Less In
Posted on Saturday, November 18th, 2017
One of our favorite bulls is changing his tone this week as Jim Paulsen of the Leuthold Group seems to be pouring a little cold water on this rally. In his piece titled “No More Juice” Paulsen, a long time bull, says investors should be prepared as central bankers try to wean markets off of the juice (QE). Paulsen has been spot on for years with the market rally since 2008 and when he speaks we listen. We agree with Paulsen and we do not see a market collapse but there is a need to constantly reevaluate and recalibrate where our investment money needs to be in this market.
“As financial markets are weaned off the juice they have been drinking for almost a decade, investors should prepare for a very different bull market in the balance of this recovery,” he said. “Without a chronic injection of financial liquidity, the stock market may struggle more frequently, overall returns are likely to be far lower, and bond yields may customarily rise.”
To be sure, Paulsen is not predicting a market collapse. Instead, he suggests investors will need to shift strategy away from the cyclical U.S.-centric approach that has worked for most of the past 8½ years, due to the likely contraction of money supply compared to nominal GDP growth.
That means value over growth stocks, international over domestic, and inflationary sectors, like energy, materials and industrials, over disinflationary groups like telecom and utilities.
It is our job not to predict but to contingency plan. In order to do that we look to the horizon for what could trip up our investing plans or to find what investments may benefit from changes in the environment. One of biggest worries is China. The yield curve continues to invert in China. For those of you that are new to our blog an inverted yield curve is a sign that a recession may be approaching. A recession in China would have reverberations worldwide. According to FT, Chinese debt has grown from $6T at the beginning of the crisis in 2007 to over $29T today. The government there continues to want reform but needs to proceed with caution to avoid creating a crisis. The Chinese central bank added more reserves to their system this week in one of its biggest injections of 2017 and that helped soothe markets – for now.
In another sign of the imbalances created by central banks and QE it still boggles our minds that European High Yield has less of a yield attached to it than 10 Year US Treasuries. If we have a bubble then it is certainly there. In yet another great piece by John Mauldin, in his Thoughts from the Frontline, he notes the preponderance of negative yielding government bonds. Can you believe that Italy and Spain have short term negative yielding debt? Who would want to own debt from Italy and Spain at negative yields?! Mauldin also points to Louis Gave and their research suggesting a currency peg could cause a waterfall of problems and they are pointing to Lebanon. It is a very interesting piece. If you don’t get John’s Thoughts From the Frontline, then sign up, it is free.
Market internals continue to deteriorate and that is especially important in light of historically high valuations. The market has entered what seems to be a new pattern of opening lower and rallying back throughout the day. The S&P 500 is up 12 months in a row and has only experienced pullbacks of less than 3% in 2017. The daily range in stocks is the lowest it has been since the 1960’s. The yield curve here in the US is the flattest it has been since 2007 and the curve in China is inverted. Trees cannot grow to the sky and what cannot continue – won’t. Volatility will return it is only a matter of when. We see the relative strength on the S&P 500 reaching historically overbought levels. When the S&P reaches this level it makes the comparisons very tough. A pullback is warranted in the S&P and when it does the next rally will not be able to surpass these overbought levels. At that time investors will see it as a negative divergence. That is when the market may begin to struggle.
We continue to fret about risk parity and volatility selling. When stocks go down we will look at bond prices. At some point they will both go down in tandem and selling will beget selling. If there is a meltdown, we believe that is where it where we will see it start.
The Warren Buffet of endowment investing is David Swenson from Yale. We were able to watch an hour long interview with the investing legend and have included a link. The interview of Mr. Swenson is from a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations conducted by former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. Here is the money quote.
But when you start out, you were talking about fundamental risks in this world. And when you compare the fundamental risks that we see all around the globe with the lack of volatility in our securities markets, it’s profoundly troubling, and makes me wonder if we’re not setting ourselves up for an ’87 or a ’98, or a 2008-2009. David Swenson Chief Investment Officer Yale University
So much to say and so little space this week. Obviously, we are a bit concerned that the rally is a little long in the tooth and investors may have lost respect for the power of markets amid market’s seeming invincibility. The animal spirits are unpredictable and still in control. Gotta be in it to win it but, maybe just a little less and a little less in. Tax reform passage could be a sell on the news event and we are, warily, watching the turn of the calendar. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! No blog next week as we will be still filling up on leftovers.
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I think we aspire less to foresee the future and more to be a great contingency planner… you can respond very fast to what’s happening because you thought through all the possibilities, – Lloyd Blankfein
To learn more about us and Blackthorn Asset Management LLC visit our website at www.BlackthornAsset.com or check out our LinkedIn page at https://www.linkedin.com/in/terencereilly/ .
Disclosure: This blog is informational and is not a recommendation to buy or sell anything. If you are thinking about investing consider the risk. Everyone’s financial situation is different. Consult your financial advisor.