Giving consumers cash for their old cars when they bought new ones was a wild success. Now the government is turning their attention towards subsidizing purchases of high-efficiency home appliances like refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers, furnaces, and air-conditioning systems.
Details are still being worked out, but the program is expected to be capped at $300 million taxpayer dollars, and will give consumers $50 to $200 for their old home appliances when they purchase high-efficiency upgrades. Unlike the Cash for Automobile Clunkers, consumers won’t get the discount at the point of sale, but instead will have to apply for a rebate.
While the program is being funded by federal dollars, each state is able to determine which appliances will be on the rebate list. The items will most likely have to be Energy Star rated. State plans will be reviewed by the Department of Energy starting in late October, and money could start flowing to consumers by November.
Just as the government program to stimulate auto demand ran out of money in the first week, this program will likely be exhausted quickly. Still, the program should provide a temporary boost to appliance makers and retailers that have struggled.
Here are a few of our Approved List stocks that could receive a short-term boost in revenue from this new program:
Wal-Mart (WMT) – retailer of appliances
General Electric (GE) – appliances
Ingersoll-Rand (IR) – Trane heating, ventilating, air-conditioning systems
United Technologies (UTX) – Carrier heating and refrigeration equipment
Johnson Controls (JCI) – heating, ventilating, air-conditioning contractors
For those looking to take advantage of some government money (errr…I mean your money) the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 extended many consumer energy tax incentives for included a number of tax breaks, which you can see by clicking here. Businesses, utilities, and governments are also eligible for these tax credits.
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Peter J. Lazaroff, Investment Analyst
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Fixed Income Recap
The Treasury’s $42 billion 2-year auction was an overall positive to the bond market on Tuesday. Demand measures were just under the recent average for 2-year notes – bid/cover was 2.68 – but the yield came in just 1 basis point higher than the market. Bonds had sold off going into the auction but managed to rally on the results and better prospects for the remainder of this week’s supply.
A heavy selloff in crude oil (-3.12%) hurt TIPS today as breakevens tightened 8 basis points for second day in a row to 174 basis points – essentially where they were before their rally last week. I mentioned late last week that TIPS looked like they got a little ahead of themselves but I was suspecting a selloff in Treasuries to be the catalyst for the TIPS correction. Instead it was much better than expected Consumer Confidence Survey results that boosted the dollar and drove dollar hedges out of oil which in turn hurt TIPS. What a domino effect huh?
The Fed is scheduled to purchase Treasuries maturing between 8/15/2026 and 8/15/2039, a sector that stretches to the very back end of the curve. The Fed has averaged $3 billion in backend purchases per operation but most in the market has come to realize that the Fed will soon need to slow down their purchases significantly. I have heard estimates as low as $1.5 to $2 billion. I’m not sure how much these operations are affecting the market these days anyway, especially when they are accompanied with new Treasury supply and meaningful economic data.
A heavy selloff in crude oil (-3.12%) hurt TIPS today as breakevens tightened 8 basis points for second day in a row to 174 basis points – essentially where they were before their rally last week. I mentioned late last week that TIPS looked like they got a little ahead of themselves but I was suspecting a selloff in Treasuries to be the catalyst for the TIPS correction. Instead it was much better than expected Consumer Confidence Survey results that boosted the dollar and drove dollar hedges out of oil which in turn hurt TIPS. What a domino effect huh?
The Fed is scheduled to purchase Treasuries maturing between 8/15/2026 and 8/15/2039, a sector that stretches to the very back end of the curve. The Fed has averaged $3 billion in backend purchases per operation but most in the market has come to realize that the Fed will soon need to slow down their purchases significantly. I have heard estimates as low as $1.5 to $2 billion. I’m not sure how much these operations are affecting the market these days anyway, especially when they are accompanied with new Treasury supply and meaningful economic data.
Ben Bernanke was nominated by President Obama for a second term as Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board while being praised for his “calm and wisdom” during the financial crisis. But monetary policy must come full circle before Bernanke’s story is finished. Reappointing Bernanke for the sake of continuity during this cycle removes a hurdle, albeit a small one.
Cliff J. Reynolds Jr., Investment Analyst
Cliff J. Reynolds Jr., Investment Analyst
Daily Insight
U.S. stocks gained ground Tuesday after the day’s home price data and consumer confidence readings came in better than expected. A successful $42 billion auction of two-year notes (an activity that garners increased anxiety these days) also surely helped the equity markets. More of that to come though, $39 billion in five-year notes today, $28 billion of seven-years on Thursday and trillions more to come over the next couple of years at least – such is the heightened cost for the way we’re attacking the economic deterioration..
However, stocks retreated from late-morning session highs as traders had time to think about the level at which consumer confidence stands and the headwinds the largest segment of the economy still has to endure.
Consumer discretionary shares led the broad market higher on that bounce in the consumer confidence reading. Energy shares led the three sectors that lost ground on the session, as oil prices pulled back to the $71 handle.
Just over one billion shares traded on the Big Board, 8% below even the meager three-month average.
Market Activity for August 25, 2009
The Dollar
The U.S. dollar managed to shake off the reappointment of Chairman Bernanke by managing a mild gain. His easy money ways are no friend of old green; in fairness, the pilot of this cash-dropping helicopter doesn’t have much choice here, which is kind of why some view the latest leg of this stock market rally with skepticism, as the economy needs this easy money crutch. My main criticism is with the Fed policy of the past that played a major role in creating the debt-laden/housing bubble/mispricing of risk scenario that brought us to this state.
S&P CaseShiller Home Price Index
The most-watched home price index showed the June data improved markedly, posting a 1.4% increase – this marks the second month in which this gauge has shown home prices to rise and the June increase was the best since June 2005.
On a year-over-year basis, CaseShiller has home prices lower by 15.4%, which is also the best reading since April 2008. While this remains a harsh decline from the year-ago period, we’ll take the improvement.
The table below shows the vast improvement that has occurred within most cities (focus on current month-over-month vs. previous).
This is great news, but one needs to refrain from getting too excited about this move and surmising the housing market is on a sustained move in the direction needed. (I need to be careful when explaining these things, taking a cautious approach and warning against the tendency to view this as an “out of the woods” indication is dangerous for me at this point as many very likely see those “green shoots.” But I’m sorry; the foreclosure readings are showing the trouble is spreading from the sub-prime area of the mortgage market to the prime segment. We’re seeing prime mortgage delinquency rates move higher as the very weak job market situation will have this affect on things.)
The foreclosure reality will likely put pressure on home prices again as we move to the end of the year (and away from what is almost always the best quarter for home sales, especially so for CaseShiller as it does not seasonally adjust its monthly price data). If the market is going to take the approach that the price declines have completely run their course, there remains an outsized chance that equity values will react harshly to data that shows this not to be the case a couple of months out.
In the end, I have to see some improvement in the job market, an improvement that shows the monthly payroll declines ease from current levels that are commensurate with the peaks seen during the typical recession (that is, monthly job losses need to move below 100K – currently they remain at -250K, much better than we endured a few months prior but still deep losses). We also need to see the housing market show some ability to stand on its own – refundable tax credits and fed-induced interest rates are providing a large boost right now.
Consumer Confidence
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence survey showed a bounce back to 54.1 from 47.4 – halting a two month retrenchment after it appeared as if the reading was on a sustained rise from the record lows hit in March. The reading for August brings us nearly back to the level hit in May, a point that puts the reading closer to the pre-Lehman fallout point of 61.4.
For clarity, the overall confidence survey is an average of respondents’ appraisals of current business conditions, business conditions six months out, current employment conditions, employment conditions six month out, and total family income expectations six months out.
The key aspect of this report for me is the jobs “plentiful” minus jobs “hard to get” reading, which rose above the all-time low hit in July. The measure increased to -40.9 last month from the all-time low of -44.8. (Those stating jobs were “plentiful” rose to 4.2% of respondents vs. 3.7% in July. Those stating jobs are “hard to get” fell to 45.1% from 48.5 in July.
The present conditions index remained extremely depressed, registering a reading of 24.9, compared to 23.3 last month. However, the expectations reading (respondents’ expectations six months from now) jumped to 73.5 from 63.4. This is the highest reading since December 2007.
While the rebound in confidence is a good sign, the figures remain low from a long-term perspective. What people need to realize, in my opinion, is that consumer activity as a percentage of GDP will move back to the historic average of 65%. Presently, it remains near 70%, and hit 72% at its peak as very easy credit conditions, historically low unemployment, solid real income gains and the wealth effect (much higher stock and home prices) allowed this to occur. After the situation we have been through, credit standards have moved to a more appropriate stance, and thus one factor that will move personal consumption back to the historic average over time. Another factor is the weak job market (and I fear the jobless rate will remain stubbornly high for a prolonged period due to the current policy path); the consumer will choose to add incrementally to cash savings as a result.
Over the next couple of quarters, the inventory dynamic and government spending will propel GDP growth but the lower level of spending by the consumer will weigh on the expansion. The business side is still a question. We need business spending to rebound in a robust way to help offset consumer weakness, but we have yet to see evidence of this turn taking place.
Maybe we’ll see an early sign of a business spending upswing in this morning’s durable goods orders report, that would be very welcome. However, if durables are solely boosted by auto production, as “cash for clunkers” helped to erase inventories, this will not offer economic assistance outside of a one-two quarter pop.
Richmond Manufacturing Survey
The Richmond Federal Reserve Bank’s survey of factory activity in the region held steady at 14 for August – same reading as in July. This marks the fourth-straight month of expansion.
The shipments index jumped to 21 from 16; the new order volume slipped to 18 from 24 (still nicely in expansion mode though) and the average workweek rose to 16 from 14 – we need to see this figure rise within all of the factory indices.
The unfortunate development, which I also noticed in last week’s Philly Fed reading, was that prices paid have exceed prices received for two months now. This could put pressure on profit margins, but the huge decline in payrolls should ease this development.
Federal Housing and Finance Agency’s (FHFA) Home Price Index
The FHFA reported its home price index rose 0.5% for June after a downwardly revised 0.6% increase for May. On a year-over-year basis, this measure has prices down just 2.2%. This is a very broad measure of home prices, much broader than CaseShiller, but does miss the high end market as it does not capture purchases made with jumbo mortgages and only includes single-family homes that have mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Equally weight CaseShiller, FHFA and the median home price via the existing home sales data and you get home prices down 10.9% from the year-ago period – a welcome improvement from the cycle trough of 17.5% that took place in January.
Have a great day!
Brent Vondera, Senior Analyst
However, stocks retreated from late-morning session highs as traders had time to think about the level at which consumer confidence stands and the headwinds the largest segment of the economy still has to endure.
Consumer discretionary shares led the broad market higher on that bounce in the consumer confidence reading. Energy shares led the three sectors that lost ground on the session, as oil prices pulled back to the $71 handle.
Just over one billion shares traded on the Big Board, 8% below even the meager three-month average.
Market Activity for August 25, 2009
The DollarThe U.S. dollar managed to shake off the reappointment of Chairman Bernanke by managing a mild gain. His easy money ways are no friend of old green; in fairness, the pilot of this cash-dropping helicopter doesn’t have much choice here, which is kind of why some view the latest leg of this stock market rally with skepticism, as the economy needs this easy money crutch. My main criticism is with the Fed policy of the past that played a major role in creating the debt-laden/housing bubble/mispricing of risk scenario that brought us to this state.
S&P CaseShiller Home Price Index
The most-watched home price index showed the June data improved markedly, posting a 1.4% increase – this marks the second month in which this gauge has shown home prices to rise and the June increase was the best since June 2005.
On a year-over-year basis, CaseShiller has home prices lower by 15.4%, which is also the best reading since April 2008. While this remains a harsh decline from the year-ago period, we’ll take the improvement.
The table below shows the vast improvement that has occurred within most cities (focus on current month-over-month vs. previous).
This is great news, but one needs to refrain from getting too excited about this move and surmising the housing market is on a sustained move in the direction needed. (I need to be careful when explaining these things, taking a cautious approach and warning against the tendency to view this as an “out of the woods” indication is dangerous for me at this point as many very likely see those “green shoots.” But I’m sorry; the foreclosure readings are showing the trouble is spreading from the sub-prime area of the mortgage market to the prime segment. We’re seeing prime mortgage delinquency rates move higher as the very weak job market situation will have this affect on things.)The foreclosure reality will likely put pressure on home prices again as we move to the end of the year (and away from what is almost always the best quarter for home sales, especially so for CaseShiller as it does not seasonally adjust its monthly price data). If the market is going to take the approach that the price declines have completely run their course, there remains an outsized chance that equity values will react harshly to data that shows this not to be the case a couple of months out.
In the end, I have to see some improvement in the job market, an improvement that shows the monthly payroll declines ease from current levels that are commensurate with the peaks seen during the typical recession (that is, monthly job losses need to move below 100K – currently they remain at -250K, much better than we endured a few months prior but still deep losses). We also need to see the housing market show some ability to stand on its own – refundable tax credits and fed-induced interest rates are providing a large boost right now.
Consumer Confidence
The Conference Board’s consumer confidence survey showed a bounce back to 54.1 from 47.4 – halting a two month retrenchment after it appeared as if the reading was on a sustained rise from the record lows hit in March. The reading for August brings us nearly back to the level hit in May, a point that puts the reading closer to the pre-Lehman fallout point of 61.4.
For clarity, the overall confidence survey is an average of respondents’ appraisals of current business conditions, business conditions six months out, current employment conditions, employment conditions six month out, and total family income expectations six months out.
The key aspect of this report for me is the jobs “plentiful” minus jobs “hard to get” reading, which rose above the all-time low hit in July. The measure increased to -40.9 last month from the all-time low of -44.8. (Those stating jobs were “plentiful” rose to 4.2% of respondents vs. 3.7% in July. Those stating jobs are “hard to get” fell to 45.1% from 48.5 in July.The present conditions index remained extremely depressed, registering a reading of 24.9, compared to 23.3 last month. However, the expectations reading (respondents’ expectations six months from now) jumped to 73.5 from 63.4. This is the highest reading since December 2007.While the rebound in confidence is a good sign, the figures remain low from a long-term perspective. What people need to realize, in my opinion, is that consumer activity as a percentage of GDP will move back to the historic average of 65%. Presently, it remains near 70%, and hit 72% at its peak as very easy credit conditions, historically low unemployment, solid real income gains and the wealth effect (much higher stock and home prices) allowed this to occur. After the situation we have been through, credit standards have moved to a more appropriate stance, and thus one factor that will move personal consumption back to the historic average over time. Another factor is the weak job market (and I fear the jobless rate will remain stubbornly high for a prolonged period due to the current policy path); the consumer will choose to add incrementally to cash savings as a result.Over the next couple of quarters, the inventory dynamic and government spending will propel GDP growth but the lower level of spending by the consumer will weigh on the expansion. The business side is still a question. We need business spending to rebound in a robust way to help offset consumer weakness, but we have yet to see evidence of this turn taking place.
Maybe we’ll see an early sign of a business spending upswing in this morning’s durable goods orders report, that would be very welcome. However, if durables are solely boosted by auto production, as “cash for clunkers” helped to erase inventories, this will not offer economic assistance outside of a one-two quarter pop.
Richmond Manufacturing Survey
The Richmond Federal Reserve Bank’s survey of factory activity in the region held steady at 14 for August – same reading as in July. This marks the fourth-straight month of expansion.
The shipments index jumped to 21 from 16; the new order volume slipped to 18 from 24 (still nicely in expansion mode though) and the average workweek rose to 16 from 14 – we need to see this figure rise within all of the factory indices.
The unfortunate development, which I also noticed in last week’s Philly Fed reading, was that prices paid have exceed prices received for two months now. This could put pressure on profit margins, but the huge decline in payrolls should ease this development.
Federal Housing and Finance Agency’s (FHFA) Home Price Index
The FHFA reported its home price index rose 0.5% for June after a downwardly revised 0.6% increase for May. On a year-over-year basis, this measure has prices down just 2.2%. This is a very broad measure of home prices, much broader than CaseShiller, but does miss the high end market as it does not capture purchases made with jumbo mortgages and only includes single-family homes that have mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Equally weight CaseShiller, FHFA and the median home price via the existing home sales data and you get home prices down 10.9% from the year-ago period – a welcome improvement from the cycle trough of 17.5% that took place in January.
Have a great day!
Brent Vondera, Senior Analyst
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Four more years of Bernanke
The biggest news today was that Ben Bernanke was nominated for a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve. Some may view this as a pat on the back from the President for a job well done, but it may also be a move to remove uncertainty from markets.
After all, it’s difficult to judge how well central bankers have performed until many years afterwards. Former chairman Alan Greenspan, for example, received high praise during the dot-com boom, but is now charged with inflating the credit and asset price bubbles that led to the current global financial crisis.
As for Bernanke, he may be remembered as the brilliant student of the Great Depression who averted another one by pulling every lever (and creating some new ones) at the Fed’s disposal. Of course, it’s possible he will be remembered as the man who tripled the size of the Fed’s balance sheet attempting to support financial institutions and, consequently, sparked inflation and destroyed the dollar.
After slashing interest rates to almost zero and pumping $1 trillion into banking system to unfreeze credit markets, Bernanke and Co. must now tackle the difficult task of soaking up liquidity without disturbing the economic recovery. Is growth part of a sustainable recovery or due to a short-term impact of stimulus? This is the question the Fed must answer.
If they believe it to be part of a sustainable recovery, then it is sensible to implement exit strategies. If not, then it might be appropriate to wait and see whether growth has taken root, which entails greater risks of inflation. The Fed has historically been slow to remove stimulus, but with maybe Bernanke can be more aggressive now that he has a bit more job security.
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Peter J. Lazaroff, Investment Analyst
After all, it’s difficult to judge how well central bankers have performed until many years afterwards. Former chairman Alan Greenspan, for example, received high praise during the dot-com boom, but is now charged with inflating the credit and asset price bubbles that led to the current global financial crisis.
As for Bernanke, he may be remembered as the brilliant student of the Great Depression who averted another one by pulling every lever (and creating some new ones) at the Fed’s disposal. Of course, it’s possible he will be remembered as the man who tripled the size of the Fed’s balance sheet attempting to support financial institutions and, consequently, sparked inflation and destroyed the dollar.
After slashing interest rates to almost zero and pumping $1 trillion into banking system to unfreeze credit markets, Bernanke and Co. must now tackle the difficult task of soaking up liquidity without disturbing the economic recovery. Is growth part of a sustainable recovery or due to a short-term impact of stimulus? This is the question the Fed must answer.
If they believe it to be part of a sustainable recovery, then it is sensible to implement exit strategies. If not, then it might be appropriate to wait and see whether growth has taken root, which entails greater risks of inflation. The Fed has historically been slow to remove stimulus, but with maybe Bernanke can be more aggressive now that he has a bit more job security.
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Peter J. Lazaroff, Investment Analyst
Fixed Income Recap
The Fed buoyed the front end of the curve with their $6 billion purchase of 2-3 year notes yesterday. The purchase was right in line with the average for that section of the curve, but a bit higher than expectations. The Fed needs to spread the last $32 billion of the $300 billion over the next 8 weeks, so we should expect less frequent operations or smaller sizes going forward. The Fed announced at the last FOMC meeting that the program will be slowed down to end in October, a month later than originally planned, but has yet to adjust the pace of the program.
TIPS had a rough go of it yesterday, losing ground to nominal coupon Treasuries throughout the day with 10-year breakevens ending the day 8 bps tighter. TIPS ran pretty hot last week despite the selloff in nominals, so most of yesterday’s movement was just a correction. Like everything in bond land lately, TIPS are range bound. The spread between the real yield on 10-year TIPS and the 10-year Treasury’s nominal yield has bounced around the 150-200 basis point range since March, and will probably continue to move within that range as sentiment drifts.
The second batch of Treasury supply is scheduled to begin today with $42 billion in new 2-year notes. Two-years are flat as of this writing.
Cliff J. Reynolds Jr., Investment Analyst
Cliff J. Reynolds Jr., Investment Analyst
Daily Insight
U.S. stocks ended virtually flat on Monday as the broad market erased early-session gains after SunTrust Bank warned of more financial-sector losses ahead. CEO James Wells stated the industry is a “long way from declaring any sort of victory” as lenders face more credit losses and commercial real estate may falter through 2010. The comments were enough to drain momentum that had carried over from Friday’s rally and an increase in international bourses Sunday night.
The Dow average managed a slight uptick as energy shares enjoyed a strong session on crude’s move above $74 per barrel – a 10-month high. Oil is unlikely to retreat so long as the Fed signals it will keep the easy-monetary policy pedal jammed to the floor.
Six stocks fell for every five that rose on the NYSE. Volume remains lackluster as just 1.1 billion shares traded on the Big Board, although this was pretty good activity relative to what we’ve seen lately. Unless something big begins to take place in either direction, volume will remain tepid as is the case for the final week of August as we head for the Labor Day holiday.
Market Activity for August 24, 2009
Treasury Demand
A couple of days back I noticed a Goldman Sachs’ analyst wrote in a note to clients in which he predicted that U.S. based buyers looking to add to savings will produce demand that is sufficient to gobble up the additional trillion dollars in bond issuance coming over the next 24 months.
This will be true; there will always be demand for Treasury securities, but not at these levels – and certainly not in the economic environment the stock market is currently pricing in; it would take a prolonged period of deep economic weakness for people to remain attracted to these yields.
U.S. household holdings of Treasurys (correct plural spelling) hit a record in 1995; that was when the 10-year Treasury traded at an 8% yield. At such a level, even a range of 6.0%-6.5% these days considering the interest-rate environment we’ve lived through over the past seven years (10-yr has averaged a yield of just 4.2% during this period), Treasury securities should enjoy much attraction from U.S. households. But at the current 2.5% yield on the 5-yr and 3.5% on the 10-yr...well, good luck with that one.
Bernanke to be Reappointed
News broke last night that President Obama will reappoint Bernanke to a second four-year term – the decision will be promulgated this morning. The market should like this move as it means continuity and removes uncertainty. In fact, the move is smart in terms of the market as Bernanke has become its sugar daddy.
I do find the timing of the decision a bit strange. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel alerted the press last night at 9:00 our time. In addition, the President is vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard and the press has been ordered to give him and his family their privacy. The decision to announce his choice of Fed Chairman makes this increasingly difficult. It just seems like they suddenly chose to make the decision now for whatever reason.
And speaking of the Fed…
Leaving Something Out, Conveniently
At the Federal Reserve’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole that concluded this weekend, Chairman Bernanke’s speech touched on the number of things that have taken place during and just prior to the credit crisis. He talked fairly specifically about the intensity of the financial crisis, the policy response, and the elements of a classis panic.
His account of what has occurred, and the decisions made to soften the blow, was quite good and I think he managed his speech with remarkable brevity. He also though touched on, more than once, how the Fed effectively saved the world. If not for the Fed response, according to Bernanke, the global financial system would have collapsed. I must say, there were a couple of weeks there at the height of the crisis in which it appeared it just might.
But one cannot prove a counterfactual so it seems pointless to me to bring it up, but the Chairman was campaigning for his job, and on that basis it seems pretty obvious why he would emphasize that he believes the Fed did a bang up job.
The aspect of this that rubs me the wrong way is if the Chairman is going to remind everyone how the decisions of the FOMC saved the system , one would like to see him also acknowledge that is was past FOMC policy mistakes that played a very large role in creating the situation that made the crisis possible. What I’m talking about here is the length of time in which they kept real (inflation adjusted) interest rates negative, a policy direction that encourages massive increases in debt levels.
Now Bernanke doesn’t have to waste time campaigning for his job (the current term ends in December) and can solely focus on managing the situation we are in – again, part of which is the situation both monetary and fiscal policy have and will put us in. He will have to work nothing less than magic to manage this thing appropriately.
Cash for Houses
The cash for clunkers program came to a close yesterday, but there is talk that Congress will expand another program: the refundable tax credit to all homebuyers – to this point, that refundable tax credit was available to first-time buyers only. I haven’t heard whether extending the duration of the program is part of this effort (currently expires November 30) but one would think they’d go through 2010 if this speculation is accurate.
Have a great day!
Brent Vondera, Senior Analyst
The Dow average managed a slight uptick as energy shares enjoyed a strong session on crude’s move above $74 per barrel – a 10-month high. Oil is unlikely to retreat so long as the Fed signals it will keep the easy-monetary policy pedal jammed to the floor.
Six stocks fell for every five that rose on the NYSE. Volume remains lackluster as just 1.1 billion shares traded on the Big Board, although this was pretty good activity relative to what we’ve seen lately. Unless something big begins to take place in either direction, volume will remain tepid as is the case for the final week of August as we head for the Labor Day holiday.
Market Activity for August 24, 2009
Treasury DemandA couple of days back I noticed a Goldman Sachs’ analyst wrote in a note to clients in which he predicted that U.S. based buyers looking to add to savings will produce demand that is sufficient to gobble up the additional trillion dollars in bond issuance coming over the next 24 months.
This will be true; there will always be demand for Treasury securities, but not at these levels – and certainly not in the economic environment the stock market is currently pricing in; it would take a prolonged period of deep economic weakness for people to remain attracted to these yields.
U.S. household holdings of Treasurys (correct plural spelling) hit a record in 1995; that was when the 10-year Treasury traded at an 8% yield. At such a level, even a range of 6.0%-6.5% these days considering the interest-rate environment we’ve lived through over the past seven years (10-yr has averaged a yield of just 4.2% during this period), Treasury securities should enjoy much attraction from U.S. households. But at the current 2.5% yield on the 5-yr and 3.5% on the 10-yr...well, good luck with that one.
Bernanke to be Reappointed
News broke last night that President Obama will reappoint Bernanke to a second four-year term – the decision will be promulgated this morning. The market should like this move as it means continuity and removes uncertainty. In fact, the move is smart in terms of the market as Bernanke has become its sugar daddy.
I do find the timing of the decision a bit strange. White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel alerted the press last night at 9:00 our time. In addition, the President is vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard and the press has been ordered to give him and his family their privacy. The decision to announce his choice of Fed Chairman makes this increasingly difficult. It just seems like they suddenly chose to make the decision now for whatever reason.
And speaking of the Fed…
Leaving Something Out, Conveniently
At the Federal Reserve’s annual symposium in Jackson Hole that concluded this weekend, Chairman Bernanke’s speech touched on the number of things that have taken place during and just prior to the credit crisis. He talked fairly specifically about the intensity of the financial crisis, the policy response, and the elements of a classis panic.
His account of what has occurred, and the decisions made to soften the blow, was quite good and I think he managed his speech with remarkable brevity. He also though touched on, more than once, how the Fed effectively saved the world. If not for the Fed response, according to Bernanke, the global financial system would have collapsed. I must say, there were a couple of weeks there at the height of the crisis in which it appeared it just might.
But one cannot prove a counterfactual so it seems pointless to me to bring it up, but the Chairman was campaigning for his job, and on that basis it seems pretty obvious why he would emphasize that he believes the Fed did a bang up job.
The aspect of this that rubs me the wrong way is if the Chairman is going to remind everyone how the decisions of the FOMC saved the system , one would like to see him also acknowledge that is was past FOMC policy mistakes that played a very large role in creating the situation that made the crisis possible. What I’m talking about here is the length of time in which they kept real (inflation adjusted) interest rates negative, a policy direction that encourages massive increases in debt levels.
Now Bernanke doesn’t have to waste time campaigning for his job (the current term ends in December) and can solely focus on managing the situation we are in – again, part of which is the situation both monetary and fiscal policy have and will put us in. He will have to work nothing less than magic to manage this thing appropriately.Cash for Houses
The cash for clunkers program came to a close yesterday, but there is talk that Congress will expand another program: the refundable tax credit to all homebuyers – to this point, that refundable tax credit was available to first-time buyers only. I haven’t heard whether extending the duration of the program is part of this effort (currently expires November 30) but one would think they’d go through 2010 if this speculation is accurate.
Have a great day!
Brent Vondera, Senior Analyst
Monday, August 24, 2009
Fixed Income Recap
Yields jumped 10 basis points or more across the Treasury curve as better than expected existing home sales data drove investors out of the safety trade. New home buyers rushing to make the November 30 cutoff for the $8000 credit and foreclosure sales helped boost the number that posted a 7.4% increase in July, its 4th straight monthly increase.
Before Friday, yields had been steadily creeping to the lower end of the current range – helped by positive news on the supply front and increased Treasury demand from overseas. Bernanke’s comments also reaffirmed the FOMC’s decision to slow down and bring to an end the Treasury purchasing program, saying again that, “Economic activity appears to be leveling out”. The implementation of QE by the Fed was a true crisis decision, so its unwinding should be seen as a response to improvements in the credit markets, not necessarily an immediate rebound in economic growth.
Cliff J. Reynolds Jr., Investment Analyst
Before Friday, yields had been steadily creeping to the lower end of the current range – helped by positive news on the supply front and increased Treasury demand from overseas. Bernanke’s comments also reaffirmed the FOMC’s decision to slow down and bring to an end the Treasury purchasing program, saying again that, “Economic activity appears to be leveling out”. The implementation of QE by the Fed was a true crisis decision, so its unwinding should be seen as a response to improvements in the credit markets, not necessarily an immediate rebound in economic growth.
Cliff J. Reynolds Jr., Investment Analyst
Daily Insight
U.S. stocks rallied on Friday as existing home sales rose for a fourth-straight month and Fed Chairman Bernanke stated “fears of financial collapse have receded substantially.” The move in equity prices pushed the broad market higher by 2.20% for the week. The S&P 500 has jumped nearly 17% over the past six weeks.
Friday’s housing data pushed existing home sales higher by 5% from the year-ago period, the first year-over-year gain since November 2005. One wonders what happens to housing again when the tax credit for first-time homebuyers expires in December and interest rates begin even a mild rise, but the market isn’t interested in such thoughts right now.
On the Bernanke comments, I can’t say it surprises me to see traders push stocks higher on his comments, but the move, if it was actually on those comments, doesn’t make much sense as the preponderant reason for most of the surge from the depths in March is because the “Armageddon” scenario has been removed – the market has already priced in this assumption.
This massive rally since the March 9 low has pushed to 54% now. Back in early March just five of the S&P 500 members traded above their 200-day moving average. In a matter of just six months, 457 of the 500 members now trade above their 200-day, according to David Singer. The entire index trades 18% above its 200-day MA, which is double its premium when stocks hit their all-time highs back in the summer of 2007.
Market Activity for August 21, 2009
Existing Home Sales
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that existing home sales jumped 7.2% in July to 5.24 million units at an annual rate. When we separate single-family units from the data, sales were up 6.5% to 4.6 million units at an annual pace – this marks the fourth-straight month of increase off of the 12-year low.
The median price for an existing home fell 2% in July to $178,400 and is down 15% from a year ago -- still ugly, but up from the cycle low of 17.5% in January.
As a result of the sales pick up, the inventory of existing-home supply relative to sales fell to 8.6 months worth of supply, from 8.9 in June. The move from extreme elevation at the end of last year is very welcome, but the current level remains heightened – a number below seven months of supply is consistent with price stability, according to NAR.
This is all good news, but the stock market is pricing in too much optimism in my view. Homes sales are being driven by foreclosure-related price declines (31% of July sales were from foreclosed or distressed properties), tax credits for first-time buyers and mortgage rates that are being artificially held low by the Fed’s mortgage-backed purchases.
Certainly, there is nothing wrong with the sales from the foreclosure-driven price declines; this is the market at work. But the tax credits will expire in three months and the Fed cannot keep buying mortgage securities (pushing the prices higher and the yields lower) for long, at some point this quantitative easing must be reversed. It will be a while (maybe the end of 2010) before this reversal occurs, but I don’t think the labor market will have healed by then and just as their current action has pushed rates lower, the bounce back will be more pronounced as result of these decisions.
The question remains, what happens to home sales at that point? The market will be completely dependent upon labor-market conditions when these programs run out. I think this is something the market needs to begin thinking about.
Mortgage-Security Problems Persist
We put up a chart of mortgage delinquencies on Friday. That picture illustrated that 9.24% of the mortgage market is at least 30-days delinquent, up from 6.24% a year ago and the 30-year average of 4.97%. When you add in loans that are currently in the foreclosure process that number rises to 13.16%, the highest level ever recorded by the Mortgage Bankers Association – this gauge does not go back to the Great Depression, a period in which these figures were much worse.
I found the chart below also interesting. It shows the potential for pent up foreclosures, a situation at least partially due to states placing moratoriums on the foreclosure process. The rest is due to the damage seen within the labor market, exacerbated by too many homebuyers purchasing more home than they could truly afford.
I bring this to your attention after the WSJ ran a story on Friday explaining that banks (and they were talking about smaller banks) have a lot of bad securities in their trading accounts – mortgage-security pools (some with 40% delinquency rates). These positions will have to be written down and will consume some institutions’ entire capital positions.
This is worrisome, but there is one clear way to remedy the situation. We need default rates to substantially slow and real estate prices to rise -- a mild increase is all that is needed. For this we need a burgeoning economy, which will not occur under the current policy path. Instead, we must slash tax rates on labor income, dividends, corporate profits and capital returns; passing all free trade pacts that are currently being blocked by Congress would also be a huge plus. In addition, the implementation of current-year write-down allowance must be made, this will kick-start business spending (which is needed to fill the void from lower consumer activity).
Problem is, these types of policies don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of occurring right now and this is precisely why caution is required.
Week’s Data
We’ll be quiet today but it will be a big week for economic data releases.
Tomorrow we get two major home prices indices, consumer confidence and another regional manufacturing survey. On Wednesday, we’ll receive durable goods orders for July and new home sales. Thursday will bring the first revision to Q2 GDP and initial jobless claims. We’ll round it out on Friday with the personal income and spending figures.
Have a great day!
Brent Vondera, Senior Analyst
Friday’s housing data pushed existing home sales higher by 5% from the year-ago period, the first year-over-year gain since November 2005. One wonders what happens to housing again when the tax credit for first-time homebuyers expires in December and interest rates begin even a mild rise, but the market isn’t interested in such thoughts right now.
On the Bernanke comments, I can’t say it surprises me to see traders push stocks higher on his comments, but the move, if it was actually on those comments, doesn’t make much sense as the preponderant reason for most of the surge from the depths in March is because the “Armageddon” scenario has been removed – the market has already priced in this assumption.
This massive rally since the March 9 low has pushed to 54% now. Back in early March just five of the S&P 500 members traded above their 200-day moving average. In a matter of just six months, 457 of the 500 members now trade above their 200-day, according to David Singer. The entire index trades 18% above its 200-day MA, which is double its premium when stocks hit their all-time highs back in the summer of 2007.
Market Activity for August 21, 2009
Existing Home SalesThe National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that existing home sales jumped 7.2% in July to 5.24 million units at an annual rate. When we separate single-family units from the data, sales were up 6.5% to 4.6 million units at an annual pace – this marks the fourth-straight month of increase off of the 12-year low.
The median price for an existing home fell 2% in July to $178,400 and is down 15% from a year ago -- still ugly, but up from the cycle low of 17.5% in January.As a result of the sales pick up, the inventory of existing-home supply relative to sales fell to 8.6 months worth of supply, from 8.9 in June. The move from extreme elevation at the end of last year is very welcome, but the current level remains heightened – a number below seven months of supply is consistent with price stability, according to NAR.This is all good news, but the stock market is pricing in too much optimism in my view. Homes sales are being driven by foreclosure-related price declines (31% of July sales were from foreclosed or distressed properties), tax credits for first-time buyers and mortgage rates that are being artificially held low by the Fed’s mortgage-backed purchases.Certainly, there is nothing wrong with the sales from the foreclosure-driven price declines; this is the market at work. But the tax credits will expire in three months and the Fed cannot keep buying mortgage securities (pushing the prices higher and the yields lower) for long, at some point this quantitative easing must be reversed. It will be a while (maybe the end of 2010) before this reversal occurs, but I don’t think the labor market will have healed by then and just as their current action has pushed rates lower, the bounce back will be more pronounced as result of these decisions.
The question remains, what happens to home sales at that point? The market will be completely dependent upon labor-market conditions when these programs run out. I think this is something the market needs to begin thinking about.
Mortgage-Security Problems Persist
We put up a chart of mortgage delinquencies on Friday. That picture illustrated that 9.24% of the mortgage market is at least 30-days delinquent, up from 6.24% a year ago and the 30-year average of 4.97%. When you add in loans that are currently in the foreclosure process that number rises to 13.16%, the highest level ever recorded by the Mortgage Bankers Association – this gauge does not go back to the Great Depression, a period in which these figures were much worse.
I found the chart below also interesting. It shows the potential for pent up foreclosures, a situation at least partially due to states placing moratoriums on the foreclosure process. The rest is due to the damage seen within the labor market, exacerbated by too many homebuyers purchasing more home than they could truly afford.
I bring this to your attention after the WSJ ran a story on Friday explaining that banks (and they were talking about smaller banks) have a lot of bad securities in their trading accounts – mortgage-security pools (some with 40% delinquency rates). These positions will have to be written down and will consume some institutions’ entire capital positions.This is worrisome, but there is one clear way to remedy the situation. We need default rates to substantially slow and real estate prices to rise -- a mild increase is all that is needed. For this we need a burgeoning economy, which will not occur under the current policy path. Instead, we must slash tax rates on labor income, dividends, corporate profits and capital returns; passing all free trade pacts that are currently being blocked by Congress would also be a huge plus. In addition, the implementation of current-year write-down allowance must be made, this will kick-start business spending (which is needed to fill the void from lower consumer activity).
Problem is, these types of policies don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of occurring right now and this is precisely why caution is required.
Week’s Data
We’ll be quiet today but it will be a big week for economic data releases.
Tomorrow we get two major home prices indices, consumer confidence and another regional manufacturing survey. On Wednesday, we’ll receive durable goods orders for July and new home sales. Thursday will bring the first revision to Q2 GDP and initial jobless claims. We’ll round it out on Friday with the personal income and spending figures.
Have a great day!
Brent Vondera, Senior Analyst
Friday, August 21, 2009
Quick Hits
- What Would Charles Dow and Edward Jones Think?
- FDIC Seeks to Attract More Buyers of Banks
- Citigroup Shares: Treasury is up Almost $10 Billion Since Conversion
- Pump up the Volume: We Know it’s August, But C’mon
- Did Chuck Do His Job?
- An American Way to Economic Stimulus
- Is Nouriel Roubini a False Prophet?
Eli Lilly (LLY) will eventually cut their dividend
Eli Lilly (LLY) has shut down the development of experimental bone drug aroxifene, one of their most promising new treatments, after a five-year study found the drug didn’t reduce nonspinal fractures or cardiovascular events or improve cognition. The study also found that the drug increased the risk of blood clots, hot flashes, and “gynecological-related events.”
The drug was in the final stages of testing and Lilly had hoped to start selling it in 2010. Lilly said it will take a three or four cent charge to third quarter EPS related to the drug’s development, but the company reiterated its previous 2009 earnings forecast.
Another pipeline failure makes Lilly’s patent cliff, the biggest in the industry, seem all the more concerning. The drug was not expected to be a blockbuster, so the news has not significantly impacted shares, but management was long bullish on this product which exposes the company’s difficulties in navigating the industry’s largest patent cliff.
The weakening pipeline increases pressure for a transformative deal that can help support its revenues as the Phase II pipeline opportunities are limited. There are high hopes for Effient to become a blockbuster, but enthusiasm for the drug will be tested on August 30 when competitor data from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) and StraZeneca (AZN) will be released.
Using 2010 earnings estimates, Lilly trades at a 36% discount to the healthcare sector, which is already at a 27% discount to the S&P 500. Despite the nearly 6% dividend yield, the company’s payout ratio is over 1.0, which means they are paying out more than they are earning. Toss in a debt-to-equity ratio of just over 90% and the increasingly likelihood of a major acquisition, and it becomes impossible to believe that Lilly can maintain their attractive dividend payment.
There isn’t much to be excited about in the near-term for Eli Lilly investors. I expect Lilly to announce a cut to their dividend the day that they make an acquisition if not sooner. Even an acquisition will bring some new integration risks to the table. The company will need to show that it can more effectively utilize their equity base to offer a better return to its investors and better employ the company’s assets to become more profitable before I become interested.
--
Peter J. Lazaroff, Investment Analyst
The drug was in the final stages of testing and Lilly had hoped to start selling it in 2010. Lilly said it will take a three or four cent charge to third quarter EPS related to the drug’s development, but the company reiterated its previous 2009 earnings forecast.
Another pipeline failure makes Lilly’s patent cliff, the biggest in the industry, seem all the more concerning. The drug was not expected to be a blockbuster, so the news has not significantly impacted shares, but management was long bullish on this product which exposes the company’s difficulties in navigating the industry’s largest patent cliff.
The weakening pipeline increases pressure for a transformative deal that can help support its revenues as the Phase II pipeline opportunities are limited. There are high hopes for Effient to become a blockbuster, but enthusiasm for the drug will be tested on August 30 when competitor data from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY) and StraZeneca (AZN) will be released.
Using 2010 earnings estimates, Lilly trades at a 36% discount to the healthcare sector, which is already at a 27% discount to the S&P 500. Despite the nearly 6% dividend yield, the company’s payout ratio is over 1.0, which means they are paying out more than they are earning. Toss in a debt-to-equity ratio of just over 90% and the increasingly likelihood of a major acquisition, and it becomes impossible to believe that Lilly can maintain their attractive dividend payment.
There isn’t much to be excited about in the near-term for Eli Lilly investors. I expect Lilly to announce a cut to their dividend the day that they make an acquisition if not sooner. Even an acquisition will bring some new integration risks to the table. The company will need to show that it can more effectively utilize their equity base to offer a better return to its investors and better employ the company’s assets to become more profitable before I become interested.
--
Peter J. Lazaroff, Investment Analyst
Fixed Income Recap
The curve moved flatter yesterday as large buyers bid up the long end of the curve, moving the yield on the 30-year to 4.243%, its lowest point since July 13th. Despite the move lower in yields on the 10- and 30-year, the 10-year breakeven yield widened out 8 basis points. It seems to me that the long end is trading with every macro factor in mind except inflation, while the TIPS market is focused entirely on expectation for higher consumer prices. The movement the past few days has created a disconnect between the two markets. I know I have concentrated on TIPS a lot this week so I will just leave it at that.
Next week’s supply was announced yesterday and will be just under what the street expected. The Treasury will auction $109 billion in 2-, 5- and 7-year notes, $2 billion less that the $111 billion expected. Bonds rallied on the better than expected supply news but the market still stands to face a few headwinds come next week. The auctions earlier this month were refunding auctions, meaning that the majority of bonds auctioned were just replacing ones that were maturing at the same time, meaning the “net new issuance” was small. That is not the case this week. These are for the most part new bonds that need to find new money. That, coupled with a short staffed street, creates the potential for higher clearing yields, lower bid/covers and longer tails to the current market. Next week may be a wild ride.
Cliff J. Reynolds Jr., Investment Analyst
Next week’s supply was announced yesterday and will be just under what the street expected. The Treasury will auction $109 billion in 2-, 5- and 7-year notes, $2 billion less that the $111 billion expected. Bonds rallied on the better than expected supply news but the market still stands to face a few headwinds come next week. The auctions earlier this month were refunding auctions, meaning that the majority of bonds auctioned were just replacing ones that were maturing at the same time, meaning the “net new issuance” was small. That is not the case this week. These are for the most part new bonds that need to find new money. That, coupled with a short staffed street, creates the potential for higher clearing yields, lower bid/covers and longer tails to the current market. Next week may be a wild ride.
Cliff J. Reynolds Jr., Investment Analyst
Daily Insight
U.S. stocks advanced on Thursday, pushing back above the 1000 mark on the S&P 500, as a good print from the Philadelphia-area manufacturing gauge and another rise in the leading economic indicators index offset a rise in jobless claims.
Financials led the rally after AIG’s CEO stated he believes the firm will be able to pay back the government. He didn’t give a timeline of course. AIG is on the hook for $182.5 billion and it is unlikely that the bailout money will be repaid in a decade, we’ll see.
Industrial and energy shares were also among the top performers on the news out of the Philly survey. All 10 major industry groups closed higher on the session.
Advancers beat decliners by a four-to-one margin on the NYSE, although volume remains weak with fewer than one billion shares traded on the Big Board. Yes, it’s late August, which is always a light-trading period, but these are below normal levels. This has been an issue with the latest leg of this rally as conviction doesn’t seem robust even though the market has shaken off most of the weak data days.
Market Activity for August 20, 2009
Jobless Claims
The Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims rose 15,000 to 576,000 in the week ended August 15. The previous week’s reading of 550K in initial claims was revised up to 561K. While the level of claims has come down from the 625K average during the first-half of the year, this range is still very high as the chart below illustrates.
This latest claims data coincides with the week the government collects its numbers for the August jobs report, so the boost in claims indicates we’ll see this month’s payroll losses exceed the July reading.
The four-week average of initial claims rose 4,250 to 570K.
Continuing claims rose marginally, up 2,000 to 6.241 million. This number too is nicely off of its peak, but remains extremely elevated. The decline from the apex of nearly 7 million in cont. claims appears to be due to the expiry of benefits rather than a new cycle of job creation – the latest monthly employment report showed jobs losses (while also off of their peak) continue at a level that is at the higher end of what is typically seen during the normal recession.
This chart of the exhaustion rate helps to illustrate the point that the decline in continuing claims is more a function of benefits running out rather than incipient job creation.
A measure of long-term unemployment, those that have been out of work for at least 27 weeks, is another indicator that continuing claims may rise again as jobless benefits are extended, which is coming.
I think it will be a few more months before monthly job losses become mild – by mild we mean less than 100K in monthly losses. We mentioned a few months ago that the job-market weakness will ease to levels that mirror the typical recession, and that appears to be occurring. But the labor market will remain rough for an extended period in my opinion and the unemployment rate will remain near double-digit territory. It takes 140K in monthly job creation to keep pace with population growth and keep the jobless rate from rising.
Leading Economic Indicators (LEI)
The index of leading economic indicators rose for a fourth-straight month for July, up 0.6% -- the expectation was for a rise of 0.7%.
This trend is a very nice sign, and surely many will view this recent rebound as a reason to believe the economy is on the mend. For sure, that notion is largely correct, things have improved markedly from the deep recessionary levels of late/2008-early/2009 but just as I cautioned last month, one has to be leery of putting too much credence in this reading this go around. And yes, things are different this time (heck, look at corporate bond spreads, a chart I’ve put up in prior letters, that remain at previous recessionary levels, even if much narrower than the “Armageddon” spreads of early this year, and this is even with massive government back-stopping within the credit markets – off on a bit of a tangent there but just wanted to point that out).
For instance, the three components of the LEI index that pushed that reading higher for July were the average workweek, jobless claims and Treasury interest-rate spreads.
On the workweek, when this rises it generally indicates job growth is not far behind, but I don’t think job creation is going to make a come back any time soon after what businesses have been through and their concern about the degree of the recovery. Additionally, average workweek rose in July but just barely (up six minutes per week) from the all-time low hit in June. If past is prologue, it takes about a ½ hour increase in the workweek before job creation begins to come back. This time, since we’re coming from an all-time low, it may take a full hour and at this rate that will take a while.
On jobless claims, as touched on above, the August data showed the reading remains extremely elevated and will probably hurt LEI’s August reading.
On interest-rate spreads, this is normally one of the best forward indicators. When the spread between the short and long ends of the Treasury curve widens, and it is very near record wides right now, it indicates that bank lending activity will roar. But this time is a bit different as the demand for loans is depressed due to consumer debt levels in the face of high joblessness and business caution (C&I loan activity continues to decline). Even the most favorable interest-rate dynamics for the banks, borrow near zero and lend at 5-6%, will not change the demand side – only time will fix this issue.
So the overall point is the market should be careful in interpreting this figure, getting too excited could set us up for a significant decline in stock prices if actual economic growth does not improve as directly as LEI appears to be suggesting. Besides, the surge in stock prices from the March lows, at least the back-half of this rally, seems to already price in the boost to GDP by year end due to the inventory dynamic.
Philly Fed
The Philly Fed survey, a gauge of factory activity within the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s region, hit positive territory for the first time in 11 months. The reading came in at 4.2 for August vs. the -7.5 for July and has improved massively from the deep contractionary levels of the fall of 2008 through the spring of 2009. The expectation was for the gauge to come in at -2.2, so beating that estimate and moving to expansion mode was big news.
The sub-indices showed nice improvement, although some remain in contraction mode. New orders rose to 4.2 from -2.2; shipments increased to 0.6 from -9.5; unfilled orders rose to -9.3 from -14.6; inventories hit 0.3 from -15.4 (the best news in this report as an increase in stockpiles illustrates at least some degree of confidence regarding the future; it snapped a streak of 22 months of decline); and the average workweek rose to -6.3 from -15.5.
All of the manufacturing figures are pointing higher, with Philly and Empire (the New York factory gauge) rebounding the most. The largest regional factory survey, the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index, remains in contraction mode, as does the nationwide ISM figure, but both are on their way to expansion.
I suspect they’ll hit expansion territory by the September readings, but the bounce may prove short-lived as “cash for clunkers” will boost auto production in a transitory manner. It all depends on the overall inventory dynamic. If firms boost stockpiles for a length of time that last a couple of quarters, it will offset what may be another round of auto production weakness by late/2009-early/2010. If the cautious mindset within the business community remains elevated, however, these factory gauges will retrench. Really too early to tell right now, but it is hardly a given that we’ll soon see a rebound that has the legs that is typical of the normal expansion.
(On the clunkers program, as you probably know, it will come to an end on Monday, I think it was originally planned to expire in November. The government can’t administer the program and dealerships are dropping out for fear they won’t get paid. The administration wants to pull the plug on this thing because it shines a light on the operational incompetence of government and does additional damage to their universal health-care agenda – if so, this is the best $3 billion the government has ever spent. Again, these are my opinions and not the firm’s)
Mortgage Delinquencies
No comment required, see chart.
Have a great weekend!
Brent Vondera, Senior Analyst
Financials led the rally after AIG’s CEO stated he believes the firm will be able to pay back the government. He didn’t give a timeline of course. AIG is on the hook for $182.5 billion and it is unlikely that the bailout money will be repaid in a decade, we’ll see.
Industrial and energy shares were also among the top performers on the news out of the Philly survey. All 10 major industry groups closed higher on the session.
Advancers beat decliners by a four-to-one margin on the NYSE, although volume remains weak with fewer than one billion shares traded on the Big Board. Yes, it’s late August, which is always a light-trading period, but these are below normal levels. This has been an issue with the latest leg of this rally as conviction doesn’t seem robust even though the market has shaken off most of the weak data days.
Market Activity for August 20, 2009
Jobless ClaimsThe Labor Department reported that initial jobless claims rose 15,000 to 576,000 in the week ended August 15. The previous week’s reading of 550K in initial claims was revised up to 561K. While the level of claims has come down from the 625K average during the first-half of the year, this range is still very high as the chart below illustrates.
This latest claims data coincides with the week the government collects its numbers for the August jobs report, so the boost in claims indicates we’ll see this month’s payroll losses exceed the July reading.
The four-week average of initial claims rose 4,250 to 570K.
Continuing claims rose marginally, up 2,000 to 6.241 million. This number too is nicely off of its peak, but remains extremely elevated. The decline from the apex of nearly 7 million in cont. claims appears to be due to the expiry of benefits rather than a new cycle of job creation – the latest monthly employment report showed jobs losses (while also off of their peak) continue at a level that is at the higher end of what is typically seen during the normal recession.This chart of the exhaustion rate helps to illustrate the point that the decline in continuing claims is more a function of benefits running out rather than incipient job creation.A measure of long-term unemployment, those that have been out of work for at least 27 weeks, is another indicator that continuing claims may rise again as jobless benefits are extended, which is coming.I think it will be a few more months before monthly job losses become mild – by mild we mean less than 100K in monthly losses. We mentioned a few months ago that the job-market weakness will ease to levels that mirror the typical recession, and that appears to be occurring. But the labor market will remain rough for an extended period in my opinion and the unemployment rate will remain near double-digit territory. It takes 140K in monthly job creation to keep pace with population growth and keep the jobless rate from rising.Leading Economic Indicators (LEI)
The index of leading economic indicators rose for a fourth-straight month for July, up 0.6% -- the expectation was for a rise of 0.7%.
This trend is a very nice sign, and surely many will view this recent rebound as a reason to believe the economy is on the mend. For sure, that notion is largely correct, things have improved markedly from the deep recessionary levels of late/2008-early/2009 but just as I cautioned last month, one has to be leery of putting too much credence in this reading this go around. And yes, things are different this time (heck, look at corporate bond spreads, a chart I’ve put up in prior letters, that remain at previous recessionary levels, even if much narrower than the “Armageddon” spreads of early this year, and this is even with massive government back-stopping within the credit markets – off on a bit of a tangent there but just wanted to point that out).
For instance, the three components of the LEI index that pushed that reading higher for July were the average workweek, jobless claims and Treasury interest-rate spreads.
On the workweek, when this rises it generally indicates job growth is not far behind, but I don’t think job creation is going to make a come back any time soon after what businesses have been through and their concern about the degree of the recovery. Additionally, average workweek rose in July but just barely (up six minutes per week) from the all-time low hit in June. If past is prologue, it takes about a ½ hour increase in the workweek before job creation begins to come back. This time, since we’re coming from an all-time low, it may take a full hour and at this rate that will take a while.
On jobless claims, as touched on above, the August data showed the reading remains extremely elevated and will probably hurt LEI’s August reading.
On interest-rate spreads, this is normally one of the best forward indicators. When the spread between the short and long ends of the Treasury curve widens, and it is very near record wides right now, it indicates that bank lending activity will roar. But this time is a bit different as the demand for loans is depressed due to consumer debt levels in the face of high joblessness and business caution (C&I loan activity continues to decline). Even the most favorable interest-rate dynamics for the banks, borrow near zero and lend at 5-6%, will not change the demand side – only time will fix this issue.
So the overall point is the market should be careful in interpreting this figure, getting too excited could set us up for a significant decline in stock prices if actual economic growth does not improve as directly as LEI appears to be suggesting. Besides, the surge in stock prices from the March lows, at least the back-half of this rally, seems to already price in the boost to GDP by year end due to the inventory dynamic.
Philly Fed
The Philly Fed survey, a gauge of factory activity within the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s region, hit positive territory for the first time in 11 months. The reading came in at 4.2 for August vs. the -7.5 for July and has improved massively from the deep contractionary levels of the fall of 2008 through the spring of 2009. The expectation was for the gauge to come in at -2.2, so beating that estimate and moving to expansion mode was big news.
The sub-indices showed nice improvement, although some remain in contraction mode. New orders rose to 4.2 from -2.2; shipments increased to 0.6 from -9.5; unfilled orders rose to -9.3 from -14.6; inventories hit 0.3 from -15.4 (the best news in this report as an increase in stockpiles illustrates at least some degree of confidence regarding the future; it snapped a streak of 22 months of decline); and the average workweek rose to -6.3 from -15.5.All of the manufacturing figures are pointing higher, with Philly and Empire (the New York factory gauge) rebounding the most. The largest regional factory survey, the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index, remains in contraction mode, as does the nationwide ISM figure, but both are on their way to expansion.
I suspect they’ll hit expansion territory by the September readings, but the bounce may prove short-lived as “cash for clunkers” will boost auto production in a transitory manner. It all depends on the overall inventory dynamic. If firms boost stockpiles for a length of time that last a couple of quarters, it will offset what may be another round of auto production weakness by late/2009-early/2010. If the cautious mindset within the business community remains elevated, however, these factory gauges will retrench. Really too early to tell right now, but it is hardly a given that we’ll soon see a rebound that has the legs that is typical of the normal expansion.
(On the clunkers program, as you probably know, it will come to an end on Monday, I think it was originally planned to expire in November. The government can’t administer the program and dealerships are dropping out for fear they won’t get paid. The administration wants to pull the plug on this thing because it shines a light on the operational incompetence of government and does additional damage to their universal health-care agenda – if so, this is the best $3 billion the government has ever spent. Again, these are my opinions and not the firm’s)
Mortgage Delinquencies
No comment required, see chart.
Have a great weekend!
Brent Vondera, Senior Analyst
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Daily Insight
U.S. stocks, after beginning the session lower following the sell-off overseas, rallied late in the morning session yesterday driven by energy and basic material shares as crude prices rallied. The broad market, as measured by the S&P 500, was able to hold onto most of that momentum to the close. The rise in Exxon and Chevron shares accounted for 33% of the Dow’s move on the day.
So, stocks and oil continue to move in tandem. A couple of months back we talked about that at some point this relationship would turn to one that is inverse in nature as the market sees higher energy prices as just another ballast that will ground the consumer. Well, that hasn’t occurred yet but it’s a matter of time.
Most other commodity prices halted their early-session slide, a move lower that was fostered by fears of weakening demand in China. The reversal pushed most metals and agricultural prices to positive territory on the day.
(On China, even though their stimulus program is robust and specifically targeted to infrastructure projects, analysts are beginning to wonder if that economy can keep growth going at an appropriate pace despite weakness from the most powerful consumers in the world. Export-driven economies in Asia will have a rough time hitting growth levels that a 67% run up in the Shanghai Composite – occurring in five months time -- appeared to price in. China just does not yet have domestic consumer activity that is able to offset reduced U.S. consumer purchases and the 20% decline in that index over the past couple of weeks seemed to be acknowledging that reality. Nevertheless, the Shanghai Composite bounced back last night after Chinese regulators allowed initial public offerings after a nine-month moratorium. That’s what is being reported as the cause for last night’s rally. No one really actually knows as it’s a highly volatile market, sometimes pushed up or down due to cultural superstitions.)
Back in the U.S., there was also speculation that the government will announce an additional stimulus package on top of the $787 billion monstrosity that is currently in play and some pointed to this talk as having an effect on the market’s turnaround. I can’t believe this speculation has much merit considering the uproar that’s begun over current levels of government spending.
Eight of the 10 major industry groups gained ground on the session, financial and industry shares were the laggards.
Market Activity for August 19, 2009
Mortgage Applications
The Mortgage Bankers Association released its weekly mortgage apps index yesterday, which showed a 5.6% rise for the week ended August 14 after a 3.5% decline in the prior week. Refinancing activity led the index higher as refis rose 6.9% after falling 7.2% in the week ended August 7. Purchases, which make up a little less than half of the index right now, also increased, up 3.9% for the week.
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell back to 5.15% last week (from 5.37% in the week of August 7) and one would have expected a bit more of pop in the index at this low level of interest – the 30-year mortgage rate has averaged 5.26% over the past month, yet the mortgage apps index is up just 0.2% for the past four weeks. The weak job market is certainly weighing on things.
On Friday we get the actually existing home sales figures for July. There’s roughly a 4-6 week lag between contract closings (the point at which existing home sales are recorded) and applications. Home purchases, as measured by the mortgage apps index, rose about 7% in late-May/June. Pending home sales, an additional figure, rose 3.6% in June. So both of these readings point to an existing home sales number that should rise nicely, that is if contracts didn’t fall apart sometime in the process. Considering the pace of job losses (even if off of their very deep monthly declines) there’s an outsized chance of contract cancelations.
Crude
Oil for September delivery rose back above $72 per barrel after the weekly Energy Department report showed crude stockpiles declined the most in more than a year, plunging 8.4 million barrels – a drop of 1.2 million was forecast.
The biggest factor in the inventory decline was a slide in imports, down 15% to 8.53 million barrels. That marks the largest drop since last September when Hurricanes Ike and Gustav hit the Gulf coast, shutting down the ports. The reason for the reduction in imports was due to nervousness among refiners over the outlook for gasoline demand so they reduced purchases, according Energy Security Analysis.
Nevertheless, crude inventories sit at 343.6 million barrels, which is roughly 6.5% above the five-year average of 320 million.
The Consumer
We’ve spent a good deal of time explaining that consumer activity as a percentage of GDP will move back to its historic average of 65% from the current 71% -- a level of consumer spending that was fostered by very easy credit conditions, a formerly low unemployment rate (averaged just 5.1% 2004-2008), solid real income gains and a wealth effect that steamed along as the stock market hit a record high in October 2007 and home prices were on a tear.
Now, however, all of this has changed as credit standards are tighter (and appropriately so), the jobless rate sits at a 26-year high, incomes are stagnant, and home and stock prices are well off of their peaks -- down 20% for homes on average and the S&P 500 is 36% below its apex, a reverse wealth effect. See chart below. (Household net worth will show some bounce due to the rally in stock prices, the figure will not be updated until we get the final revision to second-quarter GDP).
Certainly the inventory dynamic and massive government spending will offer some boost to the GDP figures a quarter out and this could last for three-four quarters. But the largest segment of the economy will continue to weigh on economic growth, that is just the reality.
The market needs to come to grips with this situation. And then, we’ll have to pay for the way the government has increased debt issuance via massive spending, and monetary policy that has also (even if the Fed really had no other choice) worked to hurt the dollar.
At the current level of interest rates, there is only one direction in which they will move over time. In addition, we’ll have tax rates on labor income, dividends, and capital returns moving higher by the end of 2010. In addition to that, many in Congress are talking about raising the Social Security tax wage base and implementing value-added taxes – talk about concrete boots. Slip the economy a mickey such as this and it will go back to sleep. We shouldn’t lose sight of these very likely headwinds; risk must be properly assessed even if the current level of interest rates encourages the opposite.
Have a great day!
Brent Vondera, Senior Analyst
So, stocks and oil continue to move in tandem. A couple of months back we talked about that at some point this relationship would turn to one that is inverse in nature as the market sees higher energy prices as just another ballast that will ground the consumer. Well, that hasn’t occurred yet but it’s a matter of time.Most other commodity prices halted their early-session slide, a move lower that was fostered by fears of weakening demand in China. The reversal pushed most metals and agricultural prices to positive territory on the day.
(On China, even though their stimulus program is robust and specifically targeted to infrastructure projects, analysts are beginning to wonder if that economy can keep growth going at an appropriate pace despite weakness from the most powerful consumers in the world. Export-driven economies in Asia will have a rough time hitting growth levels that a 67% run up in the Shanghai Composite – occurring in five months time -- appeared to price in. China just does not yet have domestic consumer activity that is able to offset reduced U.S. consumer purchases and the 20% decline in that index over the past couple of weeks seemed to be acknowledging that reality. Nevertheless, the Shanghai Composite bounced back last night after Chinese regulators allowed initial public offerings after a nine-month moratorium. That’s what is being reported as the cause for last night’s rally. No one really actually knows as it’s a highly volatile market, sometimes pushed up or down due to cultural superstitions.)
Back in the U.S., there was also speculation that the government will announce an additional stimulus package on top of the $787 billion monstrosity that is currently in play and some pointed to this talk as having an effect on the market’s turnaround. I can’t believe this speculation has much merit considering the uproar that’s begun over current levels of government spending.
Eight of the 10 major industry groups gained ground on the session, financial and industry shares were the laggards.
Market Activity for August 19, 2009
Mortgage ApplicationsThe Mortgage Bankers Association released its weekly mortgage apps index yesterday, which showed a 5.6% rise for the week ended August 14 after a 3.5% decline in the prior week. Refinancing activity led the index higher as refis rose 6.9% after falling 7.2% in the week ended August 7. Purchases, which make up a little less than half of the index right now, also increased, up 3.9% for the week.
The 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell back to 5.15% last week (from 5.37% in the week of August 7) and one would have expected a bit more of pop in the index at this low level of interest – the 30-year mortgage rate has averaged 5.26% over the past month, yet the mortgage apps index is up just 0.2% for the past four weeks. The weak job market is certainly weighing on things.
On Friday we get the actually existing home sales figures for July. There’s roughly a 4-6 week lag between contract closings (the point at which existing home sales are recorded) and applications. Home purchases, as measured by the mortgage apps index, rose about 7% in late-May/June. Pending home sales, an additional figure, rose 3.6% in June. So both of these readings point to an existing home sales number that should rise nicely, that is if contracts didn’t fall apart sometime in the process. Considering the pace of job losses (even if off of their very deep monthly declines) there’s an outsized chance of contract cancelations.Crude
Oil for September delivery rose back above $72 per barrel after the weekly Energy Department report showed crude stockpiles declined the most in more than a year, plunging 8.4 million barrels – a drop of 1.2 million was forecast.
The biggest factor in the inventory decline was a slide in imports, down 15% to 8.53 million barrels. That marks the largest drop since last September when Hurricanes Ike and Gustav hit the Gulf coast, shutting down the ports. The reason for the reduction in imports was due to nervousness among refiners over the outlook for gasoline demand so they reduced purchases, according Energy Security Analysis.
Nevertheless, crude inventories sit at 343.6 million barrels, which is roughly 6.5% above the five-year average of 320 million.
The ConsumerWe’ve spent a good deal of time explaining that consumer activity as a percentage of GDP will move back to its historic average of 65% from the current 71% -- a level of consumer spending that was fostered by very easy credit conditions, a formerly low unemployment rate (averaged just 5.1% 2004-2008), solid real income gains and a wealth effect that steamed along as the stock market hit a record high in October 2007 and home prices were on a tear.
Now, however, all of this has changed as credit standards are tighter (and appropriately so), the jobless rate sits at a 26-year high, incomes are stagnant, and home and stock prices are well off of their peaks -- down 20% for homes on average and the S&P 500 is 36% below its apex, a reverse wealth effect. See chart below. (Household net worth will show some bounce due to the rally in stock prices, the figure will not be updated until we get the final revision to second-quarter GDP).
Certainly the inventory dynamic and massive government spending will offer some boost to the GDP figures a quarter out and this could last for three-four quarters. But the largest segment of the economy will continue to weigh on economic growth, that is just the reality.The market needs to come to grips with this situation. And then, we’ll have to pay for the way the government has increased debt issuance via massive spending, and monetary policy that has also (even if the Fed really had no other choice) worked to hurt the dollar.
At the current level of interest rates, there is only one direction in which they will move over time. In addition, we’ll have tax rates on labor income, dividends, and capital returns moving higher by the end of 2010. In addition to that, many in Congress are talking about raising the Social Security tax wage base and implementing value-added taxes – talk about concrete boots. Slip the economy a mickey such as this and it will go back to sleep. We shouldn’t lose sight of these very likely headwinds; risk must be properly assessed even if the current level of interest rates encourages the opposite.
Have a great day!
Brent Vondera, Senior Analyst
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Strong service results and cost cutting lifts Hewlett Packard (HPQ)
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) reported fiscal third-quarter results that were largely in-line with expectations thanks strong performance from the services unit and effective cost management. The world’s largest PC maker suggested that business is beginning to stabilize and they expect to be an early beneficiary of an economic turnaround.
Revenue for the quarter declined 2% to $27.45 billion. Every business reported steep double-digit declines versus a year ago except the services unit, which increased revenues 93% from a year ago before it had acquired EDS. The way HPQ reports their service unit results makes it difficult to determine how the old EDS outsourcing business is performing, but the 15.2% operating profit is an encouraging sign.
Lower selling prices weighed on revenues in the PC unit as well as the servers and storage division, but strength in areas such as enterprise hardware spending suggest that corporate IT spending may have bottomed. Still concerning, however, are the printer and software businesses, both of which saw sales decline versus last year and last quarter.
Operating profits were mixed by business unit, with improvements in service’s operating margins offsetting declines from servers and PCs. The company generated nearly $4 billion in operating cash, a $500 million improvement from a year ago, as the company benefits from good management of its working capital, particularly inventory. The only red flag with HPQ’s cost cutting is that R&D is only 2.4% of sales, less than half the level five years ago and significantly less than rival IBM’s 6.2% of sales.
The shares declined today as near-term expectations had gotten a bit frothy for HPQ’s upside. Still, the company has successfully managed through the downturn and gained market share in the process. HPQ is trading at 11.5 times forward earnings, a 31% discount to the S&P 500.
--
Peter J. Lazaroff, Investment Analyst
Revenue for the quarter declined 2% to $27.45 billion. Every business reported steep double-digit declines versus a year ago except the services unit, which increased revenues 93% from a year ago before it had acquired EDS. The way HPQ reports their service unit results makes it difficult to determine how the old EDS outsourcing business is performing, but the 15.2% operating profit is an encouraging sign.
Lower selling prices weighed on revenues in the PC unit as well as the servers and storage division, but strength in areas such as enterprise hardware spending suggest that corporate IT spending may have bottomed. Still concerning, however, are the printer and software businesses, both of which saw sales decline versus last year and last quarter.
Operating profits were mixed by business unit, with improvements in service’s operating margins offsetting declines from servers and PCs. The company generated nearly $4 billion in operating cash, a $500 million improvement from a year ago, as the company benefits from good management of its working capital, particularly inventory. The only red flag with HPQ’s cost cutting is that R&D is only 2.4% of sales, less than half the level five years ago and significantly less than rival IBM’s 6.2% of sales.
The shares declined today as near-term expectations had gotten a bit frothy for HPQ’s upside. Still, the company has successfully managed through the downturn and gained market share in the process. HPQ is trading at 11.5 times forward earnings, a 31% discount to the S&P 500.
--
Peter J. Lazaroff, Investment Analyst
Fixed Income Recap
The recent trend of Treasuries inversely to stocks continued today as some positive retail earnings fueled an rally in equities that lead Treasury prices slightly down.
PPI Down… TIPS Rally?
A .9% month over month decline in the PPI for July was all but ignored by the market – the index was down 6.8% from July of 2008. Consensus was calling for a .3% decline MoM but yields moved higher across the curve despite the deflationary data, and TIPS outperformed nominal Treasuries by 62 basis points. There are a few possible reasons for the atypical TIPS behavior. One is that the market is looking past yesterday’s data, concentrating more on what is to come on the inflation front. Another reason could be energy fears tied to the storm activity in the Gulf of Mexico – oil was up 5% yesterday. 10-year breakevens widened by seven basis points in Monday trading.
Cliff J. Reynolds Jr., Investment Analyst
PPI Down… TIPS Rally?
A .9% month over month decline in the PPI for July was all but ignored by the market – the index was down 6.8% from July of 2008. Consensus was calling for a .3% decline MoM but yields moved higher across the curve despite the deflationary data, and TIPS outperformed nominal Treasuries by 62 basis points. There are a few possible reasons for the atypical TIPS behavior. One is that the market is looking past yesterday’s data, concentrating more on what is to come on the inflation front. Another reason could be energy fears tied to the storm activity in the Gulf of Mexico – oil was up 5% yesterday. 10-year breakevens widened by seven basis points in Monday trading.
Cliff J. Reynolds Jr., Investment Analyst
Daily Insight
U.S. stock indices gained back about half of Monday’s pullback on better-than-expected earnings out of Home Depot and a measure of European investor sentiment jumped to the highest reading in three years.
The news out of Home Depot turned futures around yesterday morning, although the results were only positive on a relative basis, as we pointed out in Monday’s letter – HD’s 2009 EPS guidance improved as the company now expects earnings to fall in a range of 15-20% vs. the prior forecast of a 20-26% decline; hardly a situation that should get anyone excited but it doesn’t seem to take much these days, my how things change when stocks are on the rise.
It was that European investor confidence reading that likely played a greater role in driving bids higher, specifically German investor confidence, as what is known as the ZEW index jumped well more than anticipated. The ZEW is a gauge that aims to predict economic prospects six months in advance. The figure rose to 56.1 for August from 39.1 in July. (The ZEW’s gauge of current economic conditions rose to -77.2 from -89.3 in July; to offer some perspective, the all-time low of -92.8 was hit in May. Needless to say, views about the current situation remain flimsy).
Market Activity for August 18, 2009
Housing Starts
The Commerce Department reported that housing starts fell 1% in July after a significant bounce during the previous two months – up 6.5% in June and 15% in May, which was off of the all-time low hit in April. Housing starts came in at 581,000 units at an annual pace last month from 587,000 units in June. The market was expecting starts to increase to 599K.
A decline in starts should be viewed as a good thing. While it is true that a rise in residential construction will help GDP in the short term, we don’t exactly need more supply within the housing market. Unfortunately, the decline came totally from the multi-family side of things, down 13.3% in July; single-family construction rose 1.7% after a 17.8% rise in June and a 5.4% increase in May.
I think the trading mentality within the stock market actually liked the pick up in single-family starts as the focus seems to be quite short-term in nature (and on this topic, just listen to how institutional money managers talk, they know this thing in short-lived based on a number of factors; they’re chasing this last hoorah before tax rates on capital returns rise and interest rates go higher – the bill to be paid for all of this fiscal stimulus, not to mention the increase in regulations to come).
But with the job market in the shape it is in, the most important factor with regard to home sales, we could be setting up for additional weakness in residential construction a few months out as the supply figures build from what are still elevated levels. Just as Chairman Bernanke explained in the spring, it takes GDP growth of 2.5% to keep the jobless rate constant. Odds are we won’t hit these levels of growth outside of one-two quarter pops as consumer activity heads back to it historic average. Thus, adding to home supply here will only delay the housing recovery.
Further, foreclosures remain a threat to supply. While a foreclosure-driven decline in prices does help sales, there are estimates that roughly $3.5 trillion worth of home properties are still at risk of default because the owners owe more than the property is worth. This is a double-edged sword that may also add to supply.
It would be much better to continue to allow for the inventory/sales ratio to keep heading south, we’ll be better off 12-18 months down the road
Housing permits, an indication for residential construction over the next few months, fell 1.8% in July after a 10% pop in June. Just as in housing starts, this decline in the permits data for July resulted from the multi-family side as permits for condos, townhouses and apartments fell 25.5%. Single-family permits rose 5.8%.
Producer Prices
On the inflation front, the Labor Department reported that the producer price index (PPI) fell a large 0.9% in July after a 1.8% rise in June. A 10% decline in the gasoline component was responsible for much of the move lower, but even the ex-energy reading dropped 0.4% last month. Basically residential gas and prescriptions were the only components to post an increase.
On a year-over-year basis, PPI posted its largest decline yet, down 6.8% as the figure is being compared to the height of last summer’s commodity-price spike that sent this inflation gauge to the highest level in 27 years. By November this trend will shift as the comparisons will be against flat to declining figures.
“Free to Choose” – never more insightful
Rose Friedman, wife of the late Milton Friedman, died yesterday at the age of 97. The two engaged in copious amounts of economic research and together authored one of the most seminal books of the last century, “Free to Choose.”
The work criticized interventionist government policies (explaining how it does damage to personal freedoms and prolongs economic downturns), explained inflation is not some Phillips Curve based phenomenon that is solely dependent upon a tight labor market but rather the result of rapid money supply growth, and that the welfare system creates “wards of the state” as opposed to “self-reliant individuals.”
Their work lives on.
Futures
We’re in another tug of war here, down Monday, up yesterday and futures are pointing to a lower open this morning. Stock indices are coming under pressure after the Shanghai Composite fell 4.30% last night. This puts the Chinese market down 20% over the past couple of weeks, right in bear market territory. Global stocks have pretty much followed the direction of the Shanghai Composite of late so we’ll see how U.S. markets react to this move in Chinese equities.
Have a great day!
Brent Vondera, Senior Analyst
The news out of Home Depot turned futures around yesterday morning, although the results were only positive on a relative basis, as we pointed out in Monday’s letter – HD’s 2009 EPS guidance improved as the company now expects earnings to fall in a range of 15-20% vs. the prior forecast of a 20-26% decline; hardly a situation that should get anyone excited but it doesn’t seem to take much these days, my how things change when stocks are on the rise.
It was that European investor confidence reading that likely played a greater role in driving bids higher, specifically German investor confidence, as what is known as the ZEW index jumped well more than anticipated. The ZEW is a gauge that aims to predict economic prospects six months in advance. The figure rose to 56.1 for August from 39.1 in July. (The ZEW’s gauge of current economic conditions rose to -77.2 from -89.3 in July; to offer some perspective, the all-time low of -92.8 was hit in May. Needless to say, views about the current situation remain flimsy).
Market Activity for August 18, 2009
Housing StartsThe Commerce Department reported that housing starts fell 1% in July after a significant bounce during the previous two months – up 6.5% in June and 15% in May, which was off of the all-time low hit in April. Housing starts came in at 581,000 units at an annual pace last month from 587,000 units in June. The market was expecting starts to increase to 599K.
A decline in starts should be viewed as a good thing. While it is true that a rise in residential construction will help GDP in the short term, we don’t exactly need more supply within the housing market. Unfortunately, the decline came totally from the multi-family side of things, down 13.3% in July; single-family construction rose 1.7% after a 17.8% rise in June and a 5.4% increase in May.I think the trading mentality within the stock market actually liked the pick up in single-family starts as the focus seems to be quite short-term in nature (and on this topic, just listen to how institutional money managers talk, they know this thing in short-lived based on a number of factors; they’re chasing this last hoorah before tax rates on capital returns rise and interest rates go higher – the bill to be paid for all of this fiscal stimulus, not to mention the increase in regulations to come).But with the job market in the shape it is in, the most important factor with regard to home sales, we could be setting up for additional weakness in residential construction a few months out as the supply figures build from what are still elevated levels. Just as Chairman Bernanke explained in the spring, it takes GDP growth of 2.5% to keep the jobless rate constant. Odds are we won’t hit these levels of growth outside of one-two quarter pops as consumer activity heads back to it historic average. Thus, adding to home supply here will only delay the housing recovery.
Further, foreclosures remain a threat to supply. While a foreclosure-driven decline in prices does help sales, there are estimates that roughly $3.5 trillion worth of home properties are still at risk of default because the owners owe more than the property is worth. This is a double-edged sword that may also add to supply.
It would be much better to continue to allow for the inventory/sales ratio to keep heading south, we’ll be better off 12-18 months down the road
Housing permits, an indication for residential construction over the next few months, fell 1.8% in July after a 10% pop in June. Just as in housing starts, this decline in the permits data for July resulted from the multi-family side as permits for condos, townhouses and apartments fell 25.5%. Single-family permits rose 5.8%.Producer Prices
On the inflation front, the Labor Department reported that the producer price index (PPI) fell a large 0.9% in July after a 1.8% rise in June. A 10% decline in the gasoline component was responsible for much of the move lower, but even the ex-energy reading dropped 0.4% last month. Basically residential gas and prescriptions were the only components to post an increase.
On a year-over-year basis, PPI posted its largest decline yet, down 6.8% as the figure is being compared to the height of last summer’s commodity-price spike that sent this inflation gauge to the highest level in 27 years. By November this trend will shift as the comparisons will be against flat to declining figures.
“Free to Choose” – never more insightful
Rose Friedman, wife of the late Milton Friedman, died yesterday at the age of 97. The two engaged in copious amounts of economic research and together authored one of the most seminal books of the last century, “Free to Choose.”
The work criticized interventionist government policies (explaining how it does damage to personal freedoms and prolongs economic downturns), explained inflation is not some Phillips Curve based phenomenon that is solely dependent upon a tight labor market but rather the result of rapid money supply growth, and that the welfare system creates “wards of the state” as opposed to “self-reliant individuals.”
Their work lives on.
Futures
We’re in another tug of war here, down Monday, up yesterday and futures are pointing to a lower open this morning. Stock indices are coming under pressure after the Shanghai Composite fell 4.30% last night. This puts the Chinese market down 20% over the past couple of weeks, right in bear market territory. Global stocks have pretty much followed the direction of the Shanghai Composite of late so we’ll see how U.S. markets react to this move in Chinese equities.
Have a great day!
Brent Vondera, Senior Analyst
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Fixed Income Recap
A broad selloff in stocks led to a stronger bond market as the curve was pancaked flatter to 245.8 bps, 6 bps lower on the day. Rates have moved to their lowest point since the end of July, thanks in part to strong Treasury auctions last week, but primarily because of reversal in sentiment over the past 2 weeks or so.
A Treasury market fixated on stocks is a positive for a market that has been looking at every auction with a magnifying glass worried to death that US debt buyers are vanishing. So now that fundamentals are back as the main driver of the market – at least for now – volatility may have a chance to ease a bit. We’ll see how long it lasts.
TALF Extended
In a joint statement with the Treasury, The Federal Reserve announced the extension of the TALF program for newly issued Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities to June 30, 2010. The reason behind the switch is that CMBS deals typically take longer to originate than other TALF eligible collateral such as small business and credit card loans. This extension does not widen the scope of what is considered TALF eligible, although many think that residential mortgages are the logical next step. The Fed Agency MBS purchasing program has been effective at propping up the secondary market for securitized conventional mortgages, but the secondary market for prime jumbo, Alt-A and Sub-Prime mortgages continues to be very illiquid. The question Bernanke is asking himself is, “How much is too much?”
Cliff J. Reynolds Jr., Investment Analyst
TALF Extended
In a joint statement with the Treasury, The Federal Reserve announced the extension of the TALF program for newly issued Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities to June 30, 2010. The reason behind the switch is that CMBS deals typically take longer to originate than other TALF eligible collateral such as small business and credit card loans. This extension does not widen the scope of what is considered TALF eligible, although many think that residential mortgages are the logical next step. The Fed Agency MBS purchasing program has been effective at propping up the secondary market for securitized conventional mortgages, but the secondary market for prime jumbo, Alt-A and Sub-Prime mortgages continues to be very illiquid. The question Bernanke is asking himself is, “How much is too much?”
Cliff J. Reynolds Jr., Investment Analyst
Daily Insight
U.S. stocks endured a broad-based decline on Monday, despite good economic prints on the day, as fear spread that the global economy will remain weaker than expected.
U.S. market sentiment took a hit after the Asian markets dealt with their most pronounced weakness in several months the night before, and the pessimism extended into the official trading session. It will be interesting to watch if buying comes back in after a 5%-10% move lower (if that even occurs yet – there seems to be an awful lot of people waiting for any pullback as a chance to get back in) or we retrench in a more substantive manner after the 52% surge off of the nefarious March 9 low of 666 on the S&P 500.
Indeed, headlines touching on the possibility that stock markets have gotten ahead of economic realities have abounded over the past week after the latest retail sales report showed the “cash for clunkers” spurred bounce in auto sales was not even enough to lift overall sales. A consumer that will need to reduce debt levels as the unemployment rate sits at a 26-year high and incomes remain stagnate for an extended period is a major concern for economic growth prospects.
Health-care stocks were the best performing group on the session as full-blown single-payer healthcare appears dead, for now. The grassroots-driven assault on this treacherous agenda is the best news I’ve seen in nine months. For the record, these comments are purely my own and I do not speak for the firm in this regard.
Financials led all major industry groups to the downside as 30-day credit-card delinquencies remained high. The 30-day delinquency rate did increase at a slower pace (4.2% in July vs. 4.4% in June at AmEx; 8.43% vs. 8.75% at Discover; 13.81% vs. 13.86% at Bank of America) but not enough to help the bank stocks.
Market Activity for August 17, 2009
Empire Manufacturing
New York–area factory activity, as measured by the Empire Manufacturing index, posted some really nice numbers on Monday. The overall index jumped to 12.08 for August after basically flat-lining in July and enduring 15 months of decline.
Among the survey’s sub-indices: New orders moved to 13.83 from 10.42. Shipments came in at 14.11 from 10.97. Delivery times fell at a lower rate, -10.64 vs. -14.58. The average workweek declined at a softer pace as well, -6.38 vs. -19.79 in July.
We should see the factory gauges pick up steam, and the broad ISM figure will even make it to expansion mode, as auto production picks up and that overall inventory dynamic we’ve talked about for a couple of months now eventually occurs. But it may very well slip again after a few months of increase as the car subsidizations expire in December. This is also true for consumer activity as the big rebound in auto sales adds to debt levels and borrows from future spending.
Treasury Inflow Capital (TIC) Report
Longer-term Treasury market inflows for June, a report that is always two months in arrears, showed net foreign inflows rose $90 billion (much greater than the $17.5 billion increase that was expected). Sponsorship in the Treasury market remains very good, as is evident via the very low interest-rate environment (higher bonds prices mean lower yields as the two are inversely related).
Although on the short-term side, inflows into T-bills fell $11 billion in June – maybe a portent of things to come as we look out a couple of quarters.
At some point, it is difficult to see demand for Treasury securities continuing at this pace absent some major geopolitical event or other situation that keeps the safety trade rolling. When the global market is no longer willing to purchase U.S. government bonds at yields of just 1% (on the 2-yr Treasury) to 4.35% (on the 30-year) as investors and governments demand higher protection against future inflation, these inflows will slow substantially. And speaking of dollar-denominated assets…
The Dollar
The greenback rallied yesterday, which is the trend these days when the equity market’s sell off – it’s all about the safety trade, even if that trade is defined differently today with economic “Armageddon” behind us now.
(And on this topic of severe economic weakness, I found a comment from Holman Jenkins in yesterday’s WSJ editorial page apropos to the current environment: “Recall that the deepest damage in the 1930s was not done by a misallocation of capital during the bubble years, but by the destructive political imperatives unleashed in the bubble’s aftermath.” This is certainly a concern that must be acknowledged as we look out over the next couple of years).
But back to the dollar, as we’ve discussed many times before, this is a rather disturbing trend. Under more sound scenarios, the dollar would rally on expectations regarding U.S. economic growth. The fact that the converse is in effect, that it takes a state of concern for the dollar to find a bid, is not a good sign for old green. When the bill for the way we’ve dealt with this credit-market led recession (higher tax rates and the move to higher interest rates – if this combination occurs it will cause the deplorable double dip) the dollar will endure a period of sustained weakness before rising again as those higher interest rates encourage the next phase of demand for dollar-denominated assets.
Fed Extends TALF
The Federal Reserve decided to extend the TALF (Term Asset Backed Loan Facility) for six months as the asset-backed and commercial mortgage-backed markets remain impaired. There is $165 billion in commercial loans that will have to be rolled this year and the Fed knows this will be an issue for the economy. The credit channels would remain very tight if not for government back-stopping and other assistance.
Funny how Bernanke & Co. waited a few days to announce this extension, it’s becoming a trend to omit this stuff from the FOMC meeting comments.
Futures
Stock-index futures are on the rise as I type, reversing early-morning weakness, as Home Depot’s earnings results beat expectations and management bumped its fiscal 2009 guidance. The company now believes adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations to be down in a range of 15%-20%, the prior forecast was for a decline of 20%-26%.
Have a great day!
Brent Vondera, Senior Analyst
U.S. market sentiment took a hit after the Asian markets dealt with their most pronounced weakness in several months the night before, and the pessimism extended into the official trading session. It will be interesting to watch if buying comes back in after a 5%-10% move lower (if that even occurs yet – there seems to be an awful lot of people waiting for any pullback as a chance to get back in) or we retrench in a more substantive manner after the 52% surge off of the nefarious March 9 low of 666 on the S&P 500.
Indeed, headlines touching on the possibility that stock markets have gotten ahead of economic realities have abounded over the past week after the latest retail sales report showed the “cash for clunkers” spurred bounce in auto sales was not even enough to lift overall sales. A consumer that will need to reduce debt levels as the unemployment rate sits at a 26-year high and incomes remain stagnate for an extended period is a major concern for economic growth prospects.
Health-care stocks were the best performing group on the session as full-blown single-payer healthcare appears dead, for now. The grassroots-driven assault on this treacherous agenda is the best news I’ve seen in nine months. For the record, these comments are purely my own and I do not speak for the firm in this regard.
Financials led all major industry groups to the downside as 30-day credit-card delinquencies remained high. The 30-day delinquency rate did increase at a slower pace (4.2% in July vs. 4.4% in June at AmEx; 8.43% vs. 8.75% at Discover; 13.81% vs. 13.86% at Bank of America) but not enough to help the bank stocks.
Market Activity for August 17, 2009
Empire ManufacturingNew York–area factory activity, as measured by the Empire Manufacturing index, posted some really nice numbers on Monday. The overall index jumped to 12.08 for August after basically flat-lining in July and enduring 15 months of decline.
Among the survey’s sub-indices: New orders moved to 13.83 from 10.42. Shipments came in at 14.11 from 10.97. Delivery times fell at a lower rate, -10.64 vs. -14.58. The average workweek declined at a softer pace as well, -6.38 vs. -19.79 in July.We should see the factory gauges pick up steam, and the broad ISM figure will even make it to expansion mode, as auto production picks up and that overall inventory dynamic we’ve talked about for a couple of months now eventually occurs. But it may very well slip again after a few months of increase as the car subsidizations expire in December. This is also true for consumer activity as the big rebound in auto sales adds to debt levels and borrows from future spending.
Treasury Inflow Capital (TIC) Report
Longer-term Treasury market inflows for June, a report that is always two months in arrears, showed net foreign inflows rose $90 billion (much greater than the $17.5 billion increase that was expected). Sponsorship in the Treasury market remains very good, as is evident via the very low interest-rate environment (higher bonds prices mean lower yields as the two are inversely related).
Although on the short-term side, inflows into T-bills fell $11 billion in June – maybe a portent of things to come as we look out a couple of quarters.
At some point, it is difficult to see demand for Treasury securities continuing at this pace absent some major geopolitical event or other situation that keeps the safety trade rolling. When the global market is no longer willing to purchase U.S. government bonds at yields of just 1% (on the 2-yr Treasury) to 4.35% (on the 30-year) as investors and governments demand higher protection against future inflation, these inflows will slow substantially. And speaking of dollar-denominated assets…
The Dollar
The greenback rallied yesterday, which is the trend these days when the equity market’s sell off – it’s all about the safety trade, even if that trade is defined differently today with economic “Armageddon” behind us now.
(And on this topic of severe economic weakness, I found a comment from Holman Jenkins in yesterday’s WSJ editorial page apropos to the current environment: “Recall that the deepest damage in the 1930s was not done by a misallocation of capital during the bubble years, but by the destructive political imperatives unleashed in the bubble’s aftermath.” This is certainly a concern that must be acknowledged as we look out over the next couple of years).
But back to the dollar, as we’ve discussed many times before, this is a rather disturbing trend. Under more sound scenarios, the dollar would rally on expectations regarding U.S. economic growth. The fact that the converse is in effect, that it takes a state of concern for the dollar to find a bid, is not a good sign for old green. When the bill for the way we’ve dealt with this credit-market led recession (higher tax rates and the move to higher interest rates – if this combination occurs it will cause the deplorable double dip) the dollar will endure a period of sustained weakness before rising again as those higher interest rates encourage the next phase of demand for dollar-denominated assets.
Fed Extends TALF
The Federal Reserve decided to extend the TALF (Term Asset Backed Loan Facility) for six months as the asset-backed and commercial mortgage-backed markets remain impaired. There is $165 billion in commercial loans that will have to be rolled this year and the Fed knows this will be an issue for the economy. The credit channels would remain very tight if not for government back-stopping and other assistance.
Funny how Bernanke & Co. waited a few days to announce this extension, it’s becoming a trend to omit this stuff from the FOMC meeting comments.
Futures
Stock-index futures are on the rise as I type, reversing early-morning weakness, as Home Depot’s earnings results beat expectations and management bumped its fiscal 2009 guidance. The company now believes adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations to be down in a range of 15%-20%, the prior forecast was for a decline of 20%-26%.
Have a great day!
Brent Vondera, Senior Analyst
Monday, August 17, 2009
Healthcare rises, everything else falls
In a day full of losses, the healthcare sector has managed to stay in positive territory. Managed healthcare providers such as WellPoint (WLP) and UnitedHealth Group (UNH) are providing the biggest boost to the sector as investors hope that a public option for health insurance is not an essential element of reform.
Also providing a boon to the healthcare sector are pharmaceuticals like Pfizer (PFE) and Merck (MRK) and healthcare service companies such as Express Scripts (ESRX) and Quest Diagnostics (DGX). The idea here is that any type of reform that extends healthcare to more people will increase demand for medical treatments, tests, and procedures.
Today's front page article in the Wall Street Journal details the shift in thinking on a national healthcare plan or a nonprofit health insurance cooperatives.
Over the past several months, insurance companies have been dragged down as investors worry that hospitals and doctors would charge private companies more to make up for being underpaid by a government plan. There are also concerns that a public plan would crowd out private options and, thus, lead to nationalized healthcare. A public or co-op plan poses the biggest threat to WellPoint, which operates Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in 14 states, since they would directly compete in selling individual health policies.
To me, it seems that there would be better ways to lower insurance costs than creating a government-run competitor. The first would be to create incentives for competition among insurance companies by allowing any company to compete in any state. Preventing free competition amongst insurers has certainly contributed to soaring premiums.
Implementing electronic medical records across the country is also a must. Although the cost is substantial, the investment would pay tremendous dividends. Aside from preventing duplicate procedures and costly treatment mistakes, electronic medical records would allow physicians to create and follow a set of “best practices.” “Best practices” would reduce costs by eliminating a physician’s incentive to order a more costly or frequent procedures. Following “best practices” also instills confidence in patients and deters those who seek out treatment regardless of having a legitimate need.
Another important implication of electronic medical records is that they could help identify people who abuse free visits to the E.R. or doctor’s office every time they get a runny nose. Identifying these people and charging them a higher premium could lead to decrease in unnecessary costs.
On a smaller scale, an increased focus on preventative care as well as price transparency would yield benefits and lower our healthcare costs.
--
Peter J. Lazaroff, Investment Analyst
Fixed Income Recap
Consumer prices, as defined by the seasonally adjusted Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, were unchanged in July and increased .1% ignoring food and energy. Although the data was in line with expectations, it reassured the market enough to spur buying in longer dated Treasuries – The 30-rallied a point and a half soon after the CPI release. TIPS underperformed comparable nominal coupon Treasuries on the CPI data as 10-year breakeven yields tightened by 8 bps from 1.81% to 1.73%. For new readers of the recap, breakevens are the difference between the yield on the nominal Treasury and the real yield on the TIPS of the same maturity. The difference in the yields is often used in the determination of inflation expectations over the life of the bonds, be it five, ten or twenty years. The Treasury has hinted at expanding TIPS issuance to the 30-year sector, which would give the market a new longer data point for breakevens.
Treasuries are on fire this morning, again with TIPS lagging behind, on weakness in stocks overseas. S&P futures are down 20 points with 45 minutes to go before the market opens. The ten-year is down just under three-quarters of a point to 3.49%.
Cliff J. Reynolds Jr., Investment Analyst
Treasuries are on fire this morning, again with TIPS lagging behind, on weakness in stocks overseas. S&P futures are down 20 points with 45 minutes to go before the market opens. The ten-year is down just under three-quarters of a point to 3.49%.
Cliff J. Reynolds Jr., Investment Analyst
Daily Insight
The S&P 500 posted its first weekly loss in five weeks as an unexpected drop in consumer confidence pushed equity markets lower on Friday. The weaker consumer confidence reading added to concerns that the fastest rally since 1938 has lifted stock valuations too far, too fast – the S&P 500 is currently valued at 18.5 times earnings, the highest level since December 2004. Because consumer spending accounts for about 70% of GDP, a sustainable recovery will be difficult if the consumer remains in the fetal position.
All ten sectors in the S&P 500 declined led by the inflation-sensitive materials, industrials, and energy sectors following reports that the cost of living in the U.S. was unchanged in July. Consumer discretionary shares also faced stiff pressure thanks to the disappointing consumer confidence reading that followed poor retail sales figures the day before.
Market Activity for August 14, 2009
Industrial Production
Industrial production rose for the first time since October 2008, primarily due to the cash for clunkers program which has helped the auto industry recover from sever production cutbacks earlier in the year. Still, excluding motor vehicles and parts, manufacturing climbed 0.2%. As a result of the increase, capacity utilization improved to 68.5% after touching a record-low 68.1% in June. As we have said many times before, depleted inventory levels make an eventual pickup in industrial production inevitable and this is one of the reasons many expect GDP will turn positive in the second half of the year.
Capacity rates gauge factories’ ability to produce goods with existing resources – lower rates reduce the risk of bottlenecks that can force prices higher. The average economy-wide capacity utilization rate in the U.S. since 1967 is about 81.6% according to the Federal Reserve. Rates between 82% and 85% signal price inflation will increase. At 68.5%, the capacity utilization rate does not support the argument that we are currently in an inflationary environment just yet, nor did the Consumer Price Index (CPI) reading.
Consumer Price Index (CPI)
The CPI index was unchanged in July, which matched expectations. The core rate, which excludes food and energy prices, rose just 0.1%. When compared with the same period last year, prices continue to show a deflationary trend – mainly due to the sharp fall in energy prices – as the headline rate fell 2.1%, but the core rate was up 1.5%. As a result, Ben Bernanke and company can put off addressing the weak dollar and inflation for the next few meetings. As long as inflation is restrained, the Fed can take its time in unwinding stimulus, without pressure to act before it feels the economy is ready to stand on its own.
Of course, it is important to note that the inflation data benefited from over a 50% decline in the price of oil compared to last year, and the August data will similarly enjoy a 35% decline in the CRB Index (the widely used benchmark for commodity prices) from a year ago. However, if we assume today’s prices, come December the CRB Index will be up 26%, and the price of oil will be up 100% come Christmas! How important are commodity prices in the CPI calculation? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the relative importance of commodities in the CPI index is 39.5%.
As you can see, inflation will become a bigger concern in late 2009 and early 2010, at which point the Fed will need to decide to either defend the dollar or allow inflation to rise above their target level of 2%. Raising rates would provide a real rate of return for savers, but could short-circuit this recovery. On the other hand, keeping rates low will allow the economy to grow, but will cause inflation and fuel America’s debt addiction. Both scenarios are unpleasant.
Monday morning futures are down
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are down 190 points as I type on concerns that stocks have gotten a bit ahead of themselves (echoing concerns I raised in last Monday’s post). The credit crisis left our financial system crippled and the government has taken on trillions in debt which will threaten the economy with inflation and higher tax rates. Meanwhile, recent economic data is showing that the consumer is not ready to spend as they contend with weak income growth and balance sheet issues.
A pullback is no real surprise at this point and is certainly no reason to panic. Most pullbacks since March have been short-lived as investors on the sidelines view the declines as an opportunity to buy in. There is no way to tell whether this trend will continue, so a patience and disciplined approach to investing remains essential.
Have a great day!
Peter J. Lazaroff, Investment Analyst
All ten sectors in the S&P 500 declined led by the inflation-sensitive materials, industrials, and energy sectors following reports that the cost of living in the U.S. was unchanged in July. Consumer discretionary shares also faced stiff pressure thanks to the disappointing consumer confidence reading that followed poor retail sales figures the day before.
Market Activity for August 14, 2009
Industrial ProductionIndustrial production rose for the first time since October 2008, primarily due to the cash for clunkers program which has helped the auto industry recover from sever production cutbacks earlier in the year. Still, excluding motor vehicles and parts, manufacturing climbed 0.2%. As a result of the increase, capacity utilization improved to 68.5% after touching a record-low 68.1% in June. As we have said many times before, depleted inventory levels make an eventual pickup in industrial production inevitable and this is one of the reasons many expect GDP will turn positive in the second half of the year.
Capacity rates gauge factories’ ability to produce goods with existing resources – lower rates reduce the risk of bottlenecks that can force prices higher. The average economy-wide capacity utilization rate in the U.S. since 1967 is about 81.6% according to the Federal Reserve. Rates between 82% and 85% signal price inflation will increase. At 68.5%, the capacity utilization rate does not support the argument that we are currently in an inflationary environment just yet, nor did the Consumer Price Index (CPI) reading.
Consumer Price Index (CPI)
The CPI index was unchanged in July, which matched expectations. The core rate, which excludes food and energy prices, rose just 0.1%. When compared with the same period last year, prices continue to show a deflationary trend – mainly due to the sharp fall in energy prices – as the headline rate fell 2.1%, but the core rate was up 1.5%. As a result, Ben Bernanke and company can put off addressing the weak dollar and inflation for the next few meetings. As long as inflation is restrained, the Fed can take its time in unwinding stimulus, without pressure to act before it feels the economy is ready to stand on its own.
Of course, it is important to note that the inflation data benefited from over a 50% decline in the price of oil compared to last year, and the August data will similarly enjoy a 35% decline in the CRB Index (the widely used benchmark for commodity prices) from a year ago. However, if we assume today’s prices, come December the CRB Index will be up 26%, and the price of oil will be up 100% come Christmas! How important are commodity prices in the CPI calculation? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the relative importance of commodities in the CPI index is 39.5%.
As you can see, inflation will become a bigger concern in late 2009 and early 2010, at which point the Fed will need to decide to either defend the dollar or allow inflation to rise above their target level of 2%. Raising rates would provide a real rate of return for savers, but could short-circuit this recovery. On the other hand, keeping rates low will allow the economy to grow, but will cause inflation and fuel America’s debt addiction. Both scenarios are unpleasant.
Monday morning futures are down
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average are down 190 points as I type on concerns that stocks have gotten a bit ahead of themselves (echoing concerns I raised in last Monday’s post). The credit crisis left our financial system crippled and the government has taken on trillions in debt which will threaten the economy with inflation and higher tax rates. Meanwhile, recent economic data is showing that the consumer is not ready to spend as they contend with weak income growth and balance sheet issues.
A pullback is no real surprise at this point and is certainly no reason to panic. Most pullbacks since March have been short-lived as investors on the sidelines view the declines as an opportunity to buy in. There is no way to tell whether this trend will continue, so a patience and disciplined approach to investing remains essential.
Have a great day!
Peter J. Lazaroff, Investment Analyst
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