The Russell is setting up for an imminent breakout to all-time highs
This is on the back of the Fed rate cut and is hurling the market toward an unsustainable melt-up
This will set the stage for larger risks
Here is the full playbook for navigating it: 🧵👇
We have been in a melt-up with the Russell for a while now because the curve is steepening as real rates are falling. In simple terms, nominal growth remains positive and liquidity is increasing.
When real rates are falling into positive growth, risk assets fuction as a release valve and capital moves out the risk curve
This is why we have seen a convergence of all these factors post FOMC which I noted in the video breakdown and connected playbooks here
The result of this environment is MASSIVE gains in the Russell 2000 sectors. Anyone telling you a recession or market crash is imminent is blatantly ignoring the factor that the worst companies with the highest sensitivity to the economy are doing amazing
The lowest quality financial companies in the Russell are at all time highs right now
The regional banking sector is poised for a breakout:
And homebuilders keep rallying off their lows
We are now seeing the Fed cut into the massive spread between inflation swaps and credit spreads. In simple terms, credit spreads are at cycle lows, representing the loose financial conditions and resilience in growth. Inflation swaps are above 3% showing that inflation risk is elevated.
What does the Fed do? They revise up their growth expectations, keep their inflation expectations flat and cut into resilient growth
This is the same playbook as 2021 except at a higher base of interest rates. This TYPE of liquidity injection sows the seed of its own demise as the Russell begins to expand in its valuations closer to 2021 levels
So the entire question everyone wants to know is WHEN will this melt up end and HOW HIGH can we go?
Let me just say at the beginning of this, the Nikkei rallied for a decade into the melt-up they experienced during the 80s. In the 70s, the Nikkei had a 91% year
If you think the upside is limited, just know we can go much MUCH higher before we go lower.
I have already laid out all of the playbooks for mapping the credit cycle as well as spreadsheets to measure every economic data point (these are all free here: ) capitalflowsresearch.com/p/research-syn…
There are 3 major signals you need to watch in order to map WHEN the melt up is losing strength and when moving to cash is THE play. These apply to all risk assets, including equities, crypto, real estate, or any type of private equity investment.
1) Capital needs to begin to move BACK across the risk curve as the yield curve steepens. We don't know if the source of the the crash will be from bear steepening or bull steepening because its unclear if long end rates blowing out will be the source of the crash.
Simply put, the Fed is cutting into resilient growth and core services above 3%. This creates a higher probability of inflation rising.
The Fed can cut rates to zero but the long end will always price its mistake.
If long end rates rise, then it will cause the curve to bear steepen and this could create significant issues for equities and the underlying economy.
WE AREN'T HERE YET!
2) We need to see cross asset volatility rise as carry trades unwind, bond position shifts and the VIX rises. (NOT HAPPENING RIGHT NOW)
When volatility rises, we need to see the DRIVER of the volatility have persistence behind it as opposed to one off shocks. This is what brings us to the third point.
3) We need to see a clear shift in the macro regime with economic data moving into contractionary growth from either disinflation or stagflation. If we have disinflation, it will cause the curve to bull steepen (depending on the Fed but the Fed keeps begin ahead of the curve in this cycle) and if we move into stagflation then its likely to bear steepen (especially in 10s30s)
Clear shifts in macro data take place across ALL economic datapoints, sector rotations, and earnings. No one in macro that is managing risk is using a few NFP revisions to make any decisions. I explained WHY the NFP revisions are not a massive concern yet in this report: capitalflowsresearch.com/p/macro-report…
Macro inflection points are historically characterized by a shift in volatility, shift in correlations, and an underlying driver that has persistence.
Cross-border flows and the balance sheet of this economy is going to play an outsized role on the UPSIDE AND DOWNSIDE which I have laid out in the macro reports
If we pull all of these moving parts together, the implication is clear, the melt up is still on. Equities and risk assets remain skewed to the upside but the risks are building because the policy error by the Fed is sowing the seeds for a future crash. The signals for this crash are clear. Until we begin to see these signals take place so that the risk reward in equities is neutral, I remain long.
My strategy pulls together all of these moving parts and runs trades in real time. I remain long equities and will continue to run longs across the risk curve until my strategy shifts to neutral. Once things shift bearish, I will start running shorts in equities, Bitcoin, and anything that will go down.
This won't end well but for now we remain in melt up mode
welcome to global macro
Everything is laid out in this video and the connected reports
The credit cycle is in the process of one more injection of liquidity, as equity valuations across every country are sitting at all-time highs
None of this is going to end well but the KEY will be playing this final stage of the endgame
This thread explains everything 🧵
I am going to explain WHERE we are in the credit and liquidity cycle and then break down HOW I am looking at the signals for taking risk. These set the stage for the S&P500, Bitcoin, gold, silver, and every major asset.
Everything starts with understanding growth, inflation, liquidity, and credit.
Right now, we know that growth is positive and inflation risk has been falling.
The chart below shows credit spreads (white) falling as growth remains positive in the US economy and inflation swaps (blue) falling more recently as the market realizes 2% inflation is approaching on the horizon.
Bitcoin primarily has a positive correlation with risk assets. This is Bitcoin telling you that it has a high sensitivity to flows into risk assets (bottom panel shows correlation with SPX). Bitcoin speaks and doesn't need anyone to speak for it as a decentralized network.
The credit cycle is starting to flash yellow for the first time in this regime
Most investors will only notice once spreads are blowing out
Here’s the framework I use to track the credit cycle and front‑run where capital goes next: 🧵
First, my macro thesis is simple: Since April we had a massive injection of credit into the underlying economy and liquidity into financial markets. This created procyclical liquidity where growth and liquidity rose at the same time. This is why asset prices melted up.
We are now seeing the beginning of some headwindes in the credit cycle. The entire questions is are these risks shrot term signals or could they materialize into a larger issue?
I am going to lay out all of these macro signals but first I would encourage you to read (or reread!) the macro report I wrote explaining the largest structural risks we are seeing in the system right now. Do we know for sure that these risks will materialize? No but if they do, you need to know exactly what to look for cause that is not an environment where you want to be offsides.
Real interest rates have been driving the pullback in equities and Bitcoin
You will notice that 2 year real interest rates have begun to drag up credit spreads, which is a very clear signal about how liquidity is impacting risk assets
Here is how to understand this 🧵
Real rates tell you the true cost of money after adjusting for inflation.
Real rate = Nominal yield minus inflation expectations
So real rates move for only two reasons:
- Nominal yields move
- Inflation expectations move
The chart below shows 2 year real interest rates. Notice that they were deeply negative during 2021 when the Fed held rates below inflation. As we moved into the 2022 hiking cycle this reversed. Since this time, we have been normalizing lower.
If nominal yields go up faster than inflation expectations ⇒ real rates rise
If inflation expectations go up faster than nominal yields ⇒ real rates fall
If nominal yields fall and inflation expectations stay the same ⇒ real rates fall
If inflation expectations fall and nominal yields stay the same ⇒ real rates rise (THIS IS WHERE WE ARE)
Everything fits into one idea:
Real rates rising = more expensive money/liquidity in the system on a real basis.
Real rates falling=cheaper money/liquidity in the system on a real basis.
There has been a lot of talk around how 10 year yields in Japan are melting up and how this is an indication that a massive carry trade is about to unwind
The problem with this is that it doesn't match up with ANY of the actual evidence 🧵
First,
yields have been rising for years now and the Nikkei has been moving in lockstep ever since the BoJ stopped doing yield curve control. On top of this, every major carry trade unwind that pushed the Nikkei and US equities down was when JGB yields were going DOWN, not up!
JGB yields are rising because inflation is still elevated and the BoJ isnt taking a aggressive action toward it. The BoJ has hiked a little but its nowhere near enough to bring inflation down
The credit cycle is in the process of shifting, and this is going to begin increasing volatility significantly
The most important thing you can do is be on the right side of the macro volatility
This 🧵is a breakdown of WHERE we we are and risks for markets
The primary place to start is HOW interest rates are impacting equities
You will notice that the bottom in real interest rates created the top in S&P500 market breadth. Why? Because when real rates begin to rise, it begins to contract liquidity. This begins to weigh on some sectors before others.
When real interest rates rise into unchanged growth, on net, it pulls capital BACK across the risk curve. This has been happening in the Goldman Sachs Mega Caps vs nonprofitable tech. In simple terms, when real rates rise and liquidity contracts, investors have less money to deploy and as a result they move capital into mega caps as opposed to nonprofitable tech on a relative basis.