Stocks Are Dazed And Confused As The Taper Comes Soon

 | Sep 23, 2021 12:27AM ET

Sometimes it is amusing to watch how stocks trade and then compare them to what bonds and the dollar do. The FOMC meeting went as I expected it would. The Fed indicated that tapering was likely to begin in November. During the press conference, Powell seemed a little bit nervous and tried to choose his words carefully, but at the end of the day, it seemed the message was pretty clear. The Fed did downgrade the 2021 GDP growth rate to 5.9% from 7%, no surprise there either. They also did indicate a potential rate hike in 2022, and rates climbing to 1% by 2023.

As the press conference rolled on, the dollar, along with 2,5, and 7 bond rates, started to rise, as they should with the tapering of QE on the way. However, rates on the 10-year and 30-year fell most likely tied to the downgrade of GDP growth. Additionally, the reduction of QE from the mix will likely help to slow growth in the long-run as well. It seemed pretty clear from this reaction, the bond and currency responded how they should to the FOMC.

The equity market seemed to have no clue what to do as usual, rising and falling, but mostly it seemed to be unfazed. Cyclical stocks had the best performance, led higher by the energy sector and banks, very odd. At this point, one would think that all the good news has already been priced into these stocks, and that slowing GDP growth would negatively impact those earnings expectations. Not to mention, a stronger dollar should weigh heavily on commodities, emerging markets, material stocks, and multinationals. So I don’t see how tightening financial conditions, a stronger dollar, and slowing growth is additionally bullish for these sectors.

h2 S&P 500/h2

But anyway, the S&P 500 gained about 1% yesterday and even tried to break the downtrend I mentioned on Wednesday. It will need to be confirmed today, if it really is broken. If it did break out, then I could see it rising to around 4450 over the very near term. If it didn’t, I think we are targeting 4,225.