Wall Street Week Ahead for the trading week beginning December 18th, 2023

Discussion in 'Stock Market Today' started by bigbear0083, Dec 15, 2023.

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How do you see the SPX closing for the week of (12/18-12/22)?

Poll closed Dec 19, 2023.
  1. Up.

    66.7%
  2. Flat. (+/-0.50% or less)

    33.3%
  3. Down.

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. bigbear0083

    bigbear0083 Active Member

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    Welcome Stockaholics to the trading week of December 18th!


    This past week saw the following moves in the S&P:
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    S&P Sectors End of Week:
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    Major Indices End of Week:
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    Major Futures Markets End of Week:
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    Economic Calendar for the Week Ahead:
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    What to Watch in the Week Ahead:
    (N/A.)
     
    #1 bigbear0083, Dec 15, 2023
    Last edited: Dec 15, 2023
    stock1234 likes this.
  2. bigbear0083

    bigbear0083 Active Member

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    FedSpeak Pushes Back On Powell 'Pivot' Panic-Bid In Bonds & Stocks
    FRIDAY, DEC 15, 2023 - 04:00 PM

    Powell "pivoted" and everything exploded (bonds, stocks, rate-cut expectations, gold, oil, and crypto) as the dollar dumped.

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    The result was a $2 trillion rise in the value of US aggregate bonds and stocks in the last three days and over $7 trillion since the start of November (the prior FOMC)

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    Source: Bloomberg

    And world equity and bond markets added $4 trillion this week alone, and are up over $15 trillion since the November FOMC...

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    Source: Bloomberg

    It appears the exuberance was a little too much and three separate Fed heads were unleashed to tamp down the 'animal spirits'... and fight the Fed's dots.

    Just how excited?

    The market immediately priced-in almost 7 rate-cuts for 2024...

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    Source: Bloomberg

    The S&P 500 is up 7 weeks in a row - its longest winning streak in six years (Nov 2017)

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    49% of the S&P 500 members are 'overbought' after Powell and his pals "rang the bell" this week on rates. That is the most 'overbought' breadth since Feb 1991...

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    Source: Bloomberg

    And it only took 48 days for the small-cap Russell 2,000 to go from 52-week low to 52-week high; the shortest turnaround in the index’s 45+ year history...

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    Source: Bloomberg

    So Williams, Bostic, and Goolsbee were unleashed.

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    Fed's Williams sparked chaos early on by directly contradicting Chair Powell's uber-dovishness by saying that "we aren't really talking about rate cuts right now."

    "I just think it's just premature to be even thinking about (rate cuts)," he added when asked about cuts in March, warning that inflation is not dead...

    "One thing we've learned even over the past year is that the data can move and in surprising ways, we need to be ready to move to tighten the policy further, if the progress of inflation were to stall or reverse."

    Later in the day, Fed's Bostic also came out considerably less dovish, suggesting just two rate-cuts in 2024, and likely after Q3.

    “I’m not really feeling that this is an imminent thing,” Bostic was quoted by Reuters as saying.

    Policymakers still need “several months” to see enough data and gain confidence that inflation will continue to fall, Bostic said, according to Reuters.

    Fed's Goolsbee was dovish, but also less so than the market and the dots, saying that he expects rates to be lower next year than they are right now, but not significantly, warning that "as inflation comes down, we've got to think about how restrictive do we want to be and are there dangers on the employment side of the mandate."

    "We should be prepared to raise rates if we stop getting good news and it looks like we're not on path to get down to" the Fed's target, Goolsbee said.

    "But also if we see inflation going down more than we expected, we should be prepared to recognize whether that level of restrictiveness that we're at now, which is clearly restrictive, whether that's appropriate and whether we should loosen" policy.

    The result of all that - March rate-cut expectations tumbled from 100% to around 66%...

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    Source: Bloomberg

    Gold gave back some of its dovish gains...

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    Source: Bloomberg

    The dollar stopped its freefall...

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    Source: Bloomberg

    And the massive 'short squeeze' stalled...

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    Source: Bloomberg

    Which helped wipe some of the lipstick off Small Caps (which were up almost 8% at one point). The rest of the majors were up 2-3% on the week. Nasdaq closed at a record high for the first time since Nov 2021.

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    The S&P and Dow were dragged green on the day in the last few minutes and then in the last few seconds, AAPL got his from headline about China's iPhone ban being more widespread...

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    AAPL is down 1% after hours...

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    The dash-for-trash accelerated this week with MAG7 stocks used as a 'source of funds' to buy profitless tech...

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    Source: Bloomberg

    Despite the gains, L/S hedge funds were clubbed like baby seals this week as their favorite shorts were face-ripped higher and favorites longs lagged as the dash-for-trash accelerated...

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    Source: Bloomberg

    Treasury yields collapsed on the week with FedSpeak prompting a little chop today but clustering the curve down around 26-32bps on the week (belly outperformed)...

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    Source: Bloomberg

    The 10Y Yield fell below (and held below) 4.00% and 30Y tumbled down to within a tick of the same level today - the lowest level since 7/31...

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    Source: Bloomberg

    Bitcoin and Ethereum were both down around 4.5% on the week as The Fed prompted a recovery from the Monday "Liz Warren" plunge...

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    Source: Bloomberg

    That reversed all the curve steepening from midweek...

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    Source: Bloomberg

    NatGas rallied on the week and oil (Brent) managed to just close green on the week, the first positive week since October...

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    While bitcoin was down a little this week, the trend is your friend in crypto and gold as real-yields re-compress...

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    Source: Bloomberg

    Finally, we note that The Fed's reverse repo facility has seen over $150BN drained from it in the last 3 days which, outside of quarter-end liquidity needs - is the largest drawdown since the SVB crisis in March...

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    Source: Bloomberg

    Why does this matter? Because...

    More of the same from the last fifteen years - liquidity is all that matters!

    But is the resurgence in stocks almost done?

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    Or will Powell surprise even more with and end to QT or restart of QE? Would that really be as big a jump as "no rates cuts even considered" on Dec 1st to "6 rate-cuts possible" on Dec 13th?
     
    #2 bigbear0083, Dec 15, 2023
    Last edited: Dec 15, 2023
  3. bigbear0083

    bigbear0083 Active Member

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    Magnificent Seven Market Cap Round Trip
    Fri, Dec 15, 2023

    At the start of 2022, the seven largest S&P 500 stocks by market cap (which have begun to colloquially be called the Magnificent Seven) possessed a combined market cap of $11.78 trillion. However, severe losses throughout 2022 meant that by the end of the year these stocks were down 47.7% on average. In terms of the combined market cap, that dropped the total down to just $6.9 trillion. In 2023, those same seven stocks have averaged a gain of 106.6%. While not all of these stocks have fully recovered—for example, Telsa (TSLA), Alphabet (GOOGL), and Meta (META) all have lower market caps than at the start of 2022—the strong performance this year on the whole has meant the combined market cap has made a round trip. Now back to square one, what’s next?

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    All About Dow New Highs
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    In the face of many worries, stocks have put together a historic year in ’23. To top things off, the Dow just hit a fresh new all-time high, its first new high since January 4, 2022.

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    New Highs Happen More Than You Think
    Interestingly, this marked the 11th consecutive year that the Dow made a new high, the second longest streak ever! Of course, the previous two calendar years have had a total of only four new highs, but it still counts.

    Since 1900 there have been nearly 1,400 new highs, which actually comes out to 4.5% of all days since 1900 closing at a new all-time high. That is probably much more than most people expect.

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    Stocks Lead the Economy
    Since markets are forward looking, stocks tend to lead the economy. This can work on the way up and way down, so for us new highs right now is suggesting the economy is on firm footing heading into ’24 and a stronger economy (with no recession) could be the play next year.

    Sure, there are always some examples of that ‘final new high’ right before trouble (1929, 2000, and 2007), but looking back at history, new highs rarely suggest impending doom right around the corner.

    Since World War II, there were 227 months that saw at least one new high for the Dow. A recession started within a year of one of those months only 26 times, or 11.5% of the time. Compare this with the economy being in a recession 13.9% of the time since WWII and new highs could be a subtle positive sign for the economy next year.

    The last new high for the Dow was nearly two years ago, so what happens after the Dow goes a long time without new high? I found 12 times since WWII it went at least a full year without a new high and then made one, and only twice did the economy fall into a recession within a year of that new high.

    What stood out about those two times was both saw Middle East turmoil and a spike in crude oil, likely contributing to the recession. Given the US now produces more oil than anyone, does it makes sense to bet against history and treat this new high as an exception? Here’s a tweet I sent on this idea.

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    Now What?
    Plain and simple, new highs aren’t bearish events. In fact, you tend to see new highs take place during bull markets, with more advances potentially ahead. We’ve been calling this a new bull market for over a year now. As far back as last November we said the lows were in and there would be no recession in 2023 (with many arguing with us the whole way up).

    In fact, here’s an interview I did six months ago with Scott Wapner on CNBC’s Closing Bell. When he asked me what my biggest worry was, I said it was that too many people were bearish and weren’t embracing this bull market.

    So what do new highs mean by the numbers? By itself, a new high doesn’t appear to signal any warnings. In fact, things look about average after new highs. There are the nearly 1,400 new highs since 1900 and a year later the Dow was up 7.8% on average and higher 70.2% of the time. Compare this with the average year since 1900, which was up 7.4% on average and higher 65% of the time.

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    But the Dow’s long break without a new high until now improves the outlook historically. Looking at those 12 times (since WWII) the Dow went at least one year without a new high and then finally made one, ol’ Papa Dow was higher a year later 10 times and up an average of 14.1% with a very solid median return of 16.4%.

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    Wealth Effect Picks Up Into Christmas
    Fri, Dec 15, 2023

    With just two weekends left to shop before Christmas, US consumers have to be feeling a little more flush than they were just a couple months ago. Back in October, the stock market was in a 10%+ drawdown and interest rates looked like they might never stop going up. Less than two months later, though, the S&P 500 Total Return index is suddenly trading at all-time highs as Treasury yields have plummeted.

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    Maybe just as important for that "wealth effect" feeling is the huge drop in gas prices that we've seen since late September. Back on September 17th, AAA's national average gas price reading (the cost of a gallon of regular unleaded) hit a 52-week high of $3.88. In the three months since then, there has hardly been a day when gas prices haven't gone down, and just yesterday the price/gallon ticked down to $3.087. That drop took gas prices below the low of $3.096 seen last December 22nd to their lowest levels in more than two and a half years dating back to 6/24/21.

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    With the stock market at new highs again and gas prices suddenly approaching a "2-handle," Santa may have a little more room in his gift sack this year!

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    FAANG+ Leaving Newcomers in the Dust
    Fri, Dec 15, 2023

    Both the NYSE FAANG+ Index and Renaissance IPO ETF (IPO) have put in place fresh 52-week highs in the past couple of days, however, zooming out, those fresh highs are on different planets. The NYSE FAANG+ index—comprised of many mega cap Tech stocks—is not only at a 52-week high, but it's trading at record highs. Since the pre-COVID market high in February 2020, the FANG+ group is now up 120.1%. As for the IPO ETF, this week's 52-week high only leaves the group at the highest levels since April 2022. Contrary to the all-time high for FAANG+, IPO is still down 51.7% from its February 2021 high and is up a meager 4.7% since pre-COVID. As you can see below, these two traded closely inline with each other in the early days of the post-COVID rally, but FANG+ has left IPO in the dust since the start of 2022.

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    Bulls Take the Majority
    Thu, Dec 14, 2023

    More and more equity indices are hitting fresh record highs with the S&P 500 within 1.5% of doing the same. Understandably on these moves, investor sentiment has gotten a further boost. Per the latest AAII Investor Sentiment Survey, 51.3% of investors reported as bullish this week. And keep in mind, due to the timing of the survey, that would not have fully captured any investor response to yesterday's FOMC. That is the highest and first reading above 50% since July 20th of this year when bulls were only 0.1 percentage points higher. Outside of that week, it would be the highest bullish sentiment reading since April 2022.

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    Given the new high in bulls, bears have been nowhere to be found. A meager 19.3% of respondents reported as bearish this week. That surpasses the recent low of 19.6% from just two weeks ago for the lowest amount since the first week of January 2018 when only 15.56% of responses were bearish.

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    The overwhelmingly bullish sentiment can also be observed through the bull-bear spread. Currently, the share of bulls outnumber bears by 32 percentage points. That is the widest margin in favor of bulls since April 2021. Looked at another way, that is 2.1 standard deviations above the historical average of the spread meaning sentiment is extremely extended..

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    The cheery sentiment on the part of investors certainly means there is a warm and fuzzy feeling during this holiday season, but we would note that sentiment is historically a contrarian indicator. In other words, opposite to what investors are feeling, extremely bullish sentiment readings have historically been followed by more lackluster returns.

    This Is Likely the Best Investment Over the Next 5 Years
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    If you’re wondering what the investment is, I’m referring to stocks. More specifically, US stocks. At Carson Investment Research, we just moved our longer-term strategic asset allocations to their maximum equity overweight. Stocks may very likely gain 75-100% cumulatively over the next 5 years, which is 12-15% annualized.

    If you look back at history, the average return over rolling five-year periods from 1923 through 2017 is about 11% (before inflation). However, in 49 out of the 96 five-year periods (51%), returns were higher than 12% annualized, i.e. greater than 75% overall for the entire 5-year period through the power of compounding. In fact, returns were under 8% in only 31 periods (32%).

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    However, that’s the past, and while it’s a reasonable guide for what could happen in the future, we believe there are few things that tilt the odds further towards above average returns in the future.


    The 2020s – America Rising
    It may sound weird to suggest that the 2020s will likely be the American decade, especially from the perspective of the stock market. U.S. stocks vastly outperformed international stocks over the prior decade, and as this chart from J.P. Morgan illustrates, these periods of outperformance tend to go back and forth. So, it wouldn’t be unusual to expect a reversion. But we’re going against the grain here.

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    Over the last year and a half, the economy has defied multiple forecasts of a recession, overcoming an aggressive Federal Reserve tightening cycle amid the highest inflation in 40+ years. Ryan and I have written a lot about this, with economic resilience coming on the back of strong household balance sheets and solid income growth.

    The economy seems poised to grow around 2.5-3% in 2023 after adjusting for inflation, which would be above the trend we saw between 2010 and 2019. That is remarkable, especially given the massive headwind of surging interest rates. No wonder the consensus has shifted away from recession calls, though several outlooks from other shops suggest middling growth in 2024. The US has now raced ahead of other developed markets when looking at economic growth since the pandemic – the economy is 7% larger in real terms, versus 3% or less for its peers.

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    We remain in the camp that the economy will avoid a recession but take a different view on what the drivers of economic growth will be, emphasizing the upside from productivity growth. That view makes us optimistic on the expansion continuing in 2024, and even beyond. There’s been a lot of buzz around generative artificial intelligence (AI) this year. Our view is that the watershed moment for this technology is not about what it can do for us right now, even if it has the power to unlock enormous potential down the road, but the environment that allows generative AI and other transformative innovations to flourish. Part of this also involves a reshoring shift to the US, boosting domestic investment, which is why we believe America will outperform its developed market peers.

    Productivity growth can’t be created on demand, and there are environments that foster it — for example, by incentivizing investment, encouraging competition, and protecting property rights. That’s what’s created the environment that has given us generative AI, which itself can then seed additional productivity growth in the future.

    2023 was the year of normalization, and all the investment over the last couple of years (including labor, which is businesses’ largest investment) is bearing fruit, and productivity is accelerating. Over the last two quarters, productivity growth rose at an annual pace of over 4.4% — the fastest two-quarter pace since the late 1990s outside of recessions and immediate post-recession periods.

    In a previous blog, I discussed why this is a big deal for the economy, inflation, and monetary policy. Long story short, if you have higher productivity, you can have strong wage growth with relatively low inflation. This can create a positive feedback loop between monetary policy and productivity. Strong productivity growth that is accompanied by low inflation could lead to more expansionary monetary policy. That could lead to greater investment and a “tighter” labor market with low unemployment and faster wage growth. This could in turn fuel further productivity growth, and signal to the central bank that it can keep rates low.

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    This is essentially what happened in 1995, with then Fed Chair Alan Greenspan choosing to reduce interest rates despite strong wage growth. He bet that productivity would increase due to technological breakthroughs and prior breakthroughs gaining traction, and he was right. Part of it was also because expansionary policy led to tight labor markets that boosted productivity further.

    We could be in a similar situation right now, with tight labor markets leading to productivity gains rather than inflation. Increased business investment could also push profits higher, boosting equity market returns above the historical average.

    What’s the Risk?
    By no means do I want to suggest that stocks will go up in a straight line – we’ll continue to see volatility, with pullbacks and corrections along the way. As Carson’s Chief Market Strategist Ryan Detrick likes to say, volatility is the toll we pay to invest. Expect to see pullbacks, corrections, severe corrections, and perhaps even a bear market where stocks fall 20%.

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    But here’s some perspective: from December 31t, 2018, through December 12th, 2023 (just shy of 5 years), the S&P 500 has gained 102%. That includes 2 bear markets along the way, in 2020 and again in 2022. Yes, you’re reading that right — stocks have doubled over the last 5 years, amidst a worldwide pandemic, high inflation, an aggressive Fed, and surging interest rates.

    The other big risk, which could upend our views, is that the Fed could keep rates too tight for too long, which in turn would lead to falling investment, more unemployment, and slower wage growth, and ultimately weaker productivity growth.

    This is why we seek to control risk in our portfolios. As my colleague, Barry Gilbert, recently wrote, we also extended the maturity profile of our fixed income holdings. While we are overweight stocks versus bonds, we do think core bonds will increasingly return to their traditional role as a portfolio diversifier. At the same time, we’ve also chosen to diversify our diversifiers, with some allocation to managed futures, which is a hedge against inflation volatility.

    The good news is that the Powell-led Fed now view the risk of not doing enough to fight inflation as balanced against the risk of doing too much, and potentially breaking the labor market. That’s a big deal, since it means we could see policy easing if inflation heads down in a sustainable way – which it could if productivity runs strong.

    Claims Cooling Down
    Thu, Dec 14, 2023

    Economic data this morning broadly came in healthier than expected, including weekly jobless claims. Initial claims were expected to go unchanged at 220K. While that previous week's reading was revised up to 221K, this week's print fell all the way down to 202K. That is the lowest reading on jobless claims since the week of October 14th and September 16th before that. In all, that makes for one of the lowest readings on claims since January of last year.

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    Before seasonal adjustment, claims are largely following the usual seasonal pattern having been trending higher since the early fall. Currently at 248.3K, unadjusted claims are running at the lowest level for the comparable week of the year since 1969.

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    Continuing claims have gotten much more elevated than initial claims over the past few months. Currently totaling 1.876 million, continuing claims have risen meaningfully from the low of 1.658 million put in place just three months ago. However, the consistent pace of increases over that span (every week from September 16th through the first week of November saw a week over week increase) has slowed, having been more choppy in the past month. In fact, at 1.876 million, the current reading is still almost 50K below the recent high of 1.925 million set in mid-November.

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    Moderating Inflation & Final Fed Meeting Clear Path for late-December Surge
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    This week’s CPI and PPI releases showed the moderating trend of inflation continues. Prices are still rising just at a slower pace and the rate of change could finally fall back before the Fed’s target of 2% next year. In response to and in anticipation of lower interest rates, the market has enjoyed above average gains in December.

    As of the close on December 12, DJIA was up 1.74%, S&P 500 +1.66%, NASDAQ +2.16% and Russell 2000 up an impressive 3.99% (right side vertical axis of chart above). The market did experience some typical early December weakness this year after bucking the trend of weakness on the first trading day. Even though the market has already enjoyed above average gains this month, we still anticipate more to come with the potential for a new all-time closing high from DJIA before year end.

    Inflation Still Moving in the Right Direction
    Tue, Dec 12, 2023

    This morning’s Consumer Price Index for November was mostly in line with expectations (although the headline reading was slightly higher than expected), and the lack of any meaningful surprises has allowed the market to continue with what has lately been the path of least resistance, which has been higher. The report also showed that the most rapid leg of disinflation is most likely behind us, and while that could lead some to believe that the road ahead will be a slog, that isn’t necessarily the case.

    For starters, the focus of monthly inflation reports lately has been in Core CPI (ex-food and energy). After peaking at 6.6% in June 2022, the November year/year reading came in at 4.0% for the second month in a row.

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    The chart below shows the historical 12-month rate of change in the y/y core CPI. Over the last 12 months, that rate of increase has declined by two full percentage points, and outside of the prior two months, that is one of the sharpest declines since the early 1980s. In other words, the 12-month rate of change is still declining, but the pace of decline is slowing.

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    November’s streak also ended what has been a monumental streak of monthly declines in the y/y core CPI reading. At seven months in October, it was the second longest streak on record, trailing only the ten-month streak of declines ending in December 1975.

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    Understandably, the end of the streak of declines along with the slowing rate of decline in the y/y core CPI reading could lead one to think that inflation levels are plateauing at a higher level. However, a look at the trend of monthly prints in core CPI shows a potential tailwind in the months ahead. The chart below shows the monthly change in core CPI over the last 24 months. While it hasn’t exactly been linear, the trend is lower. In the twelve months from December 2021 through November 2022, eight out of twelve monthly prints were 0.5% or above, but in the last twelve months, only one print has been 0.5%.

    Just looking at the last year (shaded area in chart) it’s a similar trend. From December 2022 through May 2022, every monthly print was 0.4% or above, but in the most recent six months, every print has been 0.3% or below. If just the trend of the last six months remains in place, for the next six months the y/y reading will be replacing monthly prints of 0.4% or more with prints of 0.3% or less which should help to keep the trend of disinflation going.

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    The Time To Get Back Into Bonds
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    Probably the top fixed income question we’ve received in 2023 is when it’s appropriate to begin moving bond allocations from ultra-short-maturity bonds and money market funds back into core bonds. Gauging by 2024 rate hike expectations, the answer is probably sometime around now.

    The “perfect” time, assuming rates have peaked, was October 19 of this year, when the 10-year Treasury yield peaked at just under 5%, while the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index (“Agg”) yield hit a high of 5.74%. The Agg still has a lot of ground to make up for 2021-2023 losses, but since October 19 it’s up 6.9% on a total return basis as of yesterday’s close.

    While yields may have fallen a little too far too fast, the timing of the rally is entirely normal and we believe it’s likely to continue, even if there may be some volatility along the way. As shown in the table below, historically, in the period from 12 months to 6 months before the first rate cut, core bonds (the Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index) outperform short maturity Treasuries (the FTSE 1-month Treasury Bill Index) by 1.1%, on average. It gets even better as you get closer to the cut, core bonds outperforming bills by an average of 4.4%. Outperformance slows down a little after the cut but continues in the year following the first cut.

    Right now, market-implied odds signal the first rate cut is most likely to come at the May 2024 regular Federal Reserve policy meeting, with expectations of 4-5 rate cuts in 2024 overall. If expectations are right, or even a little aggressive, we are in that historical sweet spot of the six-month period prior to the first cut now. We would take market-implied expectations with a grain of salt and believe they may be a little aggressive but are still right in principle. We’ll find out more when the Fed’s December policy meeting concludes tomorrow, when we expect the Fed to push back at current expectations but only causing a moderate shift.

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    Carson Investment Research recently extended the maturity profile of our fixed income recommendation, moving it closer to the duration (a measure of interest rate sensitivity) of the broad Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index, which is a market-capped weighted index of investment-grade US Treasuries, mortgage-backed securities, and corporates. We do continue to prefer stocks to bonds based on our positive outlook for the US economy in 2024. But as inflation continues to decline, we think core bonds will increasingly return to their traditional role as a portfolio diversifier and ballast against potential bond losses while still offering an attractive yield.

    Small Business Sentiment Mixed Under the Hood
    Tue, Dec 12, 2023

    The NFIB unveiled its latest look at small business sentiment early this morning. The headline number remains in the bottom decile of its historical range, falling 0.1 points to 90.6 in November. That is compared to expectations which called for the number to be unchanged last month.

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    Across the categories factoring into the index, breadth was mixed in November with four categories falling, four rising, and one unchanged. Like the headline number, many categories are also in the bottom few percentiles of their respective historical ranges, albeit with some exceptions like robust readings in plans to increase employment, current inventories, and job openings hard to fill.

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    As we discussed in our Morning Lineup, combining the report's readings on employment shows some rebounding conditions for labor markets over the past few months. Looking more closely, though, it is hard to say labor market conditions are materially accelerating. As shown, hiring plans have risen, but on net more companies are reporting negative employment changes. In a similar vein, compensation plans have risen sharply including a six point jump month over month in November (the largest one month increase since last October and the third largest on record), even though actual changes to compensation have been flat. Meanwhile, fewer businesses are reporting job openings are hard to fill. Small businesses are showing labor conditions have cooled over the past couple of years but are far from weak as any more recent improvements have been from plans rather than observed changes.

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    Similarly, sales expectations rebounded in November, contrary to a flat reading on actual sales and earnings changes. Perhaps most importantly, the share of businesses reporting higher prices has fallen down to 25, matching the July low. In combination with the higher reading on sales expectations, that likely helped the number of firms reporting now as a good time to expand.

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    Looking at the reverse, of those reporting now as not a good time to expand, the single biggest reason given for such sentiment was economic conditions. That is typically the most widely cited reason historically followed by political climate (the NFIB has a tendency to be sensitive to politics, namely which party holds the presidency), but for the first time in at least a decade, financial conditions and interest rates earned the number two spot. As shown below, the number of firms reporting that rates are holding them back from expanding has risen steadily since the current tightening cycle began.

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    As mentioned previously, actual earnings changes saw no improvement in November and are sitting near historically weak levels. As for the reasons given for lower earnings, increased costs remain a key reason, but November also saw a significant jump in those reporting sales volumes as a problem. In other words, inflation and weaker demand appear to be weighing on small business earnings.

    [​IMG]

    Despite the burden of interest rates and expectations for credit conditions sitting at the lowest levels in over a decade, small businesses have actually increased capital expenditures dramatically to a new post-pandemic high. However, that is counter to capital expenditure plans, which have fallen in the past few months, and inventories showing drawdowns.

    [​IMG]
     
    #3 bigbear0083, Dec 15, 2023
    Last edited: Dec 15, 2023
  4. bigbear0083

    bigbear0083 Active Member

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    Here are the percentage changes for the major indices for WTD, MTD, QTD & YTD in 2023-
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    S&P sectors for the past week-
    [​IMG]
     
    #4 bigbear0083, Dec 15, 2023
    Last edited: Dec 15, 2023
  5. bigbear0083

    bigbear0083 Active Member

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    Here are the current major indices pullback/correction levels from 52WK highs as of week ending 12.15.23-
    [​IMG]

    Here is also the pullback/correction levels from current prices-
    [​IMG]

    Here are the current major indices rally levels from 52WK lows as of week ending 12.15.23-
    [​IMG]
     
    #5 bigbear0083, Dec 15, 2023
    Last edited: Dec 15, 2023
  6. bigbear0083

    bigbear0083 Active Member

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    [​IMG]

    Here are the upcoming IPO's for this week-

    [​IMG]
     
  7. bigbear0083

    bigbear0083 Active Member

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    [​IMG]

    Here are the most anticipated Earnings Releases for this upcoming trading week ahead.

    ***Check mark next to the stock symbols denotes confirmed earnings release date & time***


    Monday 12.18.23 Before Market Open:

    (NONE.)



    Monday 12.18.23 After Market Close:

    [​IMG]

    Tuesday 12.19.23 Before Market Open:

    [​IMG]

    Tuesday 12.19.23 After Market Close:

    [​IMG]

    Wednesday 12.20.23 Before Market Open:

    [​IMG]

    Wednesday 12.20.23 After Market Close:

    [​IMG]

    Thursday 12.21.23 Before Market Open:

    [​IMG]

    Thursday 12.21.23 After Market Close:

    [​IMG]

    Friday 12.22.23 Before Market Open:

    (NONE.)



    Friday 12.22.23 After Market Close:

    (NONE.)

     
  8. bigbear0083

    bigbear0083 Active Member

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  9. bigbear0083

    bigbear0083 Active Member

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    Stock Market Analysis Video for December 15th, 2023
    Video from AlphaTrends Brian Shannon
     
  10. bigbear0083

    bigbear0083 Active Member

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    Top of the morning Stockaholics! Happy Monday to all of you and welcome to the new trading week and a frrrrrrrrrrrresh start. Here is a quick check on those futures as we are over an hour from the US cash market open.

    GLTA on this Monday, December the 18th, 2023!

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  11. bigbear0083

    bigbear0083 Active Member

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    Good Monday morning Stockaholics! :thumbsup:

    Here is this morning's pre-market news thread for those of you wanting to get a quick read before today's open-
    [​IMG] <-- click there to read!

    Hope everyone has a great new trading week ahead! ;)
     
  12. bigbear0083

    bigbear0083 Active Member

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    Morning Lineup - 12/18/23 - Global Rally
    Mon, Dec 18, 2023

    After seven straight weeks of gains, US equity futures are modestly higher to kick off what bulls are hoping will be the eighth week of gains in a row. Along with the higher equity futures, treasury yields are lower, and crude oil is modestly higher. On the economic calendar, the only report will be the 10 AM release of homebuilder sentiment. With Christmas less than a week away, look for volumes and newsflow to steadily slow as the week progresses.

    Besides the US, the rally over the last several weeks has been global. Of the ETFs that track the G7 countries around the world, all seven were up in the latest week, and they’re all starting the week at overbought levels. With its gain of nearly 2%, the S&P 500 tracking ETF (SPY) was the second-best performer last week trailing only the 2.54% gain in the Canadian ETF (EWC). On a YTD basis, the US is one of four ETFs with a gain of over 20% YTD, and only Italy’s 27.8% topped the S&P 500.

    [​IMG]

    Looking at the charts of all seven ETFs representing the G7, they’re all right at or near 52-week highs. One key difference between the US and the rest of the world, though, is that while other countries are still testing or only marginally higher than their summer highs, the US handily took that level out over a week ago as it has been a leader.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  13. bigbear0083

    bigbear0083 Active Member

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    new market sentiment poll is out for anyone interested to participate on it :p

    https://stockaholics.net/threads/poll-will-the-spx-print-a-new-ath-before-2024.13075/

    poll question is just if you think cash s&p will print a new high before the new year. (or basically asking if you think we'll see a santa claus rally this year).

    meanwhile, another green day today (what's new right? :p).

    i suspect as we head into next week volumes will be tapering off bigly. could bode well for even more upside. but, i caution that VIX getting below 12 feels a bit like everyone is getting a little complacent. markets have run up hard for a while now. some pullback/sideways action would be pretty healthy.
     
  14. bigbear0083

    bigbear0083 Active Member

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    early preview of where some of the firms stand on their 2024 calls for the market (SPX)

    [​IMG]
     
  15. bigbear0083

    bigbear0083 Active Member

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    Here is a final look at today's market and futures maps, as well as how each sector performed individually on Monday, December 18th, 2023.

    (EDIT: updated to 4pm close)

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
    #15 bigbear0083, Dec 18, 2023
    Last edited: Dec 18, 2023
    stock1234 likes this.
  16. stock1234

    stock1234 2017 Stockaholics Contest Winner

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    Nice to see your weekly thread again Cy :thumbsup: Voted up for the week and probably leaning bullish rest of the year. I am excited to see how the market will do at the beginning of next year, my feeling is we might see some selling of big tech early on next year while people will chase for the beaten down small cap names, we will see :D
     
    bigbear0083 likes this.
  17. bigbear0083

    bigbear0083 Active Member

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    Top of the morning Stockaholics! Happy Tuesday to all of you and welcome to the new trading day and a frrrrrrrrrrrresh start. Here is a quick check on those futures as we are over an hour from the US cash market open.

    GLTA on this Tuesday, December the 19th, 2023!

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
    stock1234 likes this.
  18. bigbear0083

    bigbear0083 Active Member

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    Good Tuesday morning Stockaholics! :thumbsup:

    Here is this morning's pre-market news thread for those of you wanting to get a quick read before today's open-
    [​IMG] <-- click there to read!

    Hope everyone has a great new trading day ahead! ;)
     
    stock1234 likes this.
  19. bigbear0083

    bigbear0083 Active Member

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    Here is a quick recap of this morning's economic reports and what's left to come rest of today:
    [​IMG]
     
    stock1234 likes this.
  20. bigbear0083

    bigbear0083 Active Member

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    Here are some earning results from this morning and those reporting after the close today:
    [​IMG]
    ==========================================================================
    [​IMG]
     
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