Jeff Miller | Jun 26, 2016 01:55AM ET
This week’s economic calendar has plenty of data during a week where many will want to anticipate the long weekend. Despite these factors, most are still trying to digest the Brexit decision. There will be stories on politics, polling, history, and human interest. The economic and financial market consequences will get the most play from financial media.
Is the Brexit Decision a Market Turning Point?
h2 Last Week/h2There was some significant economic news, but attention focused on Europe and the United Kingdom.
h2 Theme Recap/h2In my last WTWA, I predicted that the week would be all about Brexit. Despite Yellen’s Congressional testimony, the Brexit theme was a wire-to-wire winner.
Last week’s “Final Thoughts” section was also on target, suggesting a plausible range for the week’s trading.
The Story in One Chart
I always start my personal review of the week by looking at this great chart of the S&P 500 from Doug Short. You can clearly see the early strength, based mostly on the Brexit polls, followed by Friday’s collapse. Doug has a special knack for pulling together all of the relevant information. His charts save more than a thousand words! Read his entire post where he adds analysis and several other charts providing long-term perspective.
Each week I break down events into good and bad. Often there is an “ugly” and on rare occasion something really good. My working definition of “good” has two components. The news must be market friendly and better than expectations. I avoid using my personal preferences in evaluating news – and you should, too!
The Good
The Bad
The Ugly
Non-working, prime-age men. With varying motives, there is a very misleading and oft-repeated “94 million people can’t find jobs.” While this is technically true, it includes grandma, teenagers, and people who prefer to study or take care of families – among others. A much better group to study is men between the ages of 25 and 54. The White House Council of Economic Advisors released a Brookings ) does this nicely, including this chart of areas where the problem is greatest.
The Silver Bullet
I occasionally give the Silver Bullet award to someone who takes up an unpopular or thankless cause, doing the real work to demonstrate the facts. No award this week. Nominations are always welcome.
h3 Noteworthy /h3I enjoy Pandora's (NYSE:P) music service, often listening as I write WTWA. I have never owned the stock, but when their CEO appeared on CNBC last week I turned off the mute and TIVO’d back to watch the interview. Among other things, he discussed the potential for targeted political advertising. He stated that the could predict votes with 90% confidence using only two variables: Zip code and Pandora playlists.
h2 The Week Ahead /h2We would all like to know the direction of the market in advance. Good luck with that! Second best is planning what to look for and how to react. That is the purpose of considering possible themes for the week ahead. You can make your own predictions in the comments.
The Calendar
We have a big week for economic data, with many participants edging out the door by noon on Friday. I always highlight only the most important items, helping us all to focus.
The “A” List
The “B” List
Fed Chair Yellen is meeting with ECB President Draghi at a European forum on central banking. That should be interesting! We’ll get some additional FedSpeak later in the week.
h2 Next Week’s Theme /h2With the momentous Brexit results known, it is time for the pundits to explain what it all means. Despite the daily flow of economic reports, Friday’s stage-setting selloff guarantees that attention will once again focus on Brexit. It is certainly historic, and might provide a tipping point for the UK or Europe.
While the financial media theme for the week ahead will be broader, the key point will be:
Is the Brexit result a turning point for equity markets?
As was the case last week, I read many articles on this topic, watched webinars from experts, and listened to the punditry. (As I write this, I am reminded of the Merril Hoge , usually says that he did “70 hours of tape study” in the prior week! The plays he selects to analyze provide some credibility for this claim).
Since I read quickly, I did not spend 70 hours on Brexit. I did read a lot more than you probably want to. In this week’s WTWA I want to cover a range of key perspectives. Read some of these links, the best and most responsible samples of each type, and draw your own conclusions. Then check out mine at the end of this post.
We follow some regular great sources and also the best insights from each week.
Risk Analysis
Whether you are a trader or an investor, you need to understand risk. Risk first, rewards second. I monitor many quantitative reports and highlight the best methods in this weekly update.
The Indicator Snapshot
The Featured Sources:
Brian Gilmartin: Analysis of expected earnings for the overall market as well as coverage of many individual companies. This week he expresses more confidence about growth in earnings.
Bob Dieli: The “C Score” which is a weekly estimate of his Enhanced Aggregate Spread (the most accurate real-time recession forecasting method over the last few decades). His subscribers get Monthly reports including both an economic overview of the economy and employment.
This week the recession odds (in nine months) have nudged closer to 10%. This does not completely reflect Brexit effects, so we may get a further revision.
Holmes: Our cautious and clever watchdog, who sniffs out opportunity like a great detective, but emphasizes guarding assets.
Doug Short: The Big Four Update, the World Markets Weekend Update (and much more).
The ECRI has been dropped from our weekly update. It was not so much because of the bad call in 2011, but the stubborn adherence to this position despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. Those interested can still follow them via Doug Short and Jill Mislinski. The ECRI commentary remains relentlessly bearish despite the upturn in their own index.
Georg Vrba: The latest update describes the elements of the indicator we cite every week.
RecessionAlert: Many , shows the recent deterioration in conditions. Read the full post, but the two charts below show the decline of the long-term leading indicators despite continuing low odds of an imminent recession.
As we review the weekly indicators it is important to maintain perspective. A 20% chance of a recession would be average. It is not a reason for fear, since it says that a recession is very unlikely. There will be a time to exercise more caution, but we are not yet close to that point.
I know that some readers have wondered whether the needle was “stuck” on these indicators. There is a temptation to tap on the gauge to see if it moves! We are seeing a little movement this week after a very quiet stretch.
h3 How to Use WTWA /h3In this series I share my preparation for the coming week. I write each post as if I were speaking directly to one of my clients. For most readers, they can just “listen in.” If you are unhappy with your current investment approach, we will be happy to talk with you. I start with a specific assessment of your personal situation. There is no rush. Each client is different, so I have six different programs ranging from very conservative bond ladders to very aggressive trading programs. A key question:
Are you preserving wealth, or like most of us, do you need to create more wealth?
My objective is to help all readers, so I provide a number of free resources. Just write to info at newarc dot com. We will send whatever you request. We never share your email address with others, and send only what you seek. (Like you, we hate spam!) Free reports include the following:
You can also check out my website for biggest market fears . (I welcome questions or suggestions for new topics.)
h2 Best Advice for the Week Ahead /h2The right move often depends on your time horizon. Are you a trader or an investor?
Insight for Traders
We consider both our models and also the best advice from sources we follow.
Felix and Holmes
We continue our neutral market forecast. Felix is fully invested in fairly aggressive choices. This was good for most of the week, but bad on Friday. The more cautious Holmes is still fully invested, but fared better in Friday trading. Holmes uses a universe of nearly 1000 stocks, selected mostly by liquidity. Even when the overall market is neutral, there will often be some strong candidates. That is what we see now. It is not a resounding endorsement of the overall market, but a vote for opportunistic trading.
Top Trading Advice
Brett Steenbarger once again challenges traders. What can you learn from this?
Dr. Brett’s Brexit advice emphasizes the difference between novice and expert traders.
Dana Lyons ). Many investors take the opposite viewpoint about the “fear gauge.” Maybe that is why it works so well. Maybe it is related to what Dr. Brett is saying!
Why do traders blow out? One reason is “revenge trading .”
Insight for Investors
Investors have a longer time horizon. The best moves frequently involve taking advantage of trading volatility!
Best of the Week
If I had to pick a single most important source for investors to read, it would be this analysis from “Davidson” via Todd Sullivan . This is extremely important and worth reading carefully. Twice if you need to. He takes on the basic issue of why most analyses of value and momentum methods are wrong, introducing what he calls the 1% solution.
A key point is that value investors have great influence on markets:
The long-term perspective reveals that SP500 Index has grown ~6.1% in line with long-term earnings. Value Investors perform contextual analysis to determine at what price they find long-term value in markets. The period 1965-1982 was a period of SP500 underperformance relative to earnings. Rising inflation caused Value Investors to contract P/E levels.
From the SP500 EPS & P/E’s 1871-May 2016 chart, it appears we may be near a market top, but Value Investors today indicate this is not the case in their experience. Explaining why Value Investors are likely to be right requires contextual analysis which many do mentally. Warren Buffett’s now famous saying, “My brain is a computer” explains why this is so.
He provides a lot of additional explanation and detail, concluding:
Be patient. Several years of economic expansion appear to be ahead of us. I expect investors to shake off the current pessimism and shift equity markets higher. Investment success relies in having realistic expectations and being grounded to fundamentals.
(At some point several years from now, the economic data should indicate that an economic correction is likely. I will then recommend an appropriate shift in strategy. But, not today!!)
[Jeff] This is very strong and exactly right for investors
h3 Stock Ideas /h3Airlines benefiting from Brexit? Raymond James provides some ideas. (via Barron’s )
Ben Levisohn asks, His sources suggest that the selling greatly exaggerates the actual impact on many stocks. Check it out for specific ideas.
How about diversifying by strategy rather than by allocation? Michael Batnick explains how this can both improve returns while reducing risk. (Holmes is vigorously wagging his tail in agreement).
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA). Really? Every big firm hates the deal to buy Solar City and has downgraded the stock. One contrarian source likes the underlying numbers and notes the potential that the deal would be withdrawn. That was our thinking when we initiated a small option position. This is the kind of situation that can provide a great risk/reward ratio, but not by just buying the stock.
The Hardest Question: When to Sell
Chuck Carnevale wisely notes :
The most common complaint that I have heard from investors over my 40+ years in the financial services industry is as follows: “Everyone wants to tell me what to buy and when, but no one ever tells me when to sell.”
Hint #1: Do not sell just because the price drops.
Hint #2: Keep the stock’s fair value in mind.
Read the full post for plenty of helpful analysis and examples.
Personal Finance
Professional investors and traders have been making Abnormal Returns a daily stop for over ten years. The average investor should make time (even if not able to read AR every day as I do) for a weekly trip on Wednesday. Tadas always has first-rate links for investors in his Morgan Housel with (yet another) great piece. It is aimed at new grads (although nearly everyone could benefit). He asks various sources for their best advice in five words. There are plenty of good ideas here, even though he allows four more words of advice than Dustin Hoffman got.
What would I say? How about: Don’t spend all at once. Well that was what my son calls “dad humor.”
My own father had great advice, and it did not take five words: Always think of tomorrow.
Runner up? This analysis of the 30-year mortgage , which might cost buyers an extra $100,000 or so, just so they can reach for more than they can afford.
Final Thoughts
There is an important distinction among various Brexit effects: politics, history, economics, and markets. If we were sitting down for a cup of coffee or a beer, I would discuss any of them. As investors we should be mainly concerned with the last, and perhaps a bit with the economic effects.
That will be my focus.
h2 The Path Mattered/h2The five-day path to the final decision was very important. The range of the week’s trading was within the +/- 2% we cited last week. The week started with a rally when markets mistakenly thought that the “remain” vote would prevail. When the opposite occurred, the market gave that gain back and declined another 1.3% or so. Everything was within the range that we expected.
The measurable effects are all modest.
The biggest negative impacts all relate to speculation about the effect of uncertainty.
h2 Investment Implications/h2As is often the case, the best risk/reward for investors is contrarian.
Read these sources carefully and contrast with the more speculative fears.
The most difficult thing for most investors is to “stay the course” in the face of frightening news and incessant recession predictions. It is also the most rewarding.
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