The Daily Shot: 23-May-22
• Administrative Update
• Equities
• Credit
• Rates
• Commodities
• Energy
• Cryptocurrency
• Emerging Markets
• China
• Asia – Pacific
• The Eurozone
• The United Kingdom
• The United States
• Global Developments
• Food for Thought
Administrative Update
The Daily Shot will not be published next Monday, May 30th.
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Equities
1. Global sentiment shifted to “risk-on” this morning as the Biden administration reviews the current US tariffs against China. The Aussie dollar, which has been correlated with equities is up sharply.
Source: @TheTerminal, Bloomberg Finance L.P.
2. The pandemic-era bull market came very close to officially ending on Friday. The earnings report from Deere spooked investors.
Source: Bloomberg Read full article
But dip buyers stepped in during the afternoon session. These near-bear-market close calls are not that uncommon.
Source: @TheTerminal, Bloomberg Finance L.P.
Bear market news stories spiked last week.
Investors expect more pain ahead.
Source: Bloomberg Read full article
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3. Fearing a recession, the market continues to punish consumer shares. Retailers may face some inventory overhang and will be forced to offer discounts. Margins will tighten. We are basically returning to the pre-COVID regime.
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4. The S&P 500 divergence from VIX widened further last week amid limited demand for hedging.
5. The valuation adjustment in the current selloff has been impressive.
Source: Truist Advisory Services
• The Nasdaq Composite forward P/E ratio is nearing the pre-2020 range, but there is plenty of room to move lower.
Below are the forward P/E ratios for the Nasdaq 100 and the S&P 500.
Source: @mikamsika, @RyanVlastelica, @markets Read full article
Source: @FactSet Read full article
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6. More earnings downgrades ahead?
The Philly Fed’s manufacturing report points to substantial downside risks for corporate earnings.
Source: @MikaelSarwe
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7. The Nasdaq 100 breadth is near the post-2009 lows.
Source: Bloomberg Read full article
8. It’s been a challenging period for post-IPO stocks.
9. The pullback in global liquidity doesn’t bode well for equity markets.
Source: Simon White, Bloomberg Markets Live Blog
10. Correlations have been elevated (2 charts).
Source: Citi Private Bank
Source: Deutsche Bank Research
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11. Financials continue to see outflows (2 charts)
Source: Deutsche Bank Research
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12. The healthcare sector is trading at a discount relative to the S&P 500 …
Source: Evercore ISI Research
…and is holding long-term relative support.
Source: Evercore ISI Research
Corporate insiders in healthcare have been busy buying shares.
Source: SentimenTrader
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13. Analysts expect profit margins to keep growing. Too much optimism?
Source: Goldman Sachs
14. Next, we have some additional performance data.
• Here is last week’s factor performance.
And this chart shows the year-to-date performance.
Source: MarketDesk Research
High-dividend stocks continue to outperform.
By the way, growth ETFs keep getting capital inflows.
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• Clean energy stocks surged last week.
• All large US tech stocks were down last week.
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Credit
1. Credit spreads kept widening last week.
2. Leveraged loans continue to see outflows.
Leveraged loans and BDCs underperformed last week.
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3. We haven’t had too many large retail bankruptcies this year (so far).
Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence
4. In the US, the equity earnings-credit yield gap is the widest since 2010.
Source: TS Lombard
In the Euro Area, however, credit yields are not as appealing as equity earnings yields.
Source: TS Lombard
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Rates
1. Treasury market-implied vol has been rolling over as yields stabilized.
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2. China is buying US Treasuries (some of the purchases are through Belgium).
Source: @jnordvig
3. Cyclical indicators point to lower yields.
Source: BCA Research
4. Sentiment on bonds has been terrible.
Source: BCA Research
5. Total bond flows have been negative.
Source: @EricBalchunas
But capital continues to flow into Treasuries.
Source: Deutsche Bank Research
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6. SOFR derivatives volume keeps improving (SOFR is the replacement for USD LIBOR).
Source: @CMEGroup
7. Market-based longer-run fed funds expectations are close to the FOMC’s projections. Some would view Fed hikes above these levels as moving monetary policy into “restrictive” territory.
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Commodities
1. Sentiment on silver has been terrible. A buying opportunity?
Source: Sentix; @Callum_Thomas
Precious metals ETF flows have turned positive.
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2. Speculative accounts are betting against copper.
3. Major diversified mining companies have reduced debt and increased cash flow (2 charts).
Source: Fitch Solutions Macro Research
Source: Fitch Solutions Macro Research
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4. Agricultural commodity ETFs continue to see inflows.
5. Lumber tumbled last week amid signs of weakness in the US housing market.
Source: Markets Insider Read full article
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Energy
1. European natural gas prices declined sharply last week.
2. This chart shows China’s oil reserves.
Source: Scotiabank Economics
3. Next, we have some data on US coal exports.
Source: S&P Global Market Intelligence
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Cryptocurrency
1. The top decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens have underperformed bitcoin over the past month, although some have stabilized last week.
Source: CoinDesk Read full article
2. China’s bitcoin miners are back online despite the nation’s ban last year.
Source: CoinDesk Read full article
3. The bitcoin hashprice, which represents the expected value of mining, is trending lower. That’s because of the lower price of BTC, more miners coming online, and an increase in network difficulty.
Source: CoinDesk Read full article
3. Bitcoin’s short-term realized volatility has declined over the past week.
Source: @GenesisVol
4. Bitcoin’s put/call ratio is starting to tick lower.
Source: @CoinbaseInsto
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Emerging Markets
1. The Turkish lira is holding near 16.0 to the dollar.
Source: barchart.com
F/X reserves tumbled in recent weeks, …
Source: Bloomberg Read full article
… as foreigners dump Turkish stocks.
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2. USD/RUB is testing support at 60.0 as the ruble continues to strengthen.
Source: barchart.com
Separately, Russia’s economy has been underperforming for decades.
Source: World Economics
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3. LatAm currencies and equity ETFs outperformed last week.
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4. Many EM equity markets are undervalued vs. DM.
Source: TS Lombard
5. Next, we have Morgan Stanley’s projections for policy rates in select economies.
Source: Morgan Stanley Research
6. Remittances have been overtaking foreign direct investment, official development assistance, and portfolio flows.
Source: KNOMAD Read full article
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China
1. The renminbi is rebounding.
2. Hong Kong listings have sharply underperformed mainland shares.
Source: Numera Analytics
3. Lockdowns have stalled the recovery in property sales (2 charts).
Source: Gavekal Research
Source: Gavekal Research
Here is why the PBoC cut the mortgage rate.
Source: BCA Research
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4. Are capital outflows about to end?
Source: @RobinBrooksIIF
5. China could be experiencing a recession, although the official data won’t show it.
Source: Pantheon Macroeconomics
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Asia – Pacific
1. Taiwan’s April export orders surprised to the downside.
2. South Korea’s exports surged in May.
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The Eurozone
1. Italian and Spanish bond spreads have been widening.
2. Germany’s producer prices are up 33.5% from a year ago.
Eurozone’s inflation will remain elevated for some time.
Source: Pantheon Macroeconomics
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3. Euro-area consumer confidence ticked higher this month.
4. Euro-area GDP growth forecasts have been revised lower.
Source: @bpolitics Read full article
5. Normally, a weaker euro could improve the current account. The problem is that it also makes energy more expensive for Europe.
Source: Pantheon Macroeconomics
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The United Kingdom
1. The housing market remains robust.
But slumping consumer sentiment will be a headwind for housing going forward.
Source: Pantheon Macroeconomics
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2. Retail sales were stronger than expected last month.
3. Wage indicators remain elevated.
Source: @IHSMarkitPMI
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The United States
1. Recession fears have reached a feverish pitch, as financial conditions tighten.
• Here is Morgan Stanley’s recession model.
Source: Morgan Stanley Research
• Companies are increasingly mentioning recession on earnings calls.
Source: Goldman Sachs
• Retailers are facing an inventory overhang, …
Source: @WSJ Read full article
Source: BCA Research
… as the wealth effect becomes a headwind for consumption.
Source: Bain & CompanyÂ
• Heavy truck and auto sales have been soft.
Source: Simon White, Bloomberg Markets Live Blog
• The NY and Philly Fed manufacturing reports point to a contraction in the nation’s manufacturing sector.
Source: Yardeni Research
But for now, credit indicators are not signaling a recession.
– Household credit:
Source: Pantheon Macroeconomics
– Corporate credit:
Source: Longview Economics
– Money market stress:
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2. Other high-frequency data also suggest a recession is not imminent.
• Evercore ISI business surveys:
Source: Evercore ISI Research
• Search for logistics topics:
Source: Google Trends
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3. Americans’ comfort level with various activities keeps rising.
Source: Evercore ISI Research
4. The market is increasingly discounting the possibility of a 75 bps rate hike next month.
Market-based longer-term inflation expectations are off the highs.
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Global Developments
1. What percentage of the G10 government bond debt is owned by central banks?
Source: Capital Economics
2. Globalization has peaked.
Source: Goldman Sachs
3. Here is why many countries are concerned about the US dollar rally (2 charts).
Source: Numera Analytics
Source: BCA Research
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4. Finally, we have some market performance data from last week.
• The trade-weighted currency indices:
• DM sovereign yields:
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Food for Thought
1. Projected inflation rates for 2022:
Source: Statista
2. US sports equipment vs. gym membership price changes since Jan 2018:
Source: BCA Research
3. Opinion of Russia in select countries:
Source: Morning Consult Read full article
4. Vaccine effectiveness against omicron over time:
Source: Longview Economics
5. High-school students feeling persistently sad or hopeless:
Source: The Atlantic Read full article
6. Support for legality of abortion by state:
Source: PRRI Read full article
7. Teen employment in the US:
Source: @WSJ Read full article
8. Creating the perfect story:
Source: Statista
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