1. Through April, our systems place Real GDP growth at 1.37% versus one year prior. Below, we show our monthly estimates of Real GDP relative to the official data:
2. Below, we show the weighted contributions to the most recent one-month change in real GDP, along with the recent history of month-on-month GDP. Additionally, we show the contribution by sector to monthly GDP in the table below.
3. April saw an improvement in investment activity, contributing significantly to GDP data. Combined with our inflation estimates, this place nominal GDP at 5.31% versus one year prior:
4. Overall, this picture does not look like one where inflationary pressures have cooled adequately for the Fed to begin the easing of monetary policy.
5. Against this backdrop, markets continue to be indecisive about their pricing of nominal growth conditions, which remain roughly unchanged (though somewhat recomposed, with a bias towards higher real growth vs. inflation).
6. This contextual understanding is extremely important for bonds. Especially, following the mixed reading we are getting from the bond trend factors (across both, the weekly asset class signal as well as the daily ETF signals).
7. Markets continue to discount aggressive monetary policy easing by the Federal Reserve— only to be disappointed as data emerges to suggest this is unlikely. This sustained pattern in markets continues to create mixed trend readings in bonds.
8. The next likely sustained trend in bonds (if any) will be when bond market discounting aligns with the fundamental economic picture.
9. Said differently, the next sustained trend in bonds is likely to be if we begin to see recessionary conditions that force the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates more than currently discounted.
However, it doesn’t look like we will get there in the very near term.
The Prometheus Multi-Strategy Program is our primary offering to institutional investors, systematically trading 40 global markets.
We share the latest macro insights coming from this systematic process:
1/ Housing Green Shoots?
2/ New home sales surged +20.9% in August (vs –0.3% expected). Y/y single-family sales ~+3.2%. Big print; high volatility.
3/ However, completed homes sold has been driving this trend.
Not the strongest indication for ongoing activity:
$SPY is the core exposure for many. While the S&P 500 is a good asset over the long term, it can have big drawdowns.
What if you can keep all your S&P 500, but protect some of the downside?
1/ Enter Crisis Protection Program
2/ For a variety of reasons, many investors want to maintain passive exposure to the S&P 500. But the stock market can go through periods of very weak performance.
Our Prometheus Crisis Protection Program seeks to offer a diversifier during these periods of underperformance..
3/ It does so by rotating between gold, TIPS, and VIX futures.
Often, though, diversification can come at a price, i.e., reduced upside exposure to equity market rallies.
However, using a little bit of portfolio engineering, we can maintain all the equity upside...
A Portfolio With A 2.0 Sharpe Ratio During $SPY Drawdowns
The program seeks to offer a diversifier during periods of financial instability using $GLD, $TIP, & $VIXY
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1/ Our process 🧵
2/ Most investors are seeking to either match S&P 500 returns or outpace them over the long term. Regardless of whether investors seek to match our outperform equity returns, most investors seek higher risk-adjusted returns than simply holding market beta...
3/ These higher risk-adjusted returns can be achieved in two ways: time exposures to equity markets or increased diversification.
Our Crisis Protection Program leans primarily on diversification to create a portfolio that is biased to outperform during equity market downturns
Is The Current Labor/Output Relationship Sustainable?
In recent months, employment has softened significantly after a period of strength. This has often prompted the question as to whether activity will fall to reflect this weaker employment growth.
1/1 9 We evaluate 🧵
2/
As ever, before we describe mechanics before diving into these observations.
The core principle that drives this thread is that labor market growth via employment is the dominant driver of sustainable long-term growth in the economy.
This is because labor both earns….
3/ … and spends, and is the center point of economic activity.
Given this centrality of employment growth, it is rare in the macro economy for output to meaningfully deviate from labor market growth.
If output deviates from employment growth for a time, it is usually…