Public MegaCap-8 Stocks Had a Very Bad 2022 Jan 2, 2023 2 min read Sometimes it is better to own a small boat than a very large yacht. The former is cheaper to operate and easier to maneuver. The MegaCap-8 stocks won the S&P 500 regatta during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021. They badly underperformed during 2022 once the pandemic abated. (The MegaCap-8 stocks are Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Netflix, NVIDIA, and Tesla.) Consider the following: (1) Market capitalization. Ed Yardeni
Paid The Economic Week Ahead, January 3-6 Jan 1, 2023 2 min read paid The first week of 2023 will be action packed, especially with so many labor market indicators coming out. If they are too strong, investors will fear higher-for-longer interest rate hikes by the Fed. If they are too weak, investors will fear an impending recession. The first scenario is bad for stocks and bonds. The second scenario is bad for stocks but good for bonds. If the upcoming batch of labor Ed Yardeni
Paid Happy CPI Inflation Surprise Coming Jan. 12? Dec 29, 2022 2 min read paid The stock market could start to discount the possibility of a lower-than-expected December CPI report, which will be released on January 12. This prediction doesn't come with a money back guarantee. However, here are some clues suggesting that inflation may be falling faster than widely expected: Ed Yardeni
Public Regional Puzzle Pieces Showing Slowing Economy & Inflation Dec 28, 2022 2 min read Almost everyone working on Wall Street is on vacation, except for the bears. They've been munching on stock prices, especially those of some of the MegaCaps like Tesla and Apple. There was a Santa Claus rally, sort of, when the S&P 500 climbed 14% from October 12 through November 30. But it has fizzled since then as investors fretted about further Fed tightening and a recession Ed Yardeni
Paid Bonds Weigh On Stocks Dec 27, 2022 1 min read paid The 10-year US Treasury bond yield rose from a recent low of 3.425% on December 7 to 3.849% today, the highest since early November. We still believe it peaked at 4.248% on October 12. The spread between the 10-year and 2-year US Treasuries remained inverted at 50bps today. An inverted yield curve tends to coincide with the end of monetary policy tightening cycles and peaks in the Ed Yardeni
Public 2023: Another Year of Living Dangerously? Dec 26, 2022 2 min read With the benefit of hindsight, the title of this QT certainly applied to 2022. It was a tough year for investors. The consensus view is that 2023 could be as tough: (1) A December NYT opinion piece by Peter Coy is titled, "A Strong Signal That Recession Is Looming." He focuses on the inverted yield curve, which often in the past accurately predicted a financial crisis that morphed Ed Yardeni
Public What Are We Rooting For? Dec 22, 2022 2 min read On Tuesday, the stock market sold off on fears of a hard landing. On Wednesday, the market rallied on better-than-expected earnings reports from Nike and FedEx and better-than-expected consumer confidence. Today, the market sold off on news that the labor market remains tight, raising fears of higher-for-longer Fed rate hiking. On the other hand, the Index of Leading Economic Indicators, released today, was very weak. After the close yesterday, Micron Ed Yardeni
Paid Is Santa Making A Comeback? Dec 21, 2022 1 min read paid Stock prices rebounded solidly from yesterday's selloff. Better-than-expected news from Nike and FedEx helped reduce fears of a hard landing with free-falling earnings. So did a better-than-expected rebound in December's preliminary reading on the Consumer Sentiment Index (chart). Ed Yardeni
Public Fireworks Before Christmas? Dec 20, 2022 2 min read Santa is on his back foot. Fed Chair Powell's presser was hawkish last Wednesday. Thursday's batch of economic indicators seemed to support the hard-landing scenario. Could the Santa Claus rally make a comeback before Christmas despite the Grinch at the Fed? It could, depending on November's personal income report to be released on Friday. We think that it will confirm that inflation is moderating Ed Yardeni
Paid S&P 500 Consensus Forecasts Relatively Steady Recently Dec 19, 2022 1 min read paid We now have analysts' consensus estimates for the operating earnings per share of the S&P 500 through the December 15 week. They lowered their forecast for Q4-2022, now showing a gain of only 0.4% y/y. The actual results will be released by the companies during the upcoming earnings reporting season in January and February. The analysts' estimates for the four quarters of next year Ed Yardeni
Public Bears Are Having A Field Day, Again Dec 18, 2022 2 min read Increasing market concern about a recession next year and triple-witching on Friday caused the S&P 500 to close out the week at 3852.36, its lowest level since November 9. It’s down 5.6% so far in December from its recent high of 4080.11 on November 30, but is still up 7.7% from its October 12 low of 3577.03. The index has made three Ed Yardeni