Yardeni QuickTakes (Page 63)

Is Everybody (Too) Happy?

Dec 20, 2023 3 min read

Everybody in the stock market (at least everybody with long positions, which includes most investors) has been happy since the S&P 500 bottomed on October 27—until it stumbled a bit today. The market was up in the morning despite a dive by FedEx shares. But stock prices tumbled during a late afternoon selloff. Most pundits concluded that the market was overbought and due for a correction. We

Ed Yardeni

Dr Ed's Video Webcast 12/20/23

Dec 20, 2023 1 min read paid

The bears who still expect a recession base their arguments on historical precedents: At times in the past when economic indicators were flashing the signs they are today, recessions occurred. But we see good reasons not to apply past rules of thumb to the current set of circumstances. Moreover, our Roaring 2020s thesis that widespread adoption of new technologies will set off a productivity boom is unfolding. As a result,

Ed Yardeni

Dow's New High Should Be Confirmed By Transports In Early 2024

Dec 19, 2023 2 min read paid

Real GDP is now estimated to be up 2.7% (saar) during Q4, according to the Atlanta Fed's GDPNow tracking model. The estimate was raised from 2.6% following the release of today's housing starts report for November. Residential starts increased 14.8% last month to 1.56 million (saar), the highest in six months. Single-family starts jumped 18.0%, while starts of multifamily projects increased

Ed Yardeni

Inflation: China Is Killing It

Dec 18, 2023 2 min read paid

What have we learned about inflation over the past year? One of the main reasons that the US doesn't need to have a recession to bring down inflation is that China is having the recession for us. China's property bubble has burst, and the deflationary consequences are far greater and more global than those following the bursting of similar bubbles in Japan during the late 1980s

Ed Yardeni

Market Call: Investors Broadening Their Horizon

Dec 17, 2023 2 min read paid

The current bull market started during October of last year. Since then, the bears have been warning that it was a rally in a bear market. That's because most of them expected a recession, and many of them still do. In addition, they've observed that the rally has been narrowly led by the MegaCap-8. The rest of the stock market seemed to be comatose. Our view

Ed Yardeni

The Economic Week Ahead: December 18 - 22

Dec 17, 2023 2 min read paid

On Wednesday, at his presser, Fed Chair Jerome Powell sounded more dovish. So bond and stock prices continued to rally on expectations that the Fed might cut the federal funds rate three times in 2024 by 75bps in total. On Friday, NY Fed President John Williams pushed back by saying, "We aren't really talking about rate cuts right now." More Fed officials will weigh in on

Ed Yardeni

DEEP DIVE: The Fed - Tightening Or Merely Normalizing?

Dec 15, 2023 3 min read paid

Based on November’s employment report released on Friday, we can safely conclude that there is still no sign of an impending recession. The Godot recession is still a no-show. Our soft-landing (a.k.a. rolling recession) scenario remains intact, as it has since early last year. The diehard hard landers are still expecting a recession, as they have been since the Fed started to tighten in early 2022. But

Ed Yardeni

Bond & Stock Prices In Mini Meltup Over Soft Landing

Dec 14, 2023 2 min read

Investors are obviously relieved that the economy may be on a sustainable soft-landing path and might avoid a recession (again) in 2024. They are especially relieved that Fed Chair Jerome Powell recently implied that he and his colleagues are relieved about this too and are talking more dovish now: (1) Waller. For example, two weeks ago, Fed Governor Christopher Waller, in a November 28 speech titled, "Something Appears to

Ed Yardeni

Dr Ed's Video Webcast 12/14/23

Dec 14, 2023 1 min read paid

The economy has proven resilient, defying all the reasons it shouldn’t be, to which diehard hard landers still cling. We expect that it will remain resilient and that inflation will continue to fall to the Fed’s target (a.k.a. “immaculate disinflation”). In this scenario, the Fed won’t be rushing to ease and won’t ease by much. The Fed’s policy stance is perhaps better cast

Ed Yardeni

Stock & Bond Prices Flying With The Fed's Doves

Dec 13, 2023 3 min read paid

Today's Summary of Economic Projections (SEP) released by the FOMC after the committee's meeting was dovish. As a result, bond and stock prices continued their Santa Claus rallies that started at the beginning of November. The most important change in the latest SEP from the previous one during September is that the federal funds rate is projected to fall in 2024 to 4.6% rather than

Ed Yardeni

S&P 500 Earnings At Record High

Dec 12, 2023 2 min read paid

Yippee! S&P 500 operating earnings per share rose to a record high in Q3, for the first time since Q2-2022, and its 4.6% y/y increase was the first such gain in four quarters (chart). Forward earnings rose to another record high during the December 7 week, suggesting the same for actual earnings during Q4. The just-ended earnings recession was very mild, with three back-to-back quarters of

Ed Yardeni

Continue To Underweight Commodities & Emerging Markets In Global Portfolios

Dec 11, 2023 2 min read

The global economy is growing, but at a slow pace. Much of the weakness is attributable to the recessions in China and Europe. US economic growth is slowing from Q3’s rapid pace. Much of the weakness is structural in China but cyclical in the US and Europe. The latter two are likely to grow in 2024, but China will probably remain weak. This implies that commodities and emerging markets

Ed Yardeni

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