Tag: Yields

Pushing on a String

Lower rates may not bail out the economy this time around

Photo by Tara Evans on Unsplash

June 29, 2019

Looking back on the best performance for the S&P in the month of June since 1938 reveals a familiar pattern: economy shows signs of slowing, earnings outlooks decline, equity market stumbles, Fed rushes in with the promise of easier policy, market rallies to new record (again)…problem solved. Completely predictable, and almost comical at this point. There aren’t many people left that think that the Fed’s real mandate of fostering maximum employment and price stability hasn’t taken a back seat to maintain the appearance that everything’s fine through higher stock prices.

How many times can they keep running the same play? Right now investors still seem willing to believe that the Fed can extend the business cycle forever, but it does beg the question of whether the economy and the markets are even viable without support from the central bank.

The big issue in front of us is whether another round of rate cuts can rescue the economy? It might. But the next big trade is going to be recognizing that tipping point if and when the markets and economy fail to respond.

Next month the current expansion will become the oldest on record. Investors need to start worrying about the marginal effectiveness of any potential rate cuts this late in the cycle, especially now that yields globally are already at rock bottom. Lower rates almost certainly aren’t the answer to a system choking on debt from the past decade of easy money, but apparently, that won’t keep policymakers from offering it up again. The minute the markets realize that the Fed and other central banks are shooting blanks the entire game changes.

Which is why housing data is worth paying attention to. Over the past week, a series of reports on pending, existing and new home sales showed a continuation of weaker year-over-year trends despite the stimulus normally associated with declining mortgage rates. It might be an early and important sign that aside from the raging bull market in equities, demand in the economy is slipping and becoming inelastic to the level of rates. See https://cnb.cx/2IHmcfT . So even if the Fed embarks on another round of rate cuts they may find themselves pushing on a string.

New Home Sales (blue) and 30 year mortgage rate (green and inverted). Chart courtesy Zerohedge.

‘Jaws’ Could Take a Bite Out of Markets

Stocks and bonds both can’t be right on the economy

Photo by Clint Patterson on Unsplash

June 24, 2019

Wall Street has coined a term for the opposing economic messages being sent by the bond and stock markets: Jaws. Look at a simple chart (below) with the S&P overlayed on the benchmark 10 year Treasury note and you’ll see what I mean.

It refers to the yawning gap that began to widen early this year as a function of sharply higher equity prices and collapsing bond yields. One side suggests a boom and the other signals recession. Describing it is the easy part, guessing how it turns out is not. Both can’t be right.

The image of “jaws” also infers a danger to investors from a trap created by conflicting narratives that will inevitably snap shut, in this case as the macroeconomic state of play becomes clearer. But from which direction will the jaws close and who is most at risk? Will the economy take off or hit a wall? Will bond yields rise or will stocks succumb? We don’t know yet. Presently, both markets trade well and with the confidence that they represent the winning side.

Jaws is a reaction to 1) slower growth and 2) the Fed’s anticipated response. There’s no doubt that the global economy has been knocked off it’s footing by disruptions in international trade. In the US, it also suffers from old age. Next month the current expansion, that began in June 2009, will officially become the longest on record. Bond yields have fallen sharply as the possibility of a recession appears on the horizon, accelerated by these and other headwinds created by sub-par economic activity worldwide.

On the other hand, equity markets have enjoyed an impressive recovery since the Fed called off plans for tighter monetary policy back in January. The S&P spiked to fresh record highs last week after Fed chairman Powell went a step further and all but promised to begin cutting rates again. See https://bloom.bg/2WLgykO .

As I see it, the risk inherent in the jaws trade is that the prosperity projected by the equity markets is becoming more illusory, when in reality the economy and the markets are only viable when the Fed is backstopping them. All-time highs in stocks seem strangely disconnected from the expectation that more than half of the sectors in the S&P 500 are set to report negative growth in this current quarter.

In the last 50 years, only a quarter of all recessions were averted by easier monetary policy. Investors feeling confident that Chairman Powell has their backs may be overestimating the capabilities of the Fed to sustain a business cycle that is already past its sell-by-date.

JAWS. Competing outlooks from stocks and bonds.
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