LSA Connect

Economic Update 8-19-2024

• Economic data for the week included both producer and consumer price indexes coming in lower, showing continued deceleration toward more normal levels. Retail sales and consumer sentiment improved, while industrial production and housing starts declined, with the latter likely driven by weather-related events.

• Equities gained ground globally, following a week of high volatility, with both the U.S. and foreign markets seeing similar gains. Bonds also fared well as yields fell in response to decelerating inflation. Commodities were mixed with metals up and energy down, despite higher Middle East tensions.

U.S. stocks reversed course from the prior week’s volatility, earning the best weekly returns in a year. By sector, growth leadership resumed with technology gaining nearly 8% (led by a 20% rise in NVIDIA), followed by consumer discretionary up over 5% (with Starbucks gaining sharply after appointing a new CEO from Chipotle). Laggards included communications, as well as energy and utilities, all of which were up only about a percent. Real estate was only slightly positive. Interestingly, declines in Alphabet/Google have been somewhat muted considering the U.S. Justice Department’s interest in potentially breaking up the firm due to what are claimed to be monopolistic practices.

Economic Update 8-12-2024

• In a week of limited economic data, reports included improvement in ISM services indexes, while jobless claims fell back from recent higher levels.

• Equities continued to experience the highest levels of volatility in months, with a net result of little change for the week in the U.S. and small gains in foreign markets. Bonds fell back generally, along with a backup in yields. Commodities saw gains, led by crude oil as demand worries faded a bit.

U.S. stocks experienced one of the more interesting weeks in some time—in fact, it featured the single worst and single best days since 2022. By sector, industrials and energy led with gains of over a percent each, while laggards included materials and consumer discretionary (Tesla and McDonald’s), each down over -1%. Real estate fell back only slightly, despite the sharp rise in yields, which also negatively affected small caps broadly.

Economic Update 8-05-2024

• Economic data for the week included the U.S. Federal Reserve keeping key interest rates steady, as expected. On the positive side, pending home sales rose, while negative data included ISM manufacturing, construction spending, and jobless claims. The monthly employment situation report for July disappointed, with fewer jobs and a higher unemployment rate.

• Equities fell back globally, with economic and policy concerns outweighing decent U.S. corporate earnings reports. Bonds fared quite well as interest rates plummeted across the curve. Commodities lost ground for the most part, due to demand concerns, with the exception of precious metals.

In what some have called one of the more important weeks of the year thus far, the U.S stock market did not disappoint in terms of volatility. While a Wed. rally came along with Fed hints toward a September start to interest rate cuts, by Thu., weaker economic growth, including manufacturing ISM and jobless claims, as well as the employment report on Fri., which reversed that exuberance in a downward direction, raising some concerns the Fed has waited too long to ease and/or that their language about a Sept. cut wasn’t quite convincing enough. Non-committal language has often been the hallmark of the Fed, as it’s been more focused on keeping itself flexible in response to changing conditions; however, weakening in a few areas certainly does raise the odds for a Sep. cut, as well as potentially for cuts in Nov. and Dec. as well, as needed. In fact, after the weak July jobs report, odds have risen for a -0.50% cut by Sep. (possibly assuming a cut made in-between meetings, which the Fed can do, at the risk of raising market anxiety even further), to a year-end rate of 4.00-4.25% (implying five cuts in total). In addition, some polls have shown a slide in former President Trump’s odds versus Vice President Harris, which has caused an unwind for stocks tied to benefits of a pro-business and looser regulatory regime.

Economic Update 7-29-2024

• Economic data for the week included 2nd quarter U.S. GDP ramping back up to above-trend levels, a mixed environment for recent durable goods orders, and declines in both existing and new home sales.

• Equities were mixed last week, with gains in U.S. value and small cap, offset by declines in U.S. growth and internationally. Bonds gained along with falling yields, as inflation remained contained. Commodity prices fell across the board last week, led by energy and metals.

U.S. stocks were mixed again last week with ‘value’ ending in the positive, outperforming ‘growth,’ which saw sharp declines. Small cap also ended several percentage points higher, continuing a stretch of recent rapid outperformance. By sector, utilities, health care, materials, and financials ended in the lead with gains of over 1%, while communications (Alphabet and Disney), consumer discretionary (Tesla and Starbucks), and technology lagged with declines of several percent. Real estate ticked slightly higher, as interest rates declined.

Economic Update 7-22-2024

• Economic data for the week included retail sales coming in stronger than expected, in addition to gains in industrial production and housing starts. The index of leading economic indicators continued to decline, albeit at a slower rate than the prior month. Political rhetoric on both sides appeared to be a stronger driver of investment sentiment for the week.

• Global equities lost ground last week based on a variety of concerns, notably potential tighter chip restrictions on China, which punished technology stocks. Bonds also fell back as yields rose across the board. Commodities were generally down along with a stronger dollar, with declines in industrial metals and energy.

U.S. stocks behaved unusually last week, with a sharp reversal downward in large cap growth segments, offset by better returns from cyclicals, which included value and especially strong relative results from small cap stocks. In fact, the partial recovery of small cap compared to large cap was one of the fastest in recent memory. By sector, energy led with a gain of 2%, followed by financials and consumer staples. On the negative side, technology suffered with a -5% loss (highlighted by Nvidia’s near -10% decline), along with communications and consumer discretionary, each down nearly -3%. Real estate fared positively, despite interest rates inching higher.

Economic Update 7-15-2024

• Economic data for the week included consumer price inflation coming in slower than expected, continuing a path of deceleration, while producer price inflation ticked up a bit from recent trend. Consumer sentiment continued to be negatively affected by higher price levels of the past several years.

• Global equities gained ground along with the lower U.S. inflation report and dovish central bank commentary. Bonds also fared well, along with falling yields, especially in foreign debt markets as the dollar weakened. Commodities generally lost ground for the week.

U.S. stocks saw gains last week, with small caps up sharply relative to large caps, reversing weakness from much of this year. By sector, ‘value’ outperformed ‘growth,’ with utilities, materials, and health care seeing the strongest results of around 3% or better, while communications fell by over -3% (led downward by Meta and Netflix) and minimal gains in technology. Real estate gained over 4% along with the fall in yields.

Economic Update 7-08-2024

• On a holiday-abbreviated week, economic data included ISM manufacturing and services both falling and ending June in contraction. The employment situation report was strong on a headline level, but less so under the surface, with the unemployment rate rising by a tenth of a percent.

• Equities gained ground worldwide last week, in both developed and emerging markets. Bonds also rallied as yields fell, especially in foreign markets as the U.S. dollar declined. Commodities fared well as the price of oil rose by a few percent.

U.S. stocks gained last week, with large cap growth outperforming, while small caps lagged with a decline. Fed Chair Powell’s speech at the ECB Forum on Central Banking in Portugal was taken well by markets, noting the growth in “two-sided” risks in achieving employment and inflation goals, which was a “big change” compared to a year ago. By week’s end, the June employment situation report was nuanced enough to show weakening at the edges, which was seen as potentially moving toward the path of at least some Fed easing becoming appropriate sooner than later. Earnings releases for Q2 are beginning this week, to likely take over investor attention.

Economic Update 7-01-2024

• Economic data for the week included the final release of Q1 U.S. GDP being revised up slightly, flattish durable goods orders, rising home prices, and lower new home sales. On the inflation side, core PCE continued to decelerate lower.

• Equities were mixed last week, with flattish results in the U.S., except for small cap, which gained, and varied results abroad. Bonds generally lost ground as yields rose. Commodities were little-changed with a slight rise in the price of crude oil.

U.S. stocks were mixed last week, with large caps little changed, and small caps seeing gains. The end of the quarter has tended to be an unusual time, due to a variety of portfolio clean-up, ‘window dressing,’ and index rebalancing issues as considerations, leading to movements in both directions. It’s also possible that President Biden’s perceived poor performance in the first candidate debate caused another cloud to form over the election, with markets disliking uncertainty more than anything. By sector, energy led with gains of nearly 3% (with rising odds of a Trump victory pointing to better prospects for fossil fuels rather than green energy), followed by a slight gain in communications. On the lagging side, materials and utilities lost about a percent. Real estate gained despite interest rates ticking higher.

Economic Update 6-24-2024

• Economic data for the shortened week included some gains in retail sales and better results for industrial production, while existing home sales and housing starts fell back.

• Equities saw further gains globally, led by international more than U.S., where value outpaced growth. Bonds were mixed to lower as yields ticked higher. Commodities were also mixed, with declines in grains offset by a rise in crude oil.

U.S. stocks saw moderate gains in the four-day trading week, with mixed economic data to react to. By sector, consumer discretionary, energy, financials, and industrials all saw gains of at least a percent, which led to sharper ‘value’ outperformance over ‘growth’ for a change. Utility and technology (mostly due to Nvidia and Apple) stocks lagged the pack with negative returns, with the aside that Nvidia overtook Apple and Microsoft as the largest stock in the world, as measured by market cap. Real estate also fell back by nearly a percent with yields moving higher.

Economic Update 6-17-2024

• Economic data for the week included the Federal Reserve meeting ending with no policy change, as expected, with continued hawkish views compared to earlier this year. Consumer and producer price inflation metrics both showed positive signs of slowing this week, albeit driven by volatile energy prices. Consumer sentiment remained weak.

• Equities were mixed globally, with gains in the U.S. and emerging markets, while Europe and Japan experienced declines. Bonds rallied upon lower inflation and resulting lower yields. Commodities gained due to strength in crude oil.

U.S. stocks saw gains, led by improved inflation numbers mid-week, and subsequent drop in interest rates, as well as seemingly continued optimism over artificial intelligence (particularly as related to new Apple products). By sector, technology again led the way, up 6% percent with strength from several members, including Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Adobe. The majority of other sectors ended in the red, led by -2% declines in financials and energy. One of the more volatile stocks was Tesla, which finally ended in the positive after Elon Musk’s massive pay package was approved by shareholders. Real estate also saw gains of over a percent in response to falling yields.

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) kept the federal funds rate unchanged at 5.25-5.50% in their June meeting, continuing the range set since July 2023 without any dissenting votes. The formal statement was only slightly adjusted to reflect “modest” progress towards their inflation goal. The June Summary of Economic Projections (SEP) updated the Fed funds rate estimates for the end of 2024, 2025, and 2026 to 5.1%, 4.1%, and 3.1%, respectively. This marks an increase of 0.5% for 2024 and 0.2% for 2025 from the March estimates. The FOMC’s “dot plot” now suggests 1-2 rate cuts this year, down from the three expected in March.

Market expectations, as seen in the CME Fed funds futures, had nearly guaranteed no change in rates for the June meeting, with odds for July ranging between 80-90% for no change. September odds for a quarter-percent cut have risen to over 60%, while December expectations hover around two cuts. Projections for September 2025 indicate rates might fall to approximately 4.00%, implying 5-6 cuts from current levels.

Economic Update 6-10-2024

• Economic data for the week included gains in ISM services coupled with a decline in ISM manufacturing. The monthly employment situation report came in stronger than expected.

• Equities earned positive results globally last week, led by the U.S. growth sector. Bonds also fared positively, as interest rates broadly declined. Commodities fell across the board last week.