12 of the most interesting charts surfaced over the weekend 🧵
1/ Record US Treasuries inflows for 2023
"Inflows to Treasuries have totalled $127bn YTD and are on track for a record $206bn in 2023".
2/ Also in the news, the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF $TLT witnessed its largest weekly outflow ($1.8 billion) since March 2020 last week.
3/ The US 10Y has been on the move this week, climbing back to 4.17%.
Back to levels last seen last November, and before that, mid-2008.
4/ Wells Fargo thinks the probability of a soft landing has increased.
"We still think it is more likely than not that the economy experiences a few quarters of negative GDP growth and declining employment early next year. But - the probability of a soft landing has increased".
@MTSInsights 5/ US 30Y Mortgage rates surpassed 7.5% recently, marking the first time in 23 years they have been so high.
"The economy is currently experiencing a significant tightening of financial conditions, largely driven by the persisting fragility in the Treasury market".
6/ Six-figure households are witnessing the slowest wage growth according to BofA.
7/ Don't be distracted by scary debt level statistics, debt servicing burdens remain low.
"Debt payments consumed just 9.6% of disposable income in Q1, slightly below the pre-pandemic level and well below the long-run norm".
@MTSInsights 8/ The incredible rise of unprofitable companies.
As a percentage of publicly listed firms, unprofitable companies have grown from ~40% to ~50% in the last three decades.
@MTSInsights @SnippetFinance 9/ Big American companies have consistently earned more and more.
"Some analysts expect corporate earnings to fall dramatically over the next few years. Even if they're right and earnings fall, they should recover within a few years, as they've always done historically".
@MTSInsights @SnippetFinance @ValuablOfficial 10/ No Hike Needed?
"The latest inflation data support our expectation that the core trend will have slowed enough by November for the FOMC to conclude that a final hike is unnecessary - we expect the first cut in 2024Q2 with core PCE inflation below 3% YoY."
11/ With a little over a month until the next FOMC meeting, the market is anticipating a pause to rate movement activity from the Fed.
However, a lot can change in 37 days.
12/ The valuation component of this year's stock-market rally may be ending.
@TimmerFidelity: "That means earnings will need to do the heavy lifting from here. The forward P/E ratio for the S&P 500 has expanded by 27%. Timing for a valuation peak is about right".
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Mauboussin & Callahan recently shared a great paper on why investors should understand corporate demographics.
"The future may well be different than the past. But these patterns of longevity and value creation are worthy of attention".
🧵 Our 11 favourite highlights:
1/ The number of US public companies has fallen from 7,300 at the peak (1996) to ~4,200 today.
"There were fewer public companies in the US in 2022 than there were in 1976 - notwithstanding that the population in 2022 was 1.5x that of 1976, real GDP per capita was 2.2x higher".
2/ New IPOs account for 78% of new public companies; this excludes SPACs and other non-traditional forms of IPO.
Last year, in 2022, there were just 39 IPOs in the US, the fewest since 2008 when the economy was in the midst of a financial meltdown.
The Best Insider Trading Scandal You've Never Heard Of.
👟 Reebok, strippers, and investment bankers.
Back in the '90s, Reebok was a sports powerhouse, making waves in the sneaker world. Little did they know, a scandal was brewing and Reebok would end it.
🧵 Let's dive in:
1/ The Mysterious Ticker Tape
The Reebok insider trading scheme took place in 2004/05 and involved tips from a Merrill Lynch investment banker, confidential information from Business Week and a grand juror, with trades placed by individuals in both the United States and Europe.
2/ The mysterious trader was David Pajcin, a former trader at Goldman Sachs. Acting on information from his source at Merrill he traded on information about confidential Merrill Lynch deals.
11 of the most interesting charts surfaced over the weekend 🧵
1/ Hikes, what hikes?
The S&P 500 has now crossed the level (+5%) it was at on the day the Federal Reserve began the current rate hike cycle back in March 2022.
2/ The S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq 100 are now all within ~5% of their all-time highs.
The Russell 2000 trails, but is also making up ground.
3/ Maturities loom for corporates.
"Like homeowners who took out mortgages when rates were low in 20/21, the Fed's rate increases have had only limited impact on corporates. However, the wall of maturities is looming, as indicated by the rapidly falling index maturity".
11 of the most interesting charts surfaced this week 🧵
1/ Another hike.
The Federal Reserve voted, unanimously, to raise rates by the expected 25bps this week. At 5.25%, this is the highest rate witnessed in the US in over 22 years.
2/ Here's where things stand on global central bank rates after the Fed's hike, courtesy of Charlie Bilello.
"The Fed hiked rates for the 11th time, 25 bps increase to 5.25-5.50%. This is now the highest Fed Funds Rate since January 2001".
@charliebilello 3/ The small guys are getting squeezed.
"The top 10% ex-financial companies by market cap haven't seen interest costs rise, while the bottom 40% have seen a significant rise. Businesses with less than 250 employees account for 45% of employment. That could be a problem".
In 1979, John Train wrote a profile of a young man named Warren Buffett; then aged 48.
The conversation covers his coming of age as a young adult, his relationship with mentor Ben Graham, and how his investment process transformed over the years.
🧵 Our 6 favourite highlights:
1/ He felt the largest advantage any individual investor has was their ability to wait for the right pitch.
Not restricted by mandates, LPs, or other external forces.
2/ This is a problem most money managers face, pressure from clients to "swing" and remain active instead of relying on patience and conviction.