Displaying items by tag: recession

(Washington)

Markets are having a tough time right now on news of surging cases across many parts of the US. In what has become a typical cycle, optimism on the recovery is being tempered by media reports of surging COVID cases in several states. The markets seem to be unusually wounded this morning, and the reason might be comments from Coronavirus Task Force chief Anthony Fauci. Speaking about the rise in cases, he called it a “disturbing surge” and warned congress that the virus was not under control.

FINSUM: The rise in cases in Florida, Texas, California, and Arizona has been alarming, especially in the last week, so markets are starting to worry about the potential for new lockdowns.

(New York)

Morgan Stanley made a bold call this week. Their research team has officially adopted what seems like a fairly risky position on the economic recovery: they are saying it will be of the much sought after v-shape. The bank has been calling for a short and sharp recession for some time, but this is the most optimistic outlook they have published. According to Morgan Stanley’s chief economist, “Recent upside surprises in the incoming growth data and policy action have increased our confidence that this will be a deep V-shaped recession”.

FINSUM: We still don’t think this is going to be a v-shaped recovery. More like a U-shape or more likely a Nike swoosh shape. The depth of firings combined with the probable corresponding slow pace of consumer spending will hold back the pace of the recovery.

(Dallas)

Markets tumbled yesterday, and it appeared to happen mostly because of the resignation that a second wave of COVID-19 was forming across the US. In several recently reopened states the number of hospitalizations has been surging, leading investors to fear that more lockdowns—and their corresponding economic damage—could be on the way. Top epidemiologists have been warning of a second wave, and one leading doctor said he worries about states reopening before they have the virus truly under control. “My worry is that we end up in a kind of stuttering, endless loop”, says Dr. Schneider of The Commonwealth Fund.

FINSUM: The market was priced for perfection, and a big second wave didn’t fit that narrative. Hence the 6% fall yesterday. Going to be choppy for a while as the market’s bad news antenna is back up.

(Washington)

Friday saw the release of what appeared to be absolutely stellar jobs numbers. Instead of the jobless rate potentially hitting almost 20%—which was the forecast—the opposite happened: the unemployment rate fell to 13.3% in May from over 14% in April. Markets soared. However, the reality is that those numbers are both highly inflated, and unrealistic. Firstly, the Bureau of Labor Statistics counted those who are currently furloughed and unpaid as “employed”. It admitted that if it hadn’t done so the unemployment rate would have jumped to over 16%. Secondly, the big jump in hiring was at least partly, and probably hugely, because of an artificial government rule in the PPP program. Small businesses had to hire employees back by the end of June to have their loans turn into grants, so there were artificial incentives to put people back on payroll even I the absence of true business demand.

FINSUM: If you take these two facts together, it becomes clear that the May data is not really a reflection of an economic pickup, so don’t make any predictions based on this.

(New York)

Investment bank research teams all over Wall Street have been sounding the alarm about how untether from reality markets seem to be. Many are warning investors of another big fall in stocks, and at the same time are telling corporate customers to tap markets for funding as much as they can before another fall. Now hedge funds are joining too, saying it is time to pull back. One manager said “The markets are priced to perfection … The stability in equity markets does not reflect the job losses and the insolvencies ahead of us globally”. Paul Singer of Elliott Management made a specific call, saying “our gut tells us that a 50 per cent or deeper decline from the February top might be the ultimate path of global stock markets”.

FINSUM: In principal a big fall seems warranted, but it is hard to fight the Fed.