Market Update: January 2014
It is a little tough to believe that it is 2014 and already a new year. But in a sense I am quite relieved that 2013 is done and behind us. It was a defining year in the modern era of finance. This time, the disparity between developed market stocks (US, EU and Japan) and the rest of the asset world (emerging markets, bonds, and commodities) was the largest ever. In fact, there has never been a time when developed stocks surged, surpassing all other asset classes. There was a period in the late 1990s when there was a strong divergence, but even in those markets, the other asset classes posted modest gains.
The history books on finance are being rewritten as we speak, because financial stimulus in the developed markets has been unprecedented while global economic growth has been anemic. This massive flow of capital into specific markets caused those markets to bolt ahead, while giving impetus for economic growth. Some of that growth is just from folks feeling safe to spend again; some of it is from further wealth concentration and investment by an ever-smaller segment of the population. Until the economic growth is diverse and stable, however, markets will be at risk. Witness the events of Friday, January 24th, when the Dow lost over 300 points over concerns of the impact of Fed stimulus tapering on emerging market currencies.S
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![Chart 1: Major Asset Class Returns in 2013. While the US and International Developed Markets (the EU and Japan, namely) surged in 2013, the remaining asset classes had losses for the year. At no other time in modern finance has such a disparity existed. [Notes: within fixed income, junk bonds posted a modest gain. The modern era covers 1980 forward, when the advent of IT and derivative markets changed market fundamentals.] Source: Bloomberg](https://i0.wp.com/www.vodiafinancial.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/asset-class-returns1.jpg)
Chart 1: Major Asset Class Returns in 2013. While the US and International Developed Markets (the EU and Japan, namely) surged in 2013, the remaining asset classes had losses for the year. At no other time in modern finance has such a disparity existed. [Notes: within fixed income, junk bonds posted a modest gain. The modern era covers 1980 forward, when the advent of IT and derivative markets changed market fundamentals.] Source: Bloomberg
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We have Ben Bernanke and his leadership to thank for both this blessing and curse. The blessing is the remarkable recovery we have seen from the Great Recession – a period which could have become much worse had the Fed not engineering a global life preserver. Now that Bernanke is stepping down next month as Chairman of the Fed, it is worth examining this legacy.
Bernanke and His Legacy
Ben Bernanke effectively navigated the US economy through a financial crisis that had the potential to tear down our entire economy and recreate another Great Depression. We came very close to true economic devastation. Bernanke, in all his academic prescience, saw what could happen and in the absence of solid fiscal measures because of political dysfunction, he used the Fed’s balance sheet to pump trillions into the financial system. Frankly, he saved our economy.
What we don’t know as of today is how that legacy will bear out. As we saw with Alan Greenspan in the 1990s, what was then viewed as pristine policy turned out to be irresponsible stimulus that helped create the dotcom bubble and trillions of lost asset value. The most relevant impact of this stimulus has been the explosion of consumption in the US driving much of our economic growth at the expense of exports. Where consumption used to be 50% of our GDP in the 1950s, it has grown to 70% today. This increase was the impact of the easy money policies of the 1990s and 2000s, where we saw capital flood the equity markets and then the real estate markets, creating paper wealth for millions. Unfortunately, that vanished in just weeks and months.
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Chart 2: The S&P 500: 1990 to 2013. In the chart to the right, we see how market volatility has changed dramatically since the mid- 1990s. Highs are far higher during bubbles, and the drops are extreme, averaging 50% during recessions. Loose monetary policy and the resulting dependence on consumption for GDP growth is a primary underlying cause of these extremes. Source: Bloomberg
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For Bernanke, the final test will be future inflation. If this recovery does in fact hold, then the challenge will be removing the vast liquidity from the market in time to head off excessive inflation while maintaining the base level needed for economic growth. As we witnessed in the 1970s, inflation can create a vastly damaging problem that is tamed only through high restrictive monetary policy, followed by recession. The counter to that scenario is deflation – an equally devastating situation of falling prices which throttles growth that has begun to shape the global debate on emerging economic threats.
The US Economy and The World
Another recession would be devastating given the current state of our economy. The employment picture is the key to this concern. Bernanke, in comments he made on January 3, 2014 at the annual meeting of the American Economic Association, cited the 7.5 million new jobs since 2010 as evidence of a stabilizing economy. The dark side of that statistic is that since 2010, the US population has grown by just as much through a mix of immigration and births. Accounting for work force participation rates, we have created only enough jobs to support new workers, the preponderance of which is in low wage jobs. We lost 8.5 million jobs in the recession – that loss has yet to be addressed. A new recession would push down employment levels down to a place not seen since the 1930s.
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Chart 3: Percentage of Americans with Jobs: 1945-2013. We lost 8.5 million jobs in the recession, and while we have gained 7.5 million jobs since then, the US population has grown by almost 10 million people. The effects of the recession are still with us, limiting the spending power of the broad worker base and accentuating the wealth disparity of the recovery. Source: Bloomberg
We do not yet know how successful Bernanke has been. We can see the evidence right now – the stock market raged ahead to new levels that even the most optimistic economists did not predict – but the legacy will be written over the next few years as we see either economic dividends or carnage from this policy.
The unanswered question is whether the stock market rise is anticipating a return to stable growth. Thus far, the news has been encouraging. GDP growth in the US surged ahead in the 3rd quarter of 2013, to 4% – a level that we have not seen sustained in quite a while and would be necessary to justify further market gains. Globally, economic growth is also beginning to creep up as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in the past two weeks have both increased their estimates for growth, something that hasn’t happened in several years.
These revisions are critical to the state of our economy in the coming year. For the equity market levels to be sustained and increased, we need companies to continue to increase their global revenues and not just depend on the American consumer. As the employment picture illustrates, the recovery in the US has been spotty and erratic. A further reliance on consumption domestically could work to push us ahead, but that is a risky bet right now. Exports will have to be a part of longer, sustained US recovery.
To whom we would export however, is a question. Right now, the EU counties and the broader European region have the largest global economy, but that economy has been shrinking, not growing. Part of the encouraging news from the IMF and World Bank is a belief that Europe might actually grow again in 2014. That in itself would be an enormous boost for the US and the other economies that supply Europe.
China is the other economy that can dramatically impact our recovery. At their growth rate and the size of the economy (7.6% growth on a $9 trillion economy, as compared to 2.2% growth on a $16 trillion economy in the US) largely dictates the health of global consumption. While China consumes about half of what we do for every dollar of GDP, the central government has pinned the hopes of sustainable growth on the Chinese consumer. Should that model bear out, it presents tremendous opportunity for US companies. Should it fail, global assets will see another correction in prices with ensuing volatility.
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![Chart 4: Comparing the major global economies: Using 2013 figures, actual and estimate, we see the world’s dependence on Chinese growth. Their annual incremental economic growth (Growth Dollars) is double the US. [Growth/Capita shows incremental consumption dollars per individual in that economy]. Sources: Bloomberg, IMF, World Bank, US Census Bureau](https://i0.wp.com/www.vodiafinancial.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/gdp1.jpg)
Chart 4: Comparing the major global economies: Using 2013 figures, actual and estimate, we see the world’s dependence on Chinese growth. Their annual incremental economic growth (Growth Dollars) is double the US. [Growth/Capita shows incremental consumption dollars per individual in that economy]. Sources: Bloomberg, IMF, World Bank, US Census Bureau
For economic growth to continue for several more years, we need to see the dual support from increased exports and increased domestic consumption. The first part – exports – is being tremendously aided by the energy boom we are experiencing in the US. With the benefits of shale oil and fracking (long-term environmental destruction aside), we are both a cheap energy source for manufacturing and an exporter to the world. For instance, gas exports have increase 3x in the past five years – a mind-blowing change that will have an impact on both economics and global politics.
The silver lining for domestic consumption is housing. We have seen only modest recovery in this sector – existing house prices have recovered just a third of their decline from the recession, and new home construction is still at half the level of long-term needs. With every new home, there is both job creation and increased demand for the goods and services that fill the home. There is room to double the sector in a stable economy, resulting in increased jobs and economic growth, not just for the US but the countries who export to the US. There is enormous potential in the housing sector, but only if Americans feel confident to invest in a new home and have the job stability to do so while the banks continue to lend at low rates.
Markets and Psychology for 2014
As we have seen in the last two growth economies, the equity markets get well ahead of themselves and collapse in a fury. A simple measure to assess this exuberance is the price-to- earnings ratio (P/E) on the market, as well as some key stocks. Right now, the P/E on the S&P 500 sits around 17x, a good clip above its long-term average of 15x. A simple analysis says that if earnings do grow this year by at least 15%, then the stock prices are justified. If not, prices are high.
But is it really so simple? Google has been trading at 25x for many months now, well outside a sustainable range. And the price keeps going up. Retail stores are trading at 30x; some large pharmaceuticals trade at even higher ratios.
Historically, the P/E will continue to climb well past these levels before investors notice that the punch bowl has been drained. During the last two bubble markets, the S&P 500 reached 25x and 30x, both well above where we stand today. This doesn’t imply that the market will go up without some further developments to sustain investor’s excessive optimism, but don’t be surprised if there are new predictions in the coming months about how we are again seeing a “new economy” in which fundamentals are worth ignoring. History will repeat itself.
With this in mind, and all of the economic realities outlined thus far, we remain cautiously optimistic in our asset allocations. We continue to maintain our equity exposure at levels to reflect the risks, but have made incremental changes to capture the market psychology (called “risk-on”) and expectations of better global growth. We are also very active in the management of the bond side, keeping durations rather tight, using bond ladders and actively trading some positions to manage total return rather than allow market movements to dictate returns.
Commodities were a challenge for us in 2013, with metals and agriculture taking a beating while partially offset by timber and energy. Given our global view, commodities could do quite well in the coming year with increased demand for many raw materials. Housing may start driving up timber prices, and food prices may be impacted by continued meteorological and demographic disruptions (who knows how the Polar Vortex that has held the nation in a frozen grip will affect food production and sales?). We will continue to maintain these exposures with some adjustments to reflect our core values at Vodia.
All in all, we are again facing challenging times. The global economy is shifting in ways that are impossible to predict, with secondary and tertiary effects that reverberate throughout all asset classes. There are many positives to embrace in the short term, and many disturbing issues that must be resolved in the long term. Our approach – to reassess every quarter and step forward with caution – will continue to be our mandate as we continue to be thoughtful while we observe the world around us.
Best of luck with this winter and the Polar Vortices!
Regards,
David B. Matias, CPA
Managing Principal
