Tag Archives: SPX

A Little Jog to the Left

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I ask for your patience here as I wade through the gratifyingly endless volume of responses that I received for the GRA logo contest. Hopefully, I’ll be back to you by Christmas; if not, T’isha B’av for sure.

Besides, they’s a good deal going on these days. It’s not every week, after all, that we lose three iconic nonagenarians (Carter, Munger and O’Connor) and an even more iconic centenarian (Kissinger).

But on a happier note, published reports confirm that the long-awaited sequel to the magnificent film “This is Spinal Tap” is in the works, set for release in 2024 – forty years after the original. It follows the format of Marty’s singular “The Last Waltz” and features cameos by no less than Paul McCartney, Elton John and God knows who else.

This is indeed cause for unmixed celebration. The original lineup of David, Nigel and Derek will all be in the house, and the whole shebang will be directed, yet again, by the indisputably talented but (to my taste) personally annoying Rob Reiner.

No announcement has been made as to the drummer. But having gone through 32 can slammers in their original run, each of whom died — not due to natural causes but rather from such improbable catastrophes as spontaneous combustion, and (everyone’s fave), choking on vomit (not his own), I don’t reckon it matters.

I’m also glad to find the lads solvent. Over 30 years, the owners of the original film – Vivendi, SA – paid out a total of less than $200 to the creators. Who sued. And finally settled for an undisclosed sum almost certainly reaches the nine-figure threshold.

And the episode offers this week’s first risk management teaching moment.

The beef, as I understand it, derives from the band having struck their deal on a net rather than gross revenue basis. Thus, while even those rascals at Vivendi acknowledged consistent mega sales of the film and its merch, they claimed zero profits, presumably having creatively journaled over bucketfuls of dubious expenses to eradicate revenue streams a large portion of which would otherwise have been owing to the actual creators of the product.

Though it pains me to disclose it, this is a well-worn lick in the investment industry. So, I urge my risktaking minions to carefully monitor the expenses which are being applied to their accounts for the purposes of calculating annual compensation.

But it’s all about the art, now, isn’t it? The Tapsters have a very prolific original catalogue, perhaps topped off by the sublimely named LP “Intravenous De Milo”, whose cover features the famously armless statue on the receiving end of a fluid conveying medical device.

It was followed up by a couple of other gems “Shark Sandwich” (for which one prominent critic offered the two-word review: “shit sandwich”) and perhaps their magnum opus “Smell the Glove”.

As Tap-heads such as myself are only too aware, StG almost didn’t get released, due to a dispute over the cover art. The band wanted a dainty, romantic image of a leather-mittened man with his hand in the face of a woman on all fours. The unsentimental suits at Polymer Records said no dice, and the record came out with a blank, black cover.

This pissed the boys off, until the Tufnel pointed out that the image begged the question “how much blacker can you get?” and also supplied the answer: “none more black”.

But Tufnel was always the philosopher of the ensemble, having also famously designed a guitar whose volume dials peaked out not at 10, but rather at 11.

All of which leads us to this week’s investment conundrum. Though the answer presumably lies somewhere in the middle, one could justifiably take either side of a debate as to whether the markets we confront are in “none more black” or in “dials turned to 11” configuration.

I know, I know. Recent pricing action favors the latter over the former. But is it reliable? Risk assets all still hover at dubiously gratifying thresholds. General Dow, for example, down for the year as of a month ago, is no knocking on the door of a double digit ytd return.

Treasury yields, energy prices, the VIX, are all, pleasingly at or near their recent lows.

So, why do I feel as though we are lurching towards a “none more black” moment?

About the best explanation I can come up with is that economic conditions cannot improve much from here.

Inflation is on the down, Recession is nowhere imminent, earnings growth has returned, and multiples are below their 5-year averages.

If these conditions persist, one could envision cranking the dials up tot 12, or (dare I say it?) even 13.

But can the environment weaken. Can “none more black” darken further?

I suppose it’s possible.

And I’m not sure we’re ready for it.

I suspect that as this final month of the year unfolds, the bulls will seek to continue their stampede. Because, if they ain’t goin’ down, and seeing as how this is the month we get paid and all, we might as not push ‘em up.

They might break some new ground here. Whether they can hold it is another matter.

Because, for all the giddy euphoria we are currently experiencing – some of which extends beyond the impacts of post-Spinal Tap announcement bliss, the Gallant 500 is trading at precisely the level where it resided on exactly two years ago.

It reminds me of that unfortunate episode in the original Spinal Tap when the band got lost between the dressing room and stage underneath a stadium in Cleveland, were guided by a custodial gentleman to “take a little jog to the left”, and, having done so, shortly found themselves back in the custodian’s presence.

Only this time, rather than dubiously and tentatively emerging from an extended lockdown, we are in the midst of an economic renaissance.

It also bears mention that back in the palindromic month of 12/21, All God’s Children were making a fortune in the markets. I could scarcely walk down the street without someone buttonholing me to informed me that they’d cracked the code of the equity complex.

These proclamations dwindled shortly thereafter and disappeared altogether across the coursings of 2022. Folks in my world have had a good year but seem to be doing less chest puffing this time around.

And I cannot resist the temptation to worry aloud about our own, discernible “little jog to the left”. It is arguably running out of steam, and, truth is, we won’t know for sure until next November, when America goes to the mailbox which passes for a ballot box in these troubled times.

For the sake of the markets, I’m gonna hope that we foresake, politically speaking, on that “little jog to the left”, because if we take it, the BEST we can hope for I feel is a second encounter with our friendly subterranean janitor.

But Spinal Tap is back, and I have every expectation that they will make it unimpeded to the stage. The talented Mr. Reiner, who always takes that little jog to the left, will resume his post behind the lens, but apparently his attention will be divided, as I read this past week of a soon to drop 10-episode that purports, with trademark Reiner humility, to have definitively cracked the JFK assassination.

The JFK podcast is a hard pass for me, but I’m all in on Tap. The show is a-ways off, and we’ve got some wood to chop between now and then. I wouldn’t get too jiggy about incremental risk assumption in the meanwhile. I think, rather, the next few months will feature intervals of imposed capital preservation.

Which, if successful, will allow us to Smell the Glove once again.

TIMSHEL

Here’s the Story

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I read, with mixed regret and a great deal of interest, that a certain residence: 11222 Dilling Street in Studio City, CA, is up for sale. More pertinently, this 2,500 square foot, 2 bedroom/3 bath dwelling, has been since time immemorial, the home of the Bradys.

My first reaction (a logical one I feel) was to scream “Fake News!” After all, everyone knows that whatever else its appeal (sliding doors, eat in kitchen, etc.), 11222 Dill contains NO bathrooms. I think there was a closet with a mirror and a sink, where those whacky kids used to fight from time to time for sufficient space to brush their unilaterally, impossibly white teeth. But a bathroom? No.

However, I’ve checked and it’s true, Casa Brady is indeed on the market, and for the bargain price of $1.85 mil. And part of me feels that we’re all worse off for the prospective transaction. I developed an early fascination with the Bradys, perhaps in part because the Bunch are my chronological peers. I’m a little younger than Jan; a little older than and Bobby.

So when the series was in Prime Time, I never missed an episode, realizing even at a young age, that it offered a perfect caricature of life in 1970s America at its campiest and blandest. That it did so in contemporaneous time, and without any intended irony, is a marvel for the ages. It ran for about 6 seasons, but was eventually cancelled because the kids got too old. And neither Mike and Bobby’s dubious perms, nor the arrival of the ill-matched, misanthropic Cousin Oliver, could salvage it. But as the saying goes, Old Bradys die hard. A couple of years later, the cast convened through a variety series, which, somehow, and against all odds, managed to outdo even the Brady Bunch in Brady-ness. The same could be said of a spinoff called The Brady Brides, in which newly betrothed Marcia and Jan seek to economize by moving in together with husbands that hated each other. Trust me on this one: hilarity did indeed ensue.

Lingering, still, is the Marcia/Jan debate, and, to me, despite having a soft spot for Jan (easily the most unhinged of the Brady scions), in terms of romantic appeal, it’s no contest. It’s Marcia, Marcia, Marcia. Even with her banged up nose. But I do have one further matter to get off my chest: once, in a fit of sheer boredom, I took a BuzzFeed quiz to determine whether I was more Marcia or Jan, and I came up unambiguously as Jan. I posted the results Facebook.

But as Mick once sang (on a record that was released, as it happens, about the time that the Bradys kids hit their aggregate hormonal peak) “Time waits for no one”. Not even a Brady. Mike and Carol are both dead. Alice is dead, as is Sam the Butcher. Mangy mutt Tiger disappeared with no explanation after Season 1, and, nearly 5 decades later, we can perhaps safely conclude that he too has gathered to the dust of his forebears. Greg rocks a weave/dye job, and croons the borscht belt circuit. Marcia is born again, and no longer speaks to Jan. Peter turns up on the telly here and there. Cindy, I believe, is a radio DJ with pretty solid rock sensibilities. Bobby, improbably, sells decorative concrete on his home turf near Salt Lake City.

So maybe it was indeed time to sacrifice 11222 Dill, but I felt it my responsibility to not allow this milestone to pass unremarked.

So that’s the story. At least that story. But meanwhile, what’s ours?

Well, I’ve nothing to relate that rises to the dignity of the Johnny Bravo episode (or the one where Marcia resorts to cross-dressing, in her hot pursuit of the adorable Davy Jones), but it’s not like we don’t have some ground to cover, so let’s get to it, shall we?

In simpler times (say, suburban L.A. – circa 1972), market participants might’ve casted their collective focus on the many salient data points coming our way,: the acceleration of the earnings calendar, Fed Chair Powell’s testimony on Capitol Hill, and other information flows directly tied to the fortunes of the global capital economy. However, these are anything but simple times, because among other things, our fearless leader accomplished the nigh-impossible, drawing incremental attention to himself – at a point when his face had already become more ubiquitous than that of Orwell’s Big Brother.

More specifically, he’s fighting with everyone, and in doing so, is channeling his inner Jan: always at risk of descending into phantasmagoric delusion (the wig episode, the made up boyfriend, etc.) One time, she even decided, and was accommodated in this wish, to disown the entire Brady crew. And Trump is acting out in similar fashion. He’s brawling, of course, with China, with Europe, and even with Canada for God’s Sake. In his own way (though the superficial narrative runs in the other direction), he’s circling in menacing fashion around Russia. Moreover,, in addition to his longstanding beefs with the FBI, CIA and Justice Department, he’s now picking bones with the supposed-to-be-independent Federal Reserve Bank of the United States.

These are serious matters, but the markets, like the Bradys did to Jan in the aforementioned episode, have chosen to to pretend he’s not there. Thus, just as Jan’s brothers and sisters simply hopped around her when she tried to disrupt a backyard sack race, investors ignored such matters as threats to up the Chinese tariff ante to a cool $500B, and shade throwing at our Central Bank, and went about their business.

They didn’t have much to show for their efforts, but they did manage to gather themselves sufficiently to push the Gallant 500 up about 9 handles for the week (0.27%), and a similar tale can be told about our other favorite indices. Treasuries sold off a bit, pushing yields from ~2.82 to ~2.89, but continue to trade in the narrowest ranges witnessed for more than a decade. The Bloomberg Commodity Index was able to register a pulse, with my victimized grains catching a small bid, but other components – particularly the whole metals complex – continuing their descent into the netherworld. Thus, if nowhere else, we see the trade war risk premium rising in the mundane world of commodities.

Earnings, thus far, have been a mixed bag, with winners such as Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Microsoft being offset by disappointers including eBay, NetFlix (improbably) and (of course) General Electric. Howver, with 17% of the SPX clocking in, the market is still on pace to reach its socialized target of >20% earnings growth, and if the trend continues, no one should complain.

Casting our eyes towards the VIX, we note benign volatility conditions, but again, that’s not the whole story on vol. As we’ve discussed, the VIX is a rolling measure of at-the-money SPX implied volatility, and it is indeed low by any relative/historical standard. But if one looks out at the tails of the volatility plain – i.e. the realms where investors actually purchase portfolio protection, we see that they are evidencing a willingness to pay up – substantially:

Now, just like the rest of you, having always been a bit leery of the VIX, my inclination is to evaluate an index of skew thereto with a particularly jaundiced eye. But the way this thing is calculated, a value of 100 implies that investors expect a normal distribution of SPX returns, and now we’re at 160 (record levels by a wide margin), which suggests an increase in the options-projected probability of a multi standard deviation crash to statistically meaningful levels.

On the other hand, I mentioned this to a couple of clients and they usefully pointed out to me that all of the implied overpayment for portfolio protection is as strong an indicator that this here bull market has yet to run its course as any we’re likely to find in these troubled times.

I reckon we’ll see. Next week, after all, brings another big series of earnings, including the Googlers and Facebook. Beyond this, on Friday morning, we’ll get our first glimpse at Q2 GDP, and, for what it’s worth, those crazy cats at the Atlanta Fed are up to their old tricks again, turbo-charging their projections back up to a big, fat 4.5%.

Part of me wishes that they’d just make up their minds, but then again, this would be a futile gesture. The Commerce Department will make minds up for them on Friday, and that is the number that will go into the history books.

Until, of course, it is revised. And then revised again. But pretty much everyone who’s cared to look into these matters expects an exceedingly rich quarter, and here it bears remembering, because > 4% prints on GDP don’t last forever.

On the other hand, nothing does. Last forever that is. And if you doubt this, just ask the Bradys. Given that for many of us (myself included of course) they will forever remain the perpetually perky, wellscrubbed teens and pre-teens that they always have been, it must be very upsetting for them to have their childhood home sold right out from underneath their feet. Here’s hoping that the buyer(s) whoever they may be, understand that they are not purchasing a house, but rather, a shrine.

And yes, I’ve considered bidding myself. But it’s a stretch. I can probably scrape together the 1.85 large asking price, but with little margin for error. More importantly, this would leave me with almost no financial resources to undertake certain structural adjustments that I feel are just nigh essential.

I probably don’t need to elaborate here other than to state that, at my advanced age, an upgrade in the plumbing arrangements at 11222 Dilling Street, Studio City, CA is among the most effective risk management actions of which I possibly can conceive.

If I were to take this step, it would be important for me to remind myself that my life in Studio City would not fit into tidy 22 minute segments, resolving themselves in crescendos of happy endings and lessons learnt. This is particularly true 45 years after the demise of the Brady Bunch, and even moreso in today’s markets. It’s tricky out there; not much edge to be found anywhere. Be forewarned.

TIMSHEL

Pearl of the Quarter

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On the water down in New Orleans, my baby is the pearl of the quarter,

She’s a charmer like you never seen, singing voulez voulez voulez vous,

Where the sailor spends his hard-earned pay, red beans and rice for a quarter,

You can see her almost any day, singing voulez voulez voulez vous,

I walked alone down the Miracle Mile, I met my baby by the Shrine of the Martyr,

She stole my heart with her Cajun smile, singing voulez voulez voulez vous,

She loved the million dollar words I say, she loved the candy and the flowers that I bought her

She said she loved me and was on her way, singing voulez voulez voulez vous

— Donald Fagen/Walter Becker

A little Steely Dan on this hot, pre-holiday weekend? How ‘bout it kids? Well, anyway, it’s my call, and I say yes.

“Pearl of the Quarter” is merely one of the gem’s on the Dan boys’ 1973 “Countdown to Ecstasy” LP, the second in a string of remarkable albums, recorded over a 5-year period in the early ‘70s. The sequence begins with “Can’t Buy a Thrill”, continues on to “Ecstasy”, then soars through “Pretzel Logic”, “Katy Lied” and “The Royal Scam”. My own view is that the quality of the songwriting dropped from that point on. However, many disagree, feeling that the group’s subsequent release: “Aja”, was their finest work. But you can take that record, along with your Big Black Cow and Crimson Tide, and get out of here. There are a few sublime moments on “Aja’s” follow up: “Gaucho” (1980), but that’s about it. They didn’t hit the studio for the next 20 years, and the produced two forgettable albums around the turn of the century. Then, as I believe was a wise move on their part, they cashed in by touring for about a decade and a half (the only way even the Stones or McCartney make money these days). And now Walter Becker is dead. So it goes.

But oh those first five albums! We could’ve chosen to honor SD by featuring virtually any track contained therein. “Pearl” however, is among my faves, telling the age-old story of a loney guy falling head over ears for a Cajun prostitute in the French Quarter of the Crescent City. Her allure is irresistible, and yes, she loves him (or at least tells him so). But in her inscrutable way, she knows she must spread her love around. He knows it too.

Voulez, voulez voulez vous?

But of course, we have other reasons to home in on “POTC”. Friday, after all, marked the end of an interesting, but on the whole, frustrating, second quarter of 2018.

Across the three-month cycle, there weren’t many pearls about which to report, at least from an investment perspective. And I certainly have a personal beef with its swansong, which made hash out of a prediction of mine that the equity markets were poised for a rally.

But rally they did not. Yeah, after a horrific start, they threw me a small bone as the week wound down, picking up a skinny half a percent in the last two sessions. But their hearts weren’t in it. Friday morning, and on the back of a slight ratcheting down of the China thing, they gathered themselves for an energetic climb, but, as I suspected at the time, they lost their vitality in the afternoon. The Gallant 500 did manage to gin up a 0.3% gain for the April-June interval, and at least this is better than Q1, which socialized a loss of slightly smaller magnitude. Thus, despite an historic tax cut, an earnings cycle that has shattered records, and various other hope-inspiring catalysts, Mr. Spoo now tips the scales at +1.67%.

Of course, it could’ve been worse, and, in fact is — across most of the planet. To wit, of the ~20 indices tracked on Bloomberg’s ubiquitous World Equity Index (WEI) page, the SPX is the only one that has earned the right to paint its performance in green:

Sure, we could turn our attentions to happier environs, including those haunted by the indomitable Captain Naz (+8.79%) or Ensign Russell (+7.00% but falling fast). And certainly the news has, on balance, been positive for the holders of 10-year notes (and, lately) the USD, but I’m gonna go the whole route here and suggest to the Market Gods that, with half of the year now in the books, I’m just a tad bit disappointed.

But the Market Gods most certainly operate in mysterious ways, and who are us mere mortals to question these?

We’re entering what is likely to be a sloppy week, and I think I can speak for the market-obsessed masses when I suggest that Wednesday is the least productive day to celebrate American Independence. Most of us would prefer to either get it over with earlier, or postpone it to the end of the week so we can chop some wood before giving our shout-outs to the Stars and Stripes.

But the Julian Calendar was established well before most of you were even twinkles in the collective eyes of your forebears, so I reckon we’ll just have to live with that. Those of us who plan to return to our posts after the last Roman Candle has burned out will no doubt turn collective attention to next Friday’s Jobs Report, where the base rate is expected to hold steady at 3.8% and195K new private gigs are anticipated. The real action, though, is likely to revolve around Average Hourly Earnings, and the testing of the hypothesis of whether or not wage gain acceleration is, or ever can be, part of the picture.

This may be even more important than usual, because, as has been the case so often in recent years (and proven wrong each time), a big concern for us pointy-headed types is whether the indefatigable American Consumer might, at long last, be running out of steam. About the only interesting macro number that dropped last week was a surprising downward shift in Personal Consumption Expenditures, expected to clock in at +3.7%, but only managing to reach a tepid +2.7%. So alarming (to some at any rate) was this miss that it caused the recently high flying GDPNow Index to undertake an unsettling nosedive:

But what the Atlanta Fed taketh away, the Atlanta Fed can surely giveth back. And one thing that would almost surely invigorate both our domestic shoppers and give a boost to the broader measures of economic performance would be some evidence that pay raises, long promised, are actually manifesting.

There are indications, however, that the market doesn’t believe this to be the case – none more visible than the continued rally in global bonds, which also went against my recent call, and which now have tethered 10 year yields to a rather pedestrian 2.86%.

For those tracking such matters, yes, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead, and 10 Year Swiss Notes are still offered at negative yields.

Once we get through the holiday and the Jobs Report, we can, the following week, turn our attention to highly anticipated Q2 earnings. The early returns have been good, but of course investors have not been overly impressed; otherwise the indices would have done what I ordered and rallied.

But c’mon, people.! Estimates for the quarter are the 2nd best (i.e. after Q1) since the crash, and have actually, been rising across the last three months. This, as indicated in the following chart, is something of an anomaly:

Current P/E’s, at 16.1, are below the 5-year average but above the 10-year mean. But please; the latter takes us back to the period covering the crash and the recovery, and are hardly reflective of what might be expected across today’s strong economic environment, with very favorable financing conditions, and an awful lot of companies putting up astonishing – and still expanding – bottom line performance.

So, though chastened by my misdeeds over the last couple of weeks, I continue to project the near-term balance of the risks in the equity markets to be shaded to the upside.

And, in closing, here’s hoping that Q3 generates more pearls than what was served up to us in Q2. However, this is most certainly out of our hands. After all, sometimes you walk alone down that Miracle Mile; sometimes you do so in the most pleasant of company. And sometimes the pearls we find are artifacts of God’s perfection, while other times they are Cajun women of easy virtue, singing “voulez voulez voulez vous”.

Either way, we take what we can get, because there’s really nothing else for us to do. So we carry our lovingly purchased flowers and candy, and utter our million dollar words, often to no avail. But we return, each day, to the Shrine of the Martyr, hoping for the best.

I reckon I’ll see you there, next week. In the meantime, I bid you a happy holiday, and, as always, a heartfelt…

TIMSHEL

Ah Yes, I Remember It Well

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“We met at nine”, “We met at eight”, “I was on time”, “No, you were late”

“Ah, yes, I remember it well”

“We dined with friends”, “We dined alone”, “A tenor sang”, “A baritone”

“Ah, yes, I remember it well”

“That dazzling April moon”, “There was none that night”

“And the month was June”, “That’s right, that’s right

It warms my heart to know that you remember still the way you do

Ah, yes, I remember it well”

— Alan Jay Lerner/Frederick Loewe

First, I hope that this note has somehow found its way to at least a portion of its intended recipients, because, you see, with little fanfare, an absolute catastrophe befell the internet this last week. Lost in all of the hubbub about the Singapore Summit, IG reports, Big 3 Central Bank Policy Statements and the like, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) enacted the repeal of the 2015 Net Neutrality Act, an action which had placed federal oversight of the Internet under the jurisdiction of the Telecommunications Act of 1940. Remember the days before the FCC decided to treat the web in a manner engineered to oversee AT&T’s mid-20th Century monopoly on phone service?

Ah yes, I remember it well.

What I remember most is that before net neutrality, the web was a sleepy, dreary place. Scant content was available, and to even access the tool, one needed to attach a landline to a modem, and pray for the appearance of the flashing lightning bolt icon/ accompanying squeal sound as confirmation that a connection had been made. Then one prayed that one’s sister didn’t try to make a call or that some other disruption would take place, forcing one to start the process again.

Can you even imagine a world where the FCC cops weren’t on the job? No Twitter, no Facebook, no $%*#@!! Netflix! Luckily, back in 2014 and before, we still had our washing machine sized radios to listen to FDR’s latest Fireside Chats; otherwise, we wouldn’t have the vaguest idea what was going on in Washington, let alone more remote ports of call.

But now the evil FCC is off the case, allowing (among other things) the providers of bandwidth to charge market prices for the use of their resources. No wonder Bezos, Serge, Larry and Reed Hastings and others of their ilk — champions of the common man one and all — were crying in their soup. After all, the three companies they control (Amazon, Alphabet Google/YouTube and Netflix, respectively) currently account for more than 50% of all bandwidth usage in the world, and desperately need Uncle Sam to ensure that wicked, competitive pricing doesn’t hurt their bottom lines. Each have shareholders to whom they must answer, and since there’s an infinite amount of bandwidth available, why should they let its corporate providers cut in on their margins?

Except there isn’t. An infinite amount of bandwidth available that is. Either in any given location or across the globe. And what is available is being consumed growth rate of >50% a year. The clear answer is technology innovation, by companies like AT&T and Verizon, but it is entirely shocking that these enterprises would be allowed, as they are now, to set spectrum prices on the entities that hoover it up — in accordance with their usage, in order to underwrite capital investment.

However, as suggested in our thematic quote, the month is not April but June, placing me in something of an amorous mood. So it pleased me, speaking of AT&T, that it was allowed to consummate its star-crossed romance with Time Warner, by virtue of a Federal Court rejecting a poorly thought out Justice Department lawsuit seeking to block the marriage. Now Bugs and Ma Bell are one in the eyes of God and Investors. Here’s hoping they are fruitful and make lots of anthropomorphic rabbits, because, during this, its most important season, love is indeed in the air. Twentieth Century Fox now has not one, but two formal suitors (Disney and Comcast) for her hand. And who’s to say that it stops there?

In fact, it doesn’t. Big Don and L’il Kim were able to advance their dalliance, departing last week’s rendezvous with evidence of their intentions to expand their triste. Unfortunately, however, details of their plans to set up housekeeping were not particularly forthcoming. Elsewhere, however, amore, toujours amore, was a more uneven affair. We’re still in a tiff with Canada (though I don’t believe it will last), and the lovers’ quarrel between America and China ratcheted up a bit, with each side extorting the other to the tune of $50B of tariffs – so far. Of course, it will be us Joe Bag of Donuts types that will foot the bill, so this one may get worse before it gets better.

Of these Affairs de Coeur, markets took mixed notice. Commodity markets tumbled, as well they might’ve, with Energy, Metals, Ags and Softs all feeling the gravitational pull, and (more improbably) the USD reached its highest level in nearly a year:

This is a Commodity Index

This is a Dollar Index

Perhaps in a nod to the passion of the season, government borrowing rates dropped across the board (yes, Switzerland is again negative out 10 years), the fact that U.S Fed Chair Pow raised rates and signaled 2 more hikes this year, and that Super Mario announced the ending of euro QE notwithstanding.

But the Equity Complex continues to play hard to get. It was a flat week – at least for the Gallant 500 and his wingman, Major Dow. Captain Naz and Ensign Russell fared better, though, with both indices now resting at all-time highs.

I’d take this opportunity however, to encourage Mr. Spoo to persist in his ardor, based in part on the fact that he has a great deal to offer:

SPX P/E Hovering at 5-Year Averages:

Factset in fact(set) has Q2 earnings clocking in at +19%, and this after a similar performance in Q1.

If they’re right, then it doesn’t look to me like a 16 P/E is an extraordinary amount to pay. Plus, in light of the Judicial Ruling on Time- Warner/AT&T, still-benign financial conditions and a number of other factors, it strikes me that merger mania should persist through the next quarter at least.

However, if these arguments fail to reinforce the intestinal fortitude of my favorite index, I’d hasten to remind it of that ancient truism: faint heart never won fair lady:

In addition, it may bear mention that the VIX breached down into an 11 handle and is close to ytd lows, that the Atlanta Fed’s prediction for Q2 GDP has risen yet again to nearly 5%, and that in addition to the sublime sound of wedding bells in churchyards across this fair land, the second half of June is seasonally known for its trademark tape painting rituals.

So on the whole, I think this here market may indeed be setting itself up for a nice rally.

I wouldn’t anticipate anything particularly dramatic just yet, but the SPX does remain nearly 100 handles below its January highs, and I see no reason why it can’t gather itself to test that threshold, or even breach it, over the coming weeks.

Of course, it would be helpful if we can get that darned internet up and running again, because financial transactors have come to rely upon it (or so I’m told), and buying frenzies fueled by paper orders phoned in and transmitted through pneumatic tubes will be a highly annoying exercise. I will, however, predict that, one way or another, the markets and its participants will survive. And, in closing I hasten to remind my readers that the stock market became a global sensation while operating for more than a century with men in top hats and overcoats conducting business orally, under the shade of a buttonwood tree in Lower Manhattan.

Most of you are too young to have experienced that era, though I was only a young shaver for most of it, I can assure you that it was a magnificent time to be alive.

And yes, I remember it well.

TIMSHEL

Rules 1a and 1b

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He’s a worldwide traveler, he’s not like me or you,

But he comes in mighty regular, for one who’s passing through,

That one came in his work clothes, he’s missed his last bus home,

He’s missed a heluvalotta buses, for a man who wants to roam,

And you’ll never get to Rome, Son, and Son this is Rule 2

— P.D. Heaton

I gotta say, I love Rule 2, so much so that I even included it in my book (remember my first book?). But before we get to it, we must first, as a matter of protocol, pass, wherever it may take us, through the portal of Rule 1. Moreover, while Rule 2 is fixed for all time, Rule 1 has historically been a bit more elusive.

Moreover, recent events point to its partitioning. Hence, I give you Rule 1a: TIMING IS EVERYTHING; and RULE 1b: IT’S ALWAYS IMPORTANT TO KNOW THE SCORE.

In comforting consistency with the age-old platitude, Rules 1a and 1b, are defined by their exceptions, of which this week there were several, of varying form and consequence. Having no better alternative, I have chosen to highlight a few pertinent examples – in chronological order.

Wednesday morning, Northbrook, IL-based Pharma concern AbbVie completed the buyback of its shares – taking the form of a Dutch Tender Auction (a nuanced transaction type that I won’t bother to explain — mostly because I don’t myself understand it). The Company’s intent to do so was known in advance by investors, as was the associated amount ($7.5B). The only unknown was the price it would pay, proclaimed in the pre-open to be $105/share. Later that afternoon, however, Management awarded itself a mulligan, informing the markets that the real price was $103. The pricing action attendant to this regrettable error is as follows:

Let’s all agree that the guys and gals in the AbbVie C Suite have had better weeks.

Further, it would seem that the Company violated Rules 1a and 1b, by failing to know the score, and by mistiming by several hours the announcement of the correction.

I am sure, however, that they have learned their lesson and will, at the point of their next Dutch Tender, reveal the appropriate price at the appropriate time.

Moving on across the week, we turn to the misanthropic Earl Joseph (J.R.) Smith III – Shooting Guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Smith and the LeBron-led Cavs entered the 2018 NBA finals as deep dogs to the annoyingly flawless Golden State Warriors as any I can remember. But with a gritty performance in Thursday night’s opener, the team was poised to snatch Game 1, when teammate George Hill stepped to the line for the second of two free throws, which, had it gone in, would’ve given the Cavs a 1-point lead with about 4.5 seconds to go. But Hill clanked it and Smith grabbed the offensive rebound. However, instead of shooting the rock, or passing it to arguably the greatest player in NBA history (sorry MJ) for a buzzer beater, he dribbled out the clock, sending the game into overtime, where the Warriors trounced.

Some debate has ensued as to whether, at the end of regulation, J.R. knew the score, but, indisputably, his timing was off, and now his gaffe passes into history as one of the most bone-headed plays of all time.

All of which brought us to Friday morning and a much-anticipated April Jobs Report. At 7:21 EDT, President Trump issued a casual tweet that he was looking forward to the 8:30 a.m. release. Not knowing for sure what this meant, but being aware of our Chieftain’s tendency towards bravado, a segment of savvy, early rising market participants suspected that the number was going to be a good one, and promptly bought stock futures and sold bonds.

Well, waddya know? The number was indeed strong. Nonfarm Payrolls, the Base Unemployment Rate and even Hourly Earnings were all encouraging. And yes, stocks rallied and bonds sold off. Undoubtedly, here, the Trumpster knew the score, but I’ll go so far as to state my opinion that his tweet timing was indeed off.

The episode set off the usual, wearying cycle of gleeful outrage by the Administration’s enemies, combined with spin control on the part of its friends. But at the end of the day, I ask my readers to keep some perspective here. A review of the SPX and 10-Year Note trading activity during the critical time period between 7:21 and 8:30 does not support overwrought claims of market manipulation:

Nope. Not much happened during the period between when Trump scooped the jobs market, and the actual number became part of the public domain. Still and all, I wish he’d refrain from pulling these types of stunts, because they begin to give me a headache. So I offer the following risk management advice to our Commander in Chief: in those many cases when you know the score, please be careful of your timing. You had all day to brag about the jobs numbers, and a little forbearance (never your strong suit, I know) on your part might save some aggravation or worse.

But now it’s time to move to exceptions to Rule 2. Contrary to our thematic quote, I did, at least rhetorically, manage to make it to Rome last week. For lack of anything else interesting upon which to opine, I actually wrote extensively about pricing problems associated with the government debt issuing forth from that glittering capital. My timing here (it must be allowed) was impeccible, but I will in no way claim to have known the score. It came as a fairly significant surprise to me that the political throw-down in that ancient seat of wisdom would roil the global bond markets, with collateral damage spilling over to other asset classes.

But it did. Roil the bond global markets that is. Yields on the Benchmark BTP Note, having traded all year in about a 20 basis point range around 2.00% careened up to a high of 3.15% before settling on Friday at a still elevated but entirely more civilized 2.67%. The unfailingly neutral Swiss Bond stayed negative. Presumably, in a frenzied flight to, er, quality, market players bid U.S. yields – which recently hit a multi-year high of 3.11%, down to 2.78%.

I do suspect, however, that there were other, slightly technical factors that impacted these tidings. As has been reported multiple times in these pages, net short speculative open interest in 10-year futures has been hitting, and for the most part retaining, record highs in recent weeks:

So, when the big Treasury rally hit us on Tuesday, it had to me the look and feel of a short squeeze. Since Tuesday’s blowout, and in light of Friday’s Jobs Report, the U.S. 10 Year Note has since sold off to a yield of 2.90%.

I suspect that the shorts will have another go at it this month, and that we will not only test 3.00% yet again, but probably break through and hold at these levels.

In addition, after allowing on Wednesday approximately $28B of our paper to expire without repurchase this past week, the Fed Balance Sheet now stands at a paltry $4.3275 Trillion – its lowest level in 4 years. If our Central Bankers have their way, this number will decrease at an accelerating rate over the coming months and quarters.

So, with the big dog domestic buyer in belt-tightening mode, uncertainty about foreign demand among traditional owners of our paper (with whom we may now be commencing a trade war), the logical path of rates probably remains upward. Plus, the economy –even beyond the jobs report – is showing signs of feeling its oats, as evidenced in part by the impeccably accurate Atlanta Fed GDPNow Forecast:

Yes, you read that right. The boys and girls down in Georgia have Q2 GDP clocking in at 4.8%. I personally believe this is something of a pipe dream, but if that’s the number (and we won’t know until late July), then you can be pretty certain that the 10-year note will be throwing off a pretty significant amount of incremental vig.

Again, I think this number will come down considerably before it’s official, but it does seem likely that the bond bears may yet have their day.

But timing will be everything, and here’s hoping that Trump can keep his twitter finger in check. Otherwise, we may just have to move on to Rule 3.

And trust me, brother and sisters, you don’t even want to know what Rule 3 is.

TIMSHEL

Joining the Band

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Join The Band

Hey Lordy… (join the band, be good rascal…)

Hey join the band, be good rascal and join the band

Hey Lordy…

Join the band, be a good rascal and join the band

Oh huh oh ho ho ho

— Little Feat

Don’t you think the moment has come? To join the band, I mean? There are worse ways to spend your time, you know, and when Little Feat’s late and lightly lamented Lowell George asks, I believe we owe it to him to respond favorably – even four decades after the initial request.

So, even at this late date, I am inclined to take up Lowell’s invitation. However, one problem remains: which band should I join? It’s not as though I am flooded with offers; the plain truth is that I have had none. And believe me, this hurts, because these days I can really shred. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that I’d be a major asset to any ensemble fixated on the rolling decade between 1965 and 1974, and, in the right group (i.e. one that: a) narrowed its focus to 1968 through 1972; and b) let me do exactly what I wanted), I could be great.

But at my advanced age, I have learned that delusion is risky and even sometimes fatal, and this forces me to face the possibility that no rock and roll outfit will have me. However, there’s more than one kind of band to join, so I’ve chosen to take a different course, affiliating more assertively with that band of brothers and sisters that form the global financial blogosphere. It’s not as though I haven’t contributed to their catalogue; the consistent production of these weeklies, and subsequent posting to the web is, in itself a testament to my longstanding affiliation with the blog bros. But, my friends, like so many other matters, it comes down to a matter of degree. I’m going to be doing more with them, and whether I become a full-fledged member of the group, or, like Darryl Jones, who has ably managed the base lines for the Rolling Stones for a period longer than founder Bill Wyman but has never achieved full membership, linger as a side man, remains out of my hands.

Please know that I don’t take this step without due consideration. I am solemnly aware that, over the baker’s dozen years that I’ve been pumping out these weeklies, missing nary a one, through sickness and health, triumph and tragedy, that you (the reader) and me (the scribe) have developed a sacred, unshakeable bond. It would nauseate me beyond measure to think that any step I could possibly take would weaken, let alone sever, these ties. Please know that you will continue to receive these missives, under the same timelines, and based upon the identical format – one that as you know, features my often futile efforts to gather what remains of my wandering wits.

That being stated, the chattering voices inside my head have convinced me that a wider audience beckons, and that I must answer the call. So if you observe me blogging, tweeting (under the rather generic handle of @KenGrantGRA) you will have two choices. You can consider this an unacceptable betrayal on my part (I will love you no less if you do), or you can give me a pass.

Oh yeah, there is one other alternative available to you: you can join the band, the @KenGrantGRA Band, accompanying me on my virtual journey through soaring arena anthems, destroyed hotel rooms, mud sharks and other such delights.

There’s room for you (and any friends you might wish to invite) on the @KenGrantGRA Tour Bus, and Cowboy Neil (at the wheel) will pull over and let you off at any point of your own choosing. Do me a favor and think about it, OK?

*******************

Whether you believe me or not, the plain truth is that I hate to write about politics. I find it an unproductive, loser’s game. I tell myself that I have held more or less to the discipline of only doing so through the filter of political impacts on risk conditions. But you’ll have to make your own judgments as to how well I’ve actually adhered to this protocol, and how rigidly I’ll stick to the discipline going forward.

One way or another, I believe that politics hover over current market conditions in a highly menacing fashion, so this week, and perhaps for a spell going forward, I must at least move towards the borderlands of my pledge. By my judgement, Trump had by far his worst political week since he put his hand on that bible, amid so much protest, almost exactly five quarters ago. Let’s dispatch with the easily analyzed events first. Paul Ryan announced he’s stepping down at the end of his term, and, any way you look at it, this is not a positive development for the Administration. I’ve always liked my Janesville boy, and think he was one of the very few competent members of Congress. He did his homework, did his work, and, through a number of hits and misses, actually got things done. And I ask this to anyone in favor of any part of Trump’s legislative agenda: where we’d be now without his steady hand? But he’s riding off, taking the certified Republican House Majority down to a slim 22. Also, and, ominously (at least in a symbolic fashion), his departure means that nearly half (10 out of 21) Congressional Committee Chairs have now stepped down, and, given that it’s only April, that number could rise.

More chilling was the raid on Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s office and home by those fluffy fellows from the Office of the United States Attorney Southern District of New York. Acting on a referral from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, they forced their way into Attorney Cohen’s private professional and personal lairs, and seized pretty much anything that wasn’t nailed down. Subsequent reports indicate that he’d been under investigation by the Southern District for criminal activity for several months, but the timing and the methods turn my blood to ice. Federal prosecutors have many methods to procure information from investigation targets, most notably their subpoena powers, and raids are the most aggressive of these tools. Typically, this type of thing is only justified when the target is either a flight risk (which Cohen clearly was not), or information suggests he was committing serious crimes on an on-going basis. So I hope for all our sakes, that whatever impelled the G-Men to give Cohen the Manafort Treatment be disclosed in short order. And it better be good.

Because, and I state this more in sorrow than in anger, attorney client privilege is so embedded in basic human rights as to not even require inclusion in the Constitution. It dates back to the Elizabethan Era, and is a core part of British Common law upon which our Constitution is based. We are now headed down a very slippery slope on the treacherous terrain of civil liberties, and however much you may be enraged by Trump, I urge you to bear in mind that someday, you yourself might need a good lawyer, who, if we’re not careful, may have his professional materials seized. At which point they won’t be of any use to you. If this ever happens (and I pray that it doesn’t), it’ll probably be lights out for your case. Of course, this won’t apply to everyone. If you happen to be very rich, powerful and aligned with the appropriate forces, not only will your private realms not be raided, but you will have the prerogative to respond to subpoenas by simply decided what, of the information demanded, you choose to share.

The deal struck between the Southern District and the Special Counsel is such that anything the former uncovers that might be useful to the latter will be referred back to them. And here’s where I can at least plausibly make my case of tying the political to the financial. Anyone who had a shadow of a doubt that Mueller is going for the jugular should disabuse themselves of this fantasy at the earliest convenient opportunity. There’s an end game afoot here, set to play out over the immediate months ahead, and I believe it behooves the risk sensitive to bear this in mind as they seek to navigate through these choppy market waters. Because I don’t think the markets will much like the action, however it turns out.

But equities, notwithstanding these and other worrisome events, gathered themselves in gratifying fashion this past week, with the SPX bouncing jauntily off of its 200-Day Moving Average yet again, and now resting in the friendlier confines of its 50 and 100 day equivalents. One might be tempted to ascribe the bounce to giddiness about earnings, and I’ve seen estimates of growth rise to the dignity of ~20%. But I’d be careful here. A large contingent of big banks reported on Friday (JPM, Citi, Wells, PNC) and despite ALL of them beating both profit and revenue estimates by a comfortable margin, EACH sold off in the wake of their announcements by >2%. This suggests that the bar is very high for a paradigm involving strong earnings being followed by shares being bid up.

Volatility has indeed risen in the equity markets, but perhaps a little perspective here is in order. The combination of renewed price action after the vol paralysis of last year, and a rally that has increased the denominators associated with percentage moves, may be creating the illusion that the Equity Complex is in hyper-volatility mode. However, statistics offer a different story. While February and April brought some truly noteworthy action, across the course of 2018, we’re still only looking at a standard deviation of SPX returns in the mid to high teens, which is about the norm in the modern market era. So the equity market has become more volatile, but not alarmingly so, and while it is likely to continue to rise, in percentage terms, it’s important to remember that we’re pretty much at historical norms. And in terms of options volatility, last week’s selloff in the VIX took this benchmark to under 17.5 – right about its median for the lifetime of this eccentric index.

However, in a continuation of a highly vexing pattern, non-equity asset classes remain stuck in the volatility mud. The following chart, coming to you through the courtesy of those dedicated public servants at Goldman Sachs, Inc., illustrates what it looks like when one asset class awakes from a winters-long hibernation, while others remain in blissful slumber:

I’m not entirely sure what this correlation drop implies, but it doesn’t strike me as the kind of breakdown that the ghost of Tom Petty could reasonably describe as being “alright”.

Meanwhile, as cross-asset class correlations have migrated to decade plus lows, the story is quite different within the equity complex. Here, correlations, have spiked dramatically, again as illustrated by those talented graphic artists in residence at Goldman:

Among other things, one might wish to review other periods when stock correlations took an abrupt leap forward, and the intrepid among you might choose to superimpose equity index graphs on the image. I myself am either to frightened or have too much sensitivity for my readers to connect the dots here.

It may be the case that the jump in stock correlations is more easily explained than the drop in the cross-asset class correlation metric.

To wit: there’s a great deal to worry us in current affairs that has little to do with the relative fortunes of individual companies. For one thing, us Yanks got together with the French and Brits to lob some bombs into Syria this weekend. I don’t know what impact this will have on the markets, and won’t know till at least Sunday night, so I won’t opine upon this development.

More visible is the trade war of words currently under way. No one knows how this will resolve itself, but let’s just agree that it’s a risky proposition. Certainly, the Energy Markets have taken notice, bidding up Brent Crude to a 3-year high, and even the long-suffering, ag-heavy Continuous Commodity index has shown indications of higher pricing:

Strong Trade Winds: Crude And Commodities

Thus, as anticipated, we are in what I believe to be the early innings of a high impact information cycle. My best advice is to temper your investment enthusiasm and add a healthy measure of reactivity. There are opportunities developing, but they will require all of your talents and energies to capture them. You may also wish to place an extra focus on risk management.

So maybe it’s as good a time as any for me to step up my whole blogging game. Lowell George asked for our participation, but he’s been dead for nearly 40 years, and we need to make use of the tools that are at our current disposal. Please, in any event, don’t judge me too harshly for my expanded electronic footprint. And, if the spirit moves you, be a good rascal and join my band.

TIMSHEL

I AM A MAN

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He did not want to return to Memphis. Of this I am certain. He had other fish (and perhaps some loaves) to fry. He was fully engaged in the planning of the Poor People’s Campaign/March on Washington, intended to be the largest-ever nonviolent demonstration against wealth/income inequality and general economic injustice. Maybe it’s just me, but this theme has a vague ring of modernity about it, no?

But on balance he felt he had no choice. There was an all-out crisis ‘a-brewing on Beale Street. The City’s entirely-black sanitation force was on strike. On February 1st, two of their own had been crushed by a truck, just the ghastliest episode a seemingly never-ending string of serious mishaps on the sanitation line. Their average salary was approximately $1.50/hour, and workers finally reached the limit of their patience. They walked out in demand for higher wages and safer conditions. Henry Loeb, the newly elected, somewhat reactionary mayor, declared the strike illegal, and ordered the men to return to their jobs. As always, Hoover’s FBI had its meddlesome eye on the episode.

History confirms the inevitable and let’s just say Mayor Loeb’s stance did not produce his desired outcomes. The workers stiffened, and the image of hundreds of them, each carrying a sign with the words “I AM A MAN” is, to my thinking, one of the most poignant in the history of American Social Justice.

On March 18, 1968, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King travelled to Memphis, and addressed a crowd of 25,000. At the time, he was struggling mightily to prove to his followers, skeptical global observers, and perhaps even to himself, that he could hold his movement together under the protocols of nonviolent protest. But it all went wrong that early Spring on the banks of Big Muddy. Tensions mounted, and then mounted some more. Ten days later, the thugs started looting and the police brought out the clubs/tear gas. A 16-year-old boy was killed.

King escaped out of town, but the situation did nothing but deteriorate. No, he did not want to return to Memphis, but he felt the need to restore non-violent order to the proceedings. So he came back. At 6 pm on April 4th, he stepped out on a hotel balcony and somebody took him out.

And, as of Wednesday, 50 years have gone by since that horrible night.

MLK passed into history, to my way of thinking as one of, anyway, the five greatest Americans ever to have ever lived. If he died before achieving complete solutions to the problems he attacked, it was not for lack of effort on his part. And the task needed to be undertaken. And we are all better for his works. The path he chose took vision, diligence and a holy measure of courage. And it’s abundantly clear to me that the Good Reverend Doctor knew that he was testing the prime-evil forces of nature, much as did, say, John Lennon, and knew that by doing so, he was likely to come out on nature’s losing end.

No greater proof of this prescience presents itself than his final “Mountain Top” speech, delivered at the Mason Temple, the very night before his assassination:

“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live – a long life; longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

Breathtaking.

I suspect it is more than mere coincidence that the 50th anniversary of King’s death coincides more or less with a rare, contemporaneous celebration of Passover and Easter. His final speech is clearly allegoric to the to the Book of Exodus – the story of the liberation of the Children of Israel and the latter’s subsequent delivery to the Promised Land. But as far as I am concerned, it was an intervening event that stands out as the true miracle of the tale. It is Moses going to the Mountain Top, and returning with maybe the greatest gift of all – the living laws codified in the 10 Commandments. They have stood the test of time, and remain just as they are, just as they were written by the Hand of God, some 3,500 years ago. In the intervening ~150 generations, no one has thought to expand them, reduce them, or amend them in any way. Indeed, no one, to the best of my knowledge, has ever even legitimately questioned them. And that, my friends, is both remarkable, and yes, divine. How sad it all stands – particularly in contrast to the petty moral and ethical squabbles that assault our senses, 24/7, in the present day.

**********

Some years ago I wrote what I hoped was an entertaining piece entitled “The 10 Commandments of Risk Management”. I’d love to share it with you but I can’t find it. There, I covered my usual repertoire, risk more when you’re up than when you’re down, pay attention to the small things, set objectives and constraints and live by them, yada, yada, yada. But my 10th risk management commandment was my favorite: obey the real 10 Commandments. Don’t steal. Don’t lie. Don’t kill. Don’t tale the Lord’s name in vain. Don’t covet your neighbor’s wife. I felt at the time that following these eternal rules of life would be accretive to returns, and that failure to do so would have the opposite effect.

As we close the chapter on Q1 ’18 (and I for one am glad it’s over), it is my sense that these righteous rules for the road may be more critical than ever, because we’re about to enter a very trying season, and the prospects of our reaching the Promised Land are a matter of some doubt.

After a rollicking start to the year, investor wrath emerged, seemingly out of nowhere, right around Groundhog Day, when Phinancial Phil most certainly saw his shadow. After the first frosty winds of early February, the SPX has bounced around, but remains, at the point we went to press, a wintery 10% below its recently manifested all-time highs.

My sense is that we’re entering Q2 in true jump ball configuration. With respect to virtually every risk factor/asset class, plausible arguments can be made for rallies, selloffs and stasis. However, by, say, Memorial Day, I believe markets may have a very different look and feel from that which prevails today.

I feel that the main cause of the current opaque conditions is the potential impacts of public policy, and the maddening inability for rational beings to unpack all of the mixed messages emanating from the halls of government. While I’ve made these points before, I urge my readers to be aware of the following two hypotheses: 1) whatever side of the political spectrum one chooses to plant one’s feet, certain policy paths will unleash a significant incremental rally, while others may catalyze a truly nasty selloff; and 2) whatever the outcomes of 1) the results will set a strong tone for the rest of the year and perhaps beyond.

To resume where they left off in late January, the markets need a number of factors to break their way, all achievable but each littered with doubt. They require strong earnings and quarterly macro numbers. Encouraging forward guidance from corporate chieftains is equally (if not more) essential. But perhaps above all, what is needed is some sense of stability emanating from the banks of the Potomac.

If one casts a tunnel-vision eye on private economy dynamics, there is ample reasons for optimism. Current Q1 earnings growth estimates have risen strongly over recent weeks and are clocking in at an eye-popping 17.3%. And, given the lower valuation elevations that currently prevail, on paper, there’s a tantalizing combination of profit traction and multiple contraction:

But even these, or so say the soothsayers, are in large part an artifact of a tax reform effort which, in retrospect, was arguably a heavier lift than it should’ve needed to be. The odds on likelihood is that once Easter is over, the governmental powers that be will need to have pulled some rabbits out of their collective hats to continue the happy corporate vibe.

And I’m just not sure this is in the cards. As someone who would prefer not to write about politics, and as a guy who was and is hoping that Trump will succeed, I will admit to increasing fear that he won’t hold this together, and if he doesn’t, it’s look out below. His inability to resist placing himself, virtually every moment at the center of whatever infantile psychodrama captures his wandering attentions is starting to wear thin — among even his most ardent supporters. And, while I believe investors are begging to have the opportunity to interpret policy trends as being accretive to business and markets, every time another key advisor quits (or is pushed out) under dubious circumstances, every time he tweets out an ad hominin attack on a perceived enemy, or worse, a public corporation that has gotten under his skin, I believe it further undermines confidence in the prospects for the capital economy.

If the sobriety of the proceedings further deteriorates, I don’t see how the capital markets, which should be feeling the first green shoot benefits of tax cuts and regulatory reform, can avoid losing some of their vigor. And you can look this up: Q2 economic trends in a mid-term election cycle are perhaps the most important determinant of electoral outcomes. It’s clear as day to me that if the mid-terms go badly for the Administration, a Democratic Congress will bring Articles of Impeachment to the floor. And they will pass them. They really don’t need more than a one-vote majority in the House to take this step, and I believe they will move on even the thin gruel of evidence that exists at the present moment. Because impeachment is a political, not legal process, unless something truly nasty emerges, they won’t succeed in removing Trump from office – a quixotic struggle that requires 67 senatorial votes. But I don’t think that will matter much to the markets, who will not one bit like the spectacle of impeachment.

The funny thing is, I’m not even sure that the Democratic Leadership wants to go down this path. Like Pelosi to the GOP, Trump is probably the Dem’s best political bludgeon at the moment. But they will have no choice but to proceed, because tens of millions of their constituents are out for blood, and will accept no less.

Surely the best hedge against all of this (again, from purely a market perspective) is a strong showing in the markets and in the economy in the middle part of the year. And it seems to me as though instead of acknowledging this and acting accordingly, the current Administration prefers to undertake an endless sequence of circular firing squads, taking such forms as trade wars, grandstanding attacks on individuals, entities and concepts, whose sins, whatever they may be, are best adjudicated in non-presidential forums.

Maybe Trump doesn’t know this, or maybe he doesn’t care. After all, if worse comes to worst, he can simply hop on his smoke to Mar a Lago and forget the whole sorry mess. But investors should and do care, and this is why I believe that they may read more into the gargantuan string of data points coming our way over the next several weeks than they do when the stakes aren’t so high. On the whole, I think it’s about as important a time as any in recent memory for risk-takers to remain on their toes.

If anyone has a copy of my “10 Commandments of Risk Management”, I ask them to kindly forward it to me. I think the time has come to move Commandment 10 up to the top of the list, and re-issue it. In doing so, I’d hope and expect for the blessings of both Dr. King and Moses. After all, someone has to carry the torch that they pass, and at least with respect to l’affaires des risks, it may as well be me.

Besides, I (too) AM A MAN, and, as this season of prayer and reflection winds to a close, I don’t think that this would be too much to ask.

TIMSHEL

I’m In

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I know it’s been a long week for everyone, but did you ever stop to consider, in light of the professional path I have chosen, the toll it’s taken on me?

Didn’t think so.

So, with a frazzled hope that you will temper justice with mercy, I need to inform you that I’m in. I actually bought some stock. I have long resisted the temptation to do so, chiefly due to my lack of confidence in my ability to make anything other than a mess of it. In addition, however, please feel free to consider my deference a nod to what I believe to be the preference of the clients who have given me the honor of sharing their proprietary information with me: that I eschew any direct participation in the markets in which they traffic.

Now before you get all in my grill about this breach of long-standing protocol, know that the particulars of this ad-lib are such that I gave my mother-in-law, one Elizabeth J. (Beppie) Oechsle full power of attorney on my account. Those of you who know Beppie may be aware that in addition to dishing up a mean pot roast, she is one of the savviest, and more importantly, most successful, portfolio managers in my wide acquaintance. She’s been trading actively for more than 3 decades, and has never had a down year. In fact, she has the most pristine track record of any I have encountered – setting aside, of course, the golden era of Bernard L. Madoff. Ironically, Bernie was born one month to the day after Beppie, and both will be celebrating their 80th birthdays over the next few weeks, but the similarities end there. Until I begged her to do so, Beppie had never even thought of managing anyone else’s money, so, unless she is somehow in the business of defrauding herself, we can take it as a given that her returns are legit. Let’s just hope her 30+ year hot streak continues.

But more importantly for our purposes, you need to know that this is Beppie’s show. I have no control over this account, and will use neither my experience nor my knowledge of existing market positions and flows to influence her in any way.

On a related note, it may interest you to know why I believe that now is a good time to make my move. By way of context, I had been planning on taking this step for quite some time. But I had been hesitating on pulling the trigger, and was a bit annoyed with myself, because, it seemed that the more I delayed, the higher the prices I’d be forced to pay. But I was planning on taking the plunge nonetheless.

I thought I’d caught a considerable break a week ago Friday, when – horror of horrors – the January Jobs Report showed some signs of life in terms of upward wage pressure, and investors turned tail at the first whiff of this inflationary grapeshot. Then came Monday, and oh what a ride that was. By mid-afternoon, the Gallant 500 had yielded some 140 hard-won index points before regaining some equanimity and closing down a more gentlemanly 113. Still and all, it was the biggest single day point drop in Mr. Spoo’s storied existence. While the key drivers of the plunge remain a mystery – even to Beppie – it was clear that Monday’s panic session set the tone for the rest of the week. Wild rallies and equally unhinged selloffs ensued and lasted throughout the week – all the way through the late Friday upward reversal, which added an impressive 85 handles (~3%) from the mid-afternoon lows – all in the space of a couple of getaway hours.

And that, my friends, is where we left off.

So what gives? Well, first, as has long been apparent, the suppressed volatility that has partially paralyzed (at least below the waist) equities since the 2016 election: a) could not last; and b) was likely when it ended to evince a major Newtonian reaction. Most of the market rabbis with whom I have reasoned this week are relieved that volatility has returned, and here’s hoping that they are correct – albeit in tones more subdued than last week’s. However, I’m not sure. I think there’s a fair chance that within a reasonable time frame, the equity markets simply recover lost ground and find themselves back inside the volatility vortex.

In the meantime, while I didn’t see last week’s train wreck coming, in retrospect, when it did arrive, it came as no surprise. But there were some technical factors that contributed to the mess – most notably the unwind of those beastly, levered short volatility products that never should have been sold to the public in the first place. Here, the head of the dragon was an odd little fellow called the XIV – a ticker that cleverly reverses that of the VIX index that it its mission against which to facilitate speculation. As part of its overly crafty design, the XIV combines a short position in the VIX with a long one in the SPX. Thus, when the volatility powder keg (inevitably) exploded, and XIV sell orders flooded in, the custodians of this instrument were forced, as part of liquidation, to contemporaneously buy the VIX and sell the SPX Index. This was a double whammy to the markets, that quite naturally manifested itself at the worst possible point from an investment perspective. By early evening, XIV lost > 95% of its peak market capitalization (~$6B), and had blown a hole through the equity index and volatility markets deep enough to sink a battleship. And XIV was not alone; there are dozens of these formerly high-flying products –each, best case, now flat-lining in the critical care unit.

Confused yet? You ought to be. But I think the main takeaway is that the heretofore somnolent markets were not prepared for these liquidation flows. While the unwind was taking place, it was all a big ball of confusion, and it looked for a time like all of the big dogs across the forlorn planet were getting out while the getting was good. The levered short vol liquidations, and the attendant confusion, lasted all week, and this, in my humble opinion, deeply exacerbated the carnage.

But matters would’ve been much worse had not the two houses of Congress gotten together in the wee hours of Friday morning to pass a budget resolution. It was nip and tuck there for a while, and it bears mention that an equity tape that by mid-day the following day had yielded an incremental >3% before its aggressive upward reversal, was well-poised to experience the bottom falling out. To those that may argue against this assertion, I ask what Friday’s close might’ve looked like if investors were facing the prospect of heading into the weekend with a full-fledged market meltdown/government shutdown staring them in the face.

But a budget resolution did pass, and, at least for now, the markets have recovered a bit. The Debbie Downers on both sides of the aisle are currently lamenting the all-out spending binge embedded in the bill, projected, as it is, to add hundreds of billions to our burgeoning deficit, and one can hardly blame them. There is already, as mentioned above, enough pressure on government paper to cause anyone paying attention to take notice. And, in the midst of all of these shenanigans, the Treasury held an auction of 10-year notes and 30-year bonds that went about as badly enough to gladden the hearts of the many bond bears of my acquaintance:

I reckon that the main inference we can draw from all of this is that on paper, a perfect storm of upward yield pressure appears to be forming on the horizon. There are as yet unclear but growing signs of inflation everywhere one cares to look. In addition, just as the Treasury is planning to issue paper to beat the band (as it must to fund the ever-widening deficit), its pals at the Fed are raising rates and selling down their balance sheet – to the tune of between $300B and $400B per year. It now resides at a beggarly $4.42T. This trend is expected to continue, as well, perhaps, it should. Us old geezers remember when the Fed holdings barely rose to the dignity of One Trillion, and of course, what comes up must come down:

Fed Balance Sheet: Look Out Below!

There’s also the odd chance that we annoy the Chinese and even the Japanese sufficiently to cause them to sell down the 20% of our debt obligations that they own. And, of course, it is at least theoretically possible that someday – maybe even soon – the ECB and BOJ will discontinue their QE programs, at which point it may well behoove them to start thinking about some balance sheet reduction of their own.

The confluence of these factors means that there should be galaxies of govies available for purchase over the coming months and quarters, and it might be reasonable to assume that this flood of paper will only move at lower prices and higher yields.

So, at magnitudes not witnessed for eons, the probability of a bursting of the bond bubble of thirty years running looks to be rising towards materiality. No doubt that this prospect is part of what’s all of a sudden scaring all those snowflakes out of the equity markets.

So why did I choose this moment to take the plunge? Well, for a number of reasons. As I’ve pounded into these pages for many months, I don’t think there is enough equity supply to meet demand, and I am fairly convinced that the imbalance will continue to grow. In addition, there’s earnings, now, with 2/3rds of the precincts in the books are projecting out at +14%. Sales extrapolate to a handy +8%. Also, guidance is sufficiently optimistic that CEO prognostications, combined with the (widely reported) selloff in equities, have brought forward looking EPS (16.3) down to just about the long-term average (16.0). Visually, the convergence looks like this:

Now, let’s understand that a significant portion of the happy 2018 income sooth-sayings are due and owing to the impact of tax reform. Some in my circle view these kind of adjustments as a form of cheating. Well, maybe so at 2875 on the SPX, but at 2620? Perhaps not so much.

I further believe that the political winds are blowing in such a way as to strongly incentivize a “kitchen sink” policy of economic expansion. Wherever else our honorable legislators disagree, they almost certainly share a dread of returning to their districts this summer with the economy on the down.

Bear in mind, they’ll be asking you for your money – to be invested in the worthy effort to ensure their return to office, and with this return, a continuation of the good works they undertake on our behalf. If the economy turns sour, ALL of them (well, almost all) are vulnerable, and this, among other factors, is the reason why what I truly believe was a budgetary cycle setting up as a nasty game of chicken turned into a combined love fest/spending spree.

But the big question remains: can this here 9-year rally, unquestionably fueled by cheap and sometimes free financing, survive/thrive in a normalized interest rate environment? Loyal readers of this publication are aware that while I believe the answer is yes, I have been much more concerned about the process of rising interest rates than I am about higher interest rates themselves. Pattern recognition suggests that while we probably can survive elevated yields and diminished bond prices, the Fixed Income selloff that is needed could be unpleasant or worse.

I retain this fear, but have forged ahead nonetheless. For what it’s worth, I kind of doubt that the hyper volatility period is over just yet. Investors entered the weekend in an advanced state of confusion, and, while a couple of days off should’ve done a world of good for them, I expect them to enter Monday’s proceedings as befuddled as they were when we left off on Friday.

But the lower the market goes, the more Beppie is ready to step in and do some buying. The SPX closed this week down 2% for the year, and I’m willing to put some money behind the proposition that a level such as this is a constructive one.

But again, it’s not up to me. Beppie is calling the shots, and my final bit of risk management advice is to avoid overtly pushing her buttons. To the outside world, she’s as well-bred and dignified a woman as you’re every likely to meet, but cross her one time and…

…forget it; you don’t want to know.

TIMSHEL