Jun 30, 2022
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“Everything is going to be fine in the end. If it’s not fine it’s not the end.” – Oscar Wilde
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Could you think of a more fitting finish to the worst first half of a trading year in more than 50 years? Maybe a 5% decline instead? Futures are indicated lower this morning with the S&P 500 trading down more than 1.4%. Economic concerns continue to weigh on sentiment as PMI data in China for June rebounded but came in weaker than expected while Industrial Production in Japan also showed considerable weakness and badly missed forecasts. Stocks in Europe are also lower this morning, although economic data wasn’t as bad relative to expectations.
Given the economic weakness and plunging stock prices, Treasury yields are falling both in the US and Europe. The 2-Year US Treasury yield is back below 3%, while the 10-year yield at 3.03% isn’t that far behind. On the economic front, at 8:30, we’ll get updates on Personal Income (inline), Personal Spending (weaker), PCE Deflator (lower than expected), and Jobless Claims (generally inline), and then at 9:45 we’ll get the June read of the Chicago PMI. In response, futures have bounced, but the S&P 500 is still indicated to open down by 1%.
In today’s Morning Lineup, we discuss the latest weakness in Asian and European markets, as well as a look at international economic data.
If current levels in SPY hold, today will be just the 15th time since the ETF’s inception in the early 1990s that it gapped down more than 1% on the last trading day of the month. Of those 14 prior occurrences, only three were also on the last trading day of the quarter, and today will be the first time that it gapped down this much on the last trading day of the half. In terms of how SPY traded from the open to close on these days, the average (0.54%) and median (+0.49%) return is actually better than the average for all last days of a month since 1993. However, while the sample size is small, on all three days that SPY gapped down 1%+ to close out the quarter, traders weren’t in a rush to snap up any bargains as SPY traded lower from the open to close all three times.
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Jun 29, 2022
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“In times of adversity and change, we really discover who we are and what we’re made of.” – Howard Schultz
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After two days in a row where the S&P 500 opened firmly in positive territory but gave up all of those gains and then some throughout the trading day, futures were lower earlier on but have picked up a little bit of steam as we approach the opening bell. Treasury yields are lower this morning as investors shift out of risker assets on economic concerns.
On the economic calendar, revised GDP was just released and came in slightly weaker than expected at a level of -1.6% versus forecasts for a decline of 1.5%. Personal Consumption significantly missed expectations (1.8% vs 3.1% estimate), GDP Price Index came in higher (8.2% vs 8.1%), and Core PCE was also revised higher (5.2% vs 5.1%). Lower than expected growth and higher than expected inflation. Not exactly the combination equity investors want to see.
In today’s Morning Lineup, we discuss the latest moves in Asian and European markets, as well as a look at plunging economic confidence in Europe, South Korea, and Sweden.
After opening firmly in positive territory yesterday and trading up over 1% in early trading, the S&P 500 steadily traded lower throughout the trading day and finished near the lows of the day with a decline of over 2%. Intraday reversals like these where the market opens strong only to have the rug pulled out from under it really do a number on what is already battered investor sentiment. 2022 isn’t even half over, but yesterday’s reversal is already the fourth time this year that the S&P 500 has traded up at least 1% at some point in the trading day only to finish down over 1%. The other three days were 1/20/22, 4/21/22, and 5/11/22.
The year is less than half over, but if it ended today, 2022 would already rank as the third-largest number of negative reversals of this magnitude in a calendar year behind only 2008 (12) and 2009 (7). Like an old pair of socks, this market just can’t stay up.
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Jun 28, 2022
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“When the final result is expected to be a compromise, it is often prudent to start from an extreme position.” – John Maynard Keynes
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Just like yesterday, futures are higher this morning but off their highs from earlier this morning. Surprisingly, the rally has been accompanied by rising oil prices and higher treasury yields, but news that China has cut the required quarantine time for incoming travelers in half has investors optimistic that the country may further loosen its zero-COVID policy. Hopefully the outcome today is better than yesterday.
In economic news, Wholesale Inventories rose 2.0% which was below consensus forecasts but the level still remain elevated relative to history with May being the fourth straight month of 2% readings or higher.
In today’s Morning Lineup, we discuss the news coming out of the G7 meetings, overnight moves in Asian and European markets, and a look at polling numbers ahead of the mid-term elections.
Despite strength this morning, commodities have succumbed to profit-taking recently, and the majority of the ETFs tied to the sector have seen declines over the last week. Leading the way to the downside, Natural Gas (UNG) and the DB Agriculture Fund (DBA) have seen declines of over 5% in just the last week putting them into oversold levels. While the weakness in commodities has been a welcome development and sparked optimism that inflation pressures may finally be starting to roll over, the majority of these same ETFs are still up sharply YTD. UNG is up over 77% YTD even after the 6.6% decline in the last week, while the Commodity Total Return ETN (DJP) still sits on a gain of over 25%. In order for investors to really be confident that commodity price pressures have really turned the corner, we’ll need to see the weakness that has characterized the end of the quarter follow through into the second half.
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Jun 27, 2022
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“In times of rapid change, experience could be your worst enemy.” – J. Paul Getty
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Bulls finally caught a break last week with the S&P 500 up well over 5%, and they’ll be looking to finish up the quarter on a positive note as we head into the end of the first half. The bears are still comfortably in the lead heading into the half, but a late ‘field goal’ or even ‘touchdown’ for the bulls in the final days would make things look a little more respectable to kick off the second half. Futures are higher this morning but have been drifting as the opening bell approaches and treasury yields rise as the 10-year trades back near 3.2%. Investors continue to be tossed around by moves in the treasury market as market rallies tend to push yields higher and eventually to levels that cause angst on the part of equity investors.
Durable Goods orders were just released and came in higher than expected, while later on, we’ll get updates to Pending Home Sales (10:00 AM Eastern) and the Dallas Fed report for June (10.:30). On the earnings front, we’ll hear from Jefferies (JEF) and Nike (NKE) after the close.
In today’s Morning Lineup, we discuss the news coming out of the G7 meetings, overnight moves in Asian and European markets, US rig counts, and overnight economic data from Asia and Europe.
With gains of over 6%, last week was a very good one for US equities. Good, that is for every sector except Energy. Sectors leading the rally included Consumer Discretionary, Health Care, and Real Estate, but Technology and Utilities also outperformed. Despite the big gains last week, all five sectors are still in the red YTD, and only Health Care is above its 50-day moving average (DMA). Ironically enough, Energy was the only sector down on the week and is the furthest below its 50-DMA, but it is also the only sector up YTD and with a gain of over 30% it’s leaving the other ten sectors in its dust.
Speaking of the Energy sector, while it has easily been the best performing sector over the last year, the last week of the month has been routinely weak for the Energy sector. As shown in the chart below, over the last year, the sector has underperformed the S&P 500 in the last week of the month ten out of twelve times with a median margin of 2.5 percentage points in underperformance. Energy has been a high octane sector lately, but it hasn’t had much in the way of endurance on a month-to-month basis.
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Jun 24, 2022
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“The riskiest strategy is to try to avoid risk altogether.” – Fredrick W. Smith
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This week marks the 12th and final full week of the second quarter and barring a calamitous reversal from pre-market levels, it will be just the second positive full week of trading during Q2. That’s how bad of a quarter Q2 has been. Gains this quarter have been awfully hard to come by.
Futures are looking to finish off what has already been a positive week on an up note, but in order to stay there, we’ll have to get through the Michigan Confidence and New Home Sales reports at 10 AM. The Michigan Confidence report will be an update to the preliminary reading that was released two weeks ago and came in at the lowest level in the history of the survey dating back to 1978. It’s hard to imagine that report getting any worse.
In today’s Morning Lineup, there’s a lot covered as we discuss overnight moves in Asian and European markets, declining volatility in the crypto space, and overnight economic data from Asia and Europe.
It’s been a rough few weeks for copper as yesterday’s 5%+ decline capped off its worst five and ten-day declines since March 2020 at the depths of the COVID crash. With the title of doctor, copper’s performance is often considered to be a good gauge of the economy’s health, so the recent declines naturally raise economic concerns.
The chart below shows the historical 10-day rate of change in copper going back to 1981. During that span, there have only been seven other periods where copper declined 20% or more in a ten-day span, and as mentioned above, the most recent was during the original COVID lockdowns. There were also similar or larger declines during the Financial Crisis recession and the recessions of the early 1980s (not quite 20%) and early 1990s. While large short-term declines in copper did occur during four of the last five recessions, there were also a number of other large declines that occurred outside of recessions (1986, 1987, 2011, and 2018). Large short-term declines in the price of copper have often occurred during recessions, but they aren’t exclusive to recessions.
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Jun 23, 2022
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“Being on the tightrope is living; everything else is waiting.” Karl Wallenda
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Nine years ago today, people all over the world watched with bated breath as acrobat Nik Wallenda became the first person to walk across the Grand Canyon on a tightrope. Technically, it wasn’t actually the Grand Canyon, but a gorge right near the Grand Canyon National Park. However, the 1,800-foot highwire trek across the gorge that took place 1,500 feet above the ground (without a net) was impressive. Wallenda’s Grand Canyon crossing came barely a year after an even more widely watched event where he became the first person to walk a tightrope over Niagara Falls. Talk about an ability to strike a balance!
Nik Wallenda is just one of a long line of ‘Flying Wallendas’ that have for decades been known for their death-defying stunts that mostly involve high-wire acts without a net. Living on the edge is simply in their blood.
Up until recently, Fed Chair Powell has been attempting his own ‘Wallenda act’ looking to strike a delicate balance between raising interest rates to fight inflation and avoiding throwing the economy into recession on the other. Just like Nik Wallenda’s walks over the Niagara Falls and The Grand Canyon, many out there say that it simply can’t be done. Powell, on the other hand, remained optimistic up until recently, arguing in mid-May that removing accommodation and raising rates could be achieved with a ‘softish’ landing in the US economy that may be a ‘little bumpy’ but ‘still a good landing’.
In the month since those May comments, though, Powell has sounded less confident, increasingly leaning on the recession side of the wire in order to prevent a fall further onto the side of inflation. Just yesterday, in Senate testimony, the Fed Chair noted that “We’re not trying to provoke, and don’t think that we will need to provoke, a recession, but we do think it’s absolutely essential that we restore price stability, really for the benefit of the labor market, as much as anything else.” Wallenda ultimately proved all his doubters wrong. Is Powell’s balance anywhere near as good?
Futures have been bouncing around this morning, but have mostly been in positive territory after yesterday’s rebound from a sharply lower open. Jobless Claims were just released and came in very slightly higher than expectations at 229K compared to forecasts for 226K. Continuing Claims, on the other hand, came in 5K lower than the consensus forecast of 1.32 million. Looking ahead to the rest of the day, Powell will testify in front of the House at 10 AM, and the EIA will release Natural Gas stockpiles at 10:30. The release of crude oil inventories, which were already delayed by a day due to the Juneteenth holiday, has been postponed indefinitely due to system issues.
In today’s Morning Lineup, there’s a lot covered as we discuss overnight moves in Asian and European markets, central bank moves, and overnight economic data from Asia and Europe.
Treasury yields are down this morning with the 10-year yield below 3.1% after topping out at just under 3.5% a little over a week ago. In the five trading days that ended yesterday (6/22), the 31 basis point decline in the 10-year yield was the largest since the COVID crash, although it followed what was the largest five-day increase in over five years.
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