell strongly last week. The market is also off to a rocky start today. Now, Barron’s is arguing that this could be the beginning of an ugly ride. The reason why is that the recent trend of stocks and bonds being negatively correlated is ending. While for many years bond prices would rise when stocks fell, and vice versa, the opposite is happening now. Because the market fears rate hikes, bonds and stocks are falling in unison, with nothing to give the market comfort. For that reason, the “bond cushion” that has protected markets since the Crisis, appears to be gone.
FINSUM: The whole paradigm of markets is changing right now. Stock investors cannot simply flee into Treasuries as they have for years, which means there is little place a hide—a fact which could bring more serious losses.
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(New York)
Okay, so there is a lot to be gloomy about with the stock market right now. Stocks had a terrible run last week and are off to a poor start today. However, looking in the longer-term, there is some heartening news. That news is that despite some forecasters saying the demographic backdrop for stocks looks weak as Baby Boomers begin to withdraw money as they retire, all that slack, and perhaps more will be taken up by the Millennial generation, which is the largest in the US.
FINSUM: Here is an additional argument we found interesting—that compared to market history, stock returns for the period from 2000 to 2016 were very weak on a relative basis. Coupled with the demographics, it makes one think there may some long-term potential left for this market.
(New York)
So those following the news will have noticed that Bank of America’s key stock market indicator, the “Bull & Bear”, has been flashing red for the last couple of weeks. Now, the brightness is getting stronger. The recent rush out of Treasuries and into stocks has been the fastest ever, which has BAML worried that markets are about to crash. The rotation amounted to $102 bn flowing into stocks in January alone, which BAML calls “massive”.
FINSUM: The move has been more of a stampede than a flow, but then again, there are a lot of reasons to be worried about rising rates, especially as new Fed leadership is coming in.
(San Francisco)
One doesn’t quite know how to feel about the news, but the gut instinct is that it is negative. Apple’s earnings came out yesterday, and the company reported its greatest profit ever. But guess what, sales came in weaker than expected for the new flagship iPhone X. iPhone sales dropped 1% in the fourth quarter (the most important time of year), which has scared many into thinking the new phone has not sparked the next replacement “super cycle” that the company and analysts hoped. Apple did mention that the quarter was a week shorter than in the previous year, and that iPhone sales would have been 22% higher had they been equivalent.
FINSUM: Okay so the note about the length of quarter is relevant, but the overall impression is that the iPhone X has failed to live up the hype. And it makes sense to us—have you heard any friends raving about the new iPhone? We certainly have not.