Perspectives

DoubleLine CEO Jeffrey Gundlach has been touted as the top fixed income manager for more than a decade now. Not all of his calls are 100% correct but he is right more than wrong and when he is wrong, he is not afraid to admit it. Six months ago, Gundlach told CNBC that he thought stocks were very expensive. Today, they are about 15% higher. When asked by CNBC’s Scott Wapner what he thought of equity prices yesterday, he acknowledged they were very expensive. But the “biggest case for stock… View More

On July 9th we suggested that the bull market wasn’t over but that it was due for a breather due to already high expectations for earnings and market performance and the not insignificant chance that the yield on the 10-year Treasury note was telling us something. With the preannouncement ratio below 1, there remains little room for error during the reporting season. Today we present more evidence for this point of view with our regular monitoring of our LES Model. We developed the measure abo… View More

Earnings for the S&P 500 are poised to be up more than 60% y/y when the second-quarter earnings season kicks off this week. This will be the second greatest increase in earnings growth since the fourth quarter of 2009, when profits rose +108.9%. While there are a number of heavy cyclical companies that will post significant earnings gains versus the pre-pandemic levels established in 2019, those companies hardest hit from the pandemic lockdowns - like air travel, leisure, and entertainment �… View More

2Q Earnings Season Preview: Revenue Growth Expected To Be Strong With the second-quarter earnings season set to begin in the next couple of weeks, we thought it would be helpful to look at where the consensus stands at the start of the quarter. Energy companies are expected to have the greatest increase in revenue compared to last year, while the financial sector is the only one estimated to decline. Thus, overall the index is expected to see revenue growth of 18.5%. Some Sectors Estimated For… View More

The last time the Federal Reserve announced its reduction in its bond buying policy to return interest rate policy to the free markets, was a bit messy. We thought it would be interesting to take a look back to the last time this Fed enacted this policy, to see if it will give us clues as to what we can expect when the Fed announces its tapering policy again in the upcoming months. Remembering the 2013 Taper Tantrum Back in 2013, when the market experienced the so-called “Taper Tantrum,” t… View More

Last week the Federal Reserve held its FOMC meeting and came out with an announcement we already knew. Outside the supply chain disruptions being caused by the global economies reopening, our economy is running hot. This announcement was subtle on Wednesday when Fed Chairman Powell made his meeting wrap up commentary but seemed to garner more attention when comments were made on Friday by one FOMC Member that rates would be raised sooner than expected. One fundamental question to ask yourself i… View More

The resiliency of US stocks has been remarkable in recent weeks with rising inflation, weaker than expected employment, fiscal stimulus decelerating, geopolitical tensions rising, and new fiscal policy negotiations in disarray. Still, we could not help but notice the change in sentiment among investors this week following a second disappointing employment report. Investors are grappling with tighter China monetary policy and fading fiscal stimulus. Nearly all of the discussions among investors … View More

As the markets’ muted reaction to higher-than-expected inflation rates has indicated, the Fed appears to have done a great job in convincing investors, and perhaps themselves, that signs of persistently higher inflation will be fleeting, or in the Fed’s current parlance that has the feel of being a potential punchline in economic history, “transitory.” (One can’t help but wonder whether the “WIN” buttons from the 1970s (Whip Inflation Now) may somehow be reincarnated.) To the exten… View More

87.5% of Companies Beat Earnings Estimates in 1Q’21 With 99% of the S&P 500 having reported, it’s fair to say that 1Q’21 was a blowout season for earnings. 87.5% of companies beat their earnings estimates for the quarter, a record high going back to the mid-1990s and well above the long-term historical average of 65%. 2021 EPS Growth Revising Up, 2022 Revising Down The S&P 500’s 2021 estimated EPS growth began the year at 23.3% and, with the help of robust earnings numbers fro… View More

Stimulus-boosted demand is still outpacing supply. The Atlanta Fed’s tracking estimate for U.S. 2Q real GDP is at 9.3% q/q annualized. Consumption should shift from goods to services over the next several quarters (pent-up demand). In the meantime we have inflation. U.S. core PCE inflation was 3.1% y/y in April. Central bankers have labeled price moves as transitory, but this position is likely to be challenged in the near-term given continued bottlenecks. U of Michigan surveys of inflation ex… View More