Inside The Stock Market ...trends, cross-currents, and outlook
Too Early For The Top?
January’s new breadth highs suggest new bull market price highs are likely some time in the next several months… but they can’t rule out a painful February.
Anatomy Of A Correction
While the current market setback of –5.8% doesn’t qualify as an intermediate correction, it’s close enough to the threshold to warrant a quick review of what such a correction—and the ensuing recovery—might look like.
High Correlations And Their Meaning
While our tongue-in-cheek “Correlation Of Everything” measure has retreated from record levels, it remains far above anything seen prior to 2010.
Stick With Strength
The industry price momentum effect - observable in data from the last several decades - has strongly reasserted itself in the last 18-24 months.
Consumer Discretionary: End Of The Run?
Last month we suggested the top sector for 2013 would fall from grace in 2014, and the Consumer Discretionary stocks have been quick to cooperate in the last five weeks.
Small Cap Update
Small Caps are close enough to a new relative strength high that it’s possible a final revision might be necessary before the Small Cap tide flows out.
A Forgettable “Bounce” Season
The last few innings of a cyclical bull market generally favor trend or momentum-oriented strategies, rather than mean-reverting ones like “Playing The Bounce."
The EM Value Trap?
EM valuations look cheap in a stock market world that otherwise doesn’t. But even their “cheapness” bothers us.
Emerging Market Currencies: January’s Panic Overdone
The emerging markets are in a much better financial position to weather any financial turmoil than they have been in the past.
The 2014 Outlook: More Volatility, But Ultimately An Up Year
Gains will likely be modest, and secondary stocks could finish the year flat-to-down. The year will likely be marred by a moderate to severe mid-year correction, and Small Caps could easily suffer a 20% hit during that swoon.
The Economy In 2014: Solid But Unspectacular
This year should be a solid but unspectacular one for the U.S. economy, with real GDP growth of about +2.5%. We expect the Consumer Price Index to rise just 1.5%. Unemployment should continue to fall.
Corporate Profits In 2014
Earnings growth over the next few years will—in the best case—be forced down to the rate of top-line growth (nominal GDP).
Stock Market Leadership In 2014: Large Caps, Tech, Health Care
Following a great year for trend-following, capitalizing on key reversals in sector performance will be important in winning the 2014 performance derby.
Commodities In 2014: Supply Remains A Concern
While gold garnered most of the headlines last year (down 27%), commodities performed badly across the board in 2013. We expect more of the same in 2014.
January Anomalies Revisited
The January Small Cap bounce effect ain’t what it used to be, but extrapolating the month’s market action for the next eleven months is a “less bad” idea than any other time of the year.
Buy The Bridesmaid, Not The One Looking To Rebound
The investment leadership of a given year has historically had better-than-even odds of outperforming in the following year at both the asset class and equity sector levels.
The Dreams & Nightmares Of 2013
For 25 years we’ve tracked hypothetical industry group portfolios comprised of the previous year’s “Dreams” (20 best performers) and “Nightmares” (20 worst performers).
Emerging Markets: Dismal 2013, Hopeful 2014
What worked, what didn’t; what you need to consider for investing in Emerging Markets this year.
Last Target Standing?
The inflation-adjusted all-time high for the S&P 500 is currently 2061, a figure we think will be just out of reach for 2014.
A Quick Technical Take
If a bear market is imminent, it will unfold with less “internal” forewarning than any cyclical decline since the late 1930s.