The Economy Surprises Within the context of bleak economic data and civil unrest, stocks continued their advance this week going into Friday’s employment report. The numbers were expected to be grim with estimates of unemployment at nearly 20%. Instead, we saw 2.5 million jobs ADDED to the rolls in May and the jobless rate drop to 13.3%. That proved to be the green light for traders to jump in and take the DOW up almost 1000 points (+3.5%) and the…
Welcome to the New “Careful” Economy The stock market oozed more optimism this week as it shrugged off gloomy economic data while the major indexes advanced through important technical levels. This served to green-light traders and broaden the relief rally to even the most down-trodden of sectors. The catalyst was anticipation of a smooth reopening of the economy as many states eased restrictions on businesses and gatherings. We also saw evidence that many Americans are disregarding restrictions regardless of where…
A Week Light on News, Heavy on Speculation This week started off with Monday’s 3+% advance of stocks courtesy of headlines regarding the development of a vaccine and a pledge from the Fed of further stimulus. It was a week bereft of actual economic data and substantive news regarding testing or a vaccine. That left investors with shorter investment horizons to trade on the noise. That served to push the upper boundary of the current trading range a bit higher…
The Fed Delivers a Sobering Assessment This week the stock market took a step in a direction toward reconnecting with the longer term outlook for the economy. On Wednesday, Fed Chairman Powell offered that “the outlook for the recovery is highly uncertain and subject to significant downside risks.” He made that comment while addressing questions about how much more the Fed may have to do in deploying its resources if the recovery doesn’t appear as quickly as the market and…
A Disconnect between the Economy and the Stock Market For nearly 30 years we’ve preached, yes preached, that in the long run stock market performance will correlate with that of the economy. However, in the short-term the market often disconnects from the economic data and prices in factors that may or may not have an impact on the economy. That brings us to where we are today: Early in Q1 the public safety response to COVID-19 took the form of…
Competing Narratives Drive the Market Let’s sum up the trimester that’s drawing to a close. The S&P 500 peaked at a record high on Feb 19th. Courtesy of the COVID-19 event, we found ourselves almost 34% off that high on March 23, ending the record-long recovery bull market and officially logging the first bear market since the Great Recession of ’08-’09. Since that day, we’ve witnessed an unprecedented fiscal and monetary policy response to the crisis. There was little choice…
What a pleasant surprise. A large dose of good short term news this week has pushed the markets up nearly 12%, clearly extending the Relief Rally we mused we had seen in the few short sessions 2 weeks ago. News of cresting virus cases in hard hit areas such as New York and our own state of Washington among others helped considerably. In addition, a potential oil production cut worldwide seems to have been agreed upon in theory. This will…
The markets have spent the past several weeks making history. After hitting a record high on Feb 19, the S&P 500 closed 34% lower on March 23rd. Following that initial, dramatic selloff, we entered the relief rally phase of last week where panic subsided and volatility abated. This past week, the narrative surrounding the transmission of the virus was joined in the headlines by that of the first economic data flowing from the COVID-19 event. Predictably, it points to the…
Bottoming signs but not out of the woods… In the midst of the COVID-19 health crisis the economic crisis unfolds in parallel. The markets continue to pile up records both bad and good. Record volatility, fewest trading sessions to bear market, biggest 3 day loss… Biggest 3 day gain, etc. Whenever we face an economic crisis, one on such a scale that it leads markets to bear market territory we need fall back on some history to guide us as…
Events in the world are unfolding at a rapid pace as leaders scramble to address the threat of COVID-19 and its impact on economies. The turmoil in markets matches the level of uncertainty in all aspects. How long the shutdown lasts is not known and will be a key determinant in how the eventual rebound looks on the other side. We are watching closely, gathering data and making plans on how to navigate what comes our way with regard to…
