Implicit forward guidance on asset prices?
Outside Japan, global inflation measures have over the last 8 months been rising as fast as at any time in the previous 25 years on a headline basis. The US Fed has kept real interest rates much lower for much longer than in previous cycles and the orthodoxy in central bank circles still appears to be that interest rates should stay accommodative in order to avoid the risk of deflation with rates still close to zero. Keeping rates low as inflation and growth accelerates may feel pleasant for now but also runs the risk of Fed Chair Yellen’s “nasty surprise”.
Read more...Earnings Revisions: Waiting for upgrades?
Though global equities continue to benefit from significantly increased investor optimism, US and continental European earnings forecasts for 2017 have remained stubbornly static over the last 3 months. However, in the UK 2017 earnings estimates continue to move higher, tracking the decline in sterling and providing a degree of fundamental support for the FTSE100. For US and continental European equity markets, the increasing divergence between 2017 profits forecasts and their respective price performance, when added to the lack of valuation support, puts a question mark over how much further the rally can run.
Read more...Valuations trump noisy narratives: increased caution on global equities
Price/book valuations point to sub-par equity returns over the next 12m
Judging only by current equity market valuations, global equity investors are significantly more likely than usual to achieve only below average returns over the next 12 months, if prior correlations remain a guide to the future. Average price/book multiples for world equities are once again at peak levels, similar to those prevailing in 2007 and 2000, and this is reinforced by a similar picture for P/E ratios. We believe investors should factor in the possibility that broad equity market exposure may result in weak or negative returns and stock-pickers cannot rely on a tailwind of benign markets over the next 12m.
Read more...You can’t be given a bloody nose twice
The vote ‘no’ to Italian constitutional reform in this Sunday’s referendum has cost the Italian prime minister Renzi his job and perhaps thrown the Italian government into turmoil. Markets are however not in turmoil. The euro is close to unchanged, having fallen modestly after the referendum result. European equity markets are sharply higher this morning. While Italian 10y government bond yields have breached 2%, this increase in yields is notably less sharp than at the time of Trump’s election. Investors who panic sold after Trump and Brexit have been reconditioned (correctly in our view) to not immediately re-price risk on the back of specific political events.
Read more...Earnings revisions: Gap widens between U.S. equities and earnings forecasts
Though the bullishness is palpable, U.S. equity markets are not being driven higher by 2017 earnings forecasts, which have declined during November. In the absence of upgrades, we would now question how far the slogan of “Make America Great Again” can push U.S. equities. In the UK, market indices appear better supported as earnings forecasts are still increasing, even as the stock market has lagged. In Europe, in euro terms both the market and estimates have remained stable over the last quarter.
Read more...Forward guidance - Trump style
These are strange times in global markets. Trump’s election, previously feared as a universal negative for global markets, has been accompanied by remarkable strength in risk assets. We highlighted investor positioning as a factor last week but now question if there is there more to this rally? Could Trump’s fiscal policies represent a “whatever it takes” moment?
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