Three snapshots for Wednesday
On Friday 283 companies in the S&P 500 had a dividend yield higher than the 10-year Treasury yield, at yesterday’s close this had fallen to 266 but remains very high compared to the last 5-years.
Italian consumer morale plunged to its lowest level on record in May as Italians’ pessimism over the state of the economy plumbed new depths.
Germany set a zero coupon on its new Schatz, the first time it has done so on debt of such maturity. The bid to cover ratio for the new bond at the auction was 1.7, compared with 1.8 at a sale of two-year debt on April 18.
The average yield at the sale was 0.07 percent.
Research Radar: Greek gloom
Greek gloom dominates the start of the week as new elections there look inevitable and talk of Greek euro exit, or a Grexit” as common market parlance now has it, mounts. All risk assets and securities hinged on global growth have been hit, with China’s weekend reserve ratio easing doing little to offset gloomy data from world’s second biggest economy at the end of last week. World stocks are down heavily and emerging markets are underperforming; the euro has fallen to near 4-month lows below $1.29; safe haven core government debt is bid as euro peripheral debt yields in Italy and Spain push higher; and global growth bellwethers such as crude oil and the Australian dollar are down – the latter below parity against the US dollar for the first time in 5 months.
Financial research reports on Monday and over the weekend were just as gloomy, but plenty of interesting takes:
Bank of New York Mellon’s Simon Derrick’s view of the Greek political impasse concluded “there is at least an evens chance that the latter part of this summer will see what had officially been seen up until last November as an impossibility: a nation leaving the EUR.”
RBS’s Sanjay Mathur reckons that if there is another hung parliament after new Greek elections, implying no significant voter return to the pro-bailout parties, then euro risk soars. “This means, on another hung parliament, that Greek government IOUs could trade as proxy currency as early as July.” If that does not galvanize sufficient parties into accepting Trioka bailout demands at that point, he said that then exit looms. “Opening up the Pandora’s box of exit means deposit risk across the periphery. The future of the euro would then be dictated by the subsequent policy response.”
Barclays Sree Kochugovindan talks of a three phase possible deterioration of the euro crisis — one, where solvency concerns and asset market fright are contained to Europe and mostly the fixed income markets of the periphery countries concerned; two, solvency concerns hit the core such as France and Belgium with asset market contagion widening before a series of major policy responses; and three, no major policy response or ECB SMP/LTRO, which leads to Greek default and even exit and global market shock akin to September 2008. “Given the immense cost of a crisis triggered by a Greek exit, we are not expecting the current situation to deteriorate into Phase 2. However, the risks are elevated and with the prospect of second round Greek elections in a few weeks, market jitters are likely to continue.”
Deutsche Bank’s global markets note also focuses on rising risks from Greece and also on the May 31 Irish referendum on the EU fiscal pact. Apart from outlining obvious risks to the Greek financing from a political vacuum, one conclusion Deutsche comes to is that a new EU growth pact may happen sooner than many had figured. “The new situation in Athens forces EU leaders to find common ground faster than we thought.” Another conclusion was that Ireland may consider postponing its referendum, given the risk that a “no” vote may disastrously cut off its access to new EU funds and also given a possible delay in German parliamentary votes on the fiscal deal to June. “Ireland might do well to think about postponing the 31 May referendum.” It called Spain’s sweeping banking reform plan “making progress” but a 15 bln euro government recapitalisaation of the banks “too timid”.
HSBC’s Karen Ward and Simon Wells warn about the long-term impact of continuous quantitative easing by central banks, saying the political relationship between central banks and governments rather than inflationary consequences may be the biggest concern. “The heyday of independent central banking could be drawing to a close.”
Hungary can seek IMF aid now. But can it cut rates?
The European Union has given Budapest the green light to seek aid from the IMF. (see here) In fact, the breakthrough after five months of dispute does not let Hungary completely off the hook — to get its hands on the money, Viktor Orban’s government will have to backtack on some controversial recent legislation, starting with its efforts to curb the central bank’s independence. It remains to be seen if Orban will actually cave in.
But markets are reacting as if the IMF money is in Hungary’s pocket already. There have been sharp rallies in Hungarian dollar bonds, CDS and currency markets (see graphic below from Capital Economics). The Budapest stock market has posted its best one-day gain since last November while the yield on local 10-year bonds have collapsed almost 100 bps. Hungarian officials are (a bit prematurely) talking of issuing bonds on world markets.
What investors are hoping for now is a cut to the 7 percent interest rate. Hungary’s central bank jacked up rates by 100 bps in recent months to defend the forint as cash fled the country. Now there is a chance those rate rises can be reeled back in. After all, the moribund economy could really use a dash of monetary easing. Thanasis Petronikolos, head of emerging debt at Baring Asset Management has been overweight Hungary and recalls that after 2008 crisis, the central bank was able to quickly take back its 300 bps of currency-defensive rate hikes.
In the aftermath of this, the central bank may be prompted to cut short term interest rates. If the risk premium comes down a lot, the central bank may feel that 7 percent interest rates are not justified. I’m expecting them to at least take this 100 bps back assuming they can reach an agreement with the IMF.
Hungary’s FRAs (forward rate agreement), are still pricing slightly higher short-term interest rates and have not yet reacted to the shifting picture. Many urge caution however on the rate cut expectations, noting that Orban and the IMF may struggle to reach common ground and the central bank will want to see money on the table before it actually acts.
Petronikolos is right in that the economy is moribund, credit growth has slumped and there is a big output gap. But headline inflation is running at 5.5 percent, well above the central bank’s 3 percent target, due to an increase in sales tax. Sandor Jobbagy, at CIB Bank in Budapest is one analyst who says inflation risks have forced him to push back the date of likely interest rate cuts.
from MacroScope:
Foreign investors still buying American
Overseas investors have yet to sour towards U.S. assets despite high government debt levels, according the latest figures on capital flows.
Including short-dated assets such as bills, foreigners snapped up $107.7 billion in U.S. securities in February, following a downwardly revised $3.1 billion inflow for January. At the same time, the United States attracted a net long-term capital inflow of just $10.1 billion in February after drawing an upwardly revised $102.4 billion in the first month of 2012.
The data showed China boosted purchases of U.S. government debt for a second month in February, but also some waning of demand for longer-dated securities.
Still, recurring fears that foreign investors might be scared off by high levels of U.S. debt have thus far proven overdone. Writes Millan Mulraine at TD Securities:
Overall, the massive foreign flow into U.S. assets in March suggests that US securities continue to enjoy healthy global appetite in time of fear (Treasuries) and times of hope (equities). The reallocation from Treasuries to shorter-term securities in February is broadly consistent with the risk-on tone that prevailed during the month, reversing the trend of the past few months, when concerns in Europe resulted in the flight to quality.
Even the downtrend in Treasuries may have been short-lived, said George Goncalves at Nomura, as evidence by the recent drop in benchmark 10-year yields to around 2 percent:
No hard landing for Chinese real estate
The desperate days when Chinese property developers offered free cars as an inducement to homebuyers look to be over.
Sales and earnings figures indicate some of the gloom is lifting as developers have enjoyed a second straight month of rising sales. Vanke, China’s biggest developer by sales, said last week that March sales had risen 24 percent year on year, while 2011 profits rose 30 percent. Another firm, China Overseas Land, posted a 21.5 percent profit rise last year.
The mood is reflected in stock prices. While the Shanghai shares index has risen less than 5 percent this year, a sub-index of Chinese property companies has risen 13 percent. Shares in Vanke and COL are up 13 percent and 22 percent respectively. A Reuters poll of fund managers showed that investors had upped their weighting for property stocks to 10.9 percent at the end of March, the highest level in two years.
The share rally has continued even though the government has dashed hopes it will soon wind down its two-year campaign to bring down property prices. It has also bucked a broad housing market slowdown (home prices fell for the fifth straight month in February) amid signs that Chinese authorities are unlikely to provide the economy with any further stimulus. Analysts at Citi said in a recent note:
Developers’ comfort under current tightening (policy) and confidence in a stable outlook suggests the toughest time for China’s property sector is over.
For a long time, the country’s real estate market — and the possibility of a crash there — has generated fear in the minds of China-watchers. That danger is by no means over — economic growth is cooling but inflation remains high. Companies too have warned that tough times still lie ahead.
But many such as Karine Hirn, Shanghai-based chief representative of asset manager East Capital, have never believed in an outright property sector collapse. China has an 80 percent home ownership rate and 25 million people work in construction, she points out. Real estate accounts for 13 percent of China’s GDP. So it is unlikely the government would ever have risked a property price crash. Hirn also points out that while sales in cities like Beijing and Shanghai are indeed slowing sharply,the market remains robust in Tier-3 cities – home to over half of China’s urban population.
All in the price in China?
It’s been a while since Chinese stocks earned investors fat profits. Last year the Shanghai market lost 22 percent and the compounded return on equity investments there since 1993 is minus 3 percent. This year too China has underwhelmed, rising less than 3 percent so far. Broader emerging equities on the other hand have just concluded their best first quarter since 1992, with gains of over 13 percent.
Given all that, bears remain a surprisingly rare breed in China. A Bank of America/Merrill Lynch’s monthly survey found it was fund managers’ biggest emerging markets overweight in March and that has been the case for some months now. Clearly, hope dies last.
Driving many of these allocations is valuation. China’s equity market has always tended to trade at a premium to emerging markets but in recent months it has swung into a discount, trading at 9.2 times forward earnings or 10 percent below broader emerging markets. MSCI’s China index is also trading almost 25 percent below its own long-term average, according to this graphic from my colleague Scott Barber (@scottybarber):
There are reasons for the cheapness of course. The economy is slowing and looks on track for its weakest quarter since 2009. Recent corporate earnings have disappointed and there are worries over local government debt and bad loans at banks. The property sector remains a worry and it is unclear if the PBOC will ease monetary policy. But many reckon the problems are in the price.
JPMorgan Asset Management for instance has changed its historic bias against Chinese stocks in its EM fund. China is now the fund’s biggest overweight, more than 5 percent above the MSCI benchmark. Client portfolio manager Emily Whiting expects the market to rebound strongly once investors start unwinding their doomsday bets:
Historically China has been an underweight for us as we always felt the valuations too rich against the broader emerging markets opportunity set.. Now it is our largest overweight country position, we feel the market has priced in too much bad news and it’s created buying opportunities…. it’s a great environment for stock pickers.
March world equity funk flattered by Wall St
It was all about the United States last month as far as equity markets were concerned. S&P’s world equity index may have ended the month with a small gain of just 0.3 percent but that was down to a 3 percent rise on U.S. markets, data from the index provider shows. Strip out the U.S. contribution and it would have been a pretty poor month for world equities. Beyond Wall St, there was a decline of 1.7 percent and $285 billion lost in market value. Instead, the $418 billion added to U.S. market capitalization dragged the global aggregate up by $132 billion.
Behind the robust U.S. equity performance was a steady flow of strong economic data which also pushed up U.S. 10-year yields 20 bps last month. S&P index analyst Howard Silverblatt writes:
The overall rationale for the U.S. outperformance is the perception that several parts of the world have re-entered a recession, while the U.S. continues to show a slow, but steady recovery.
The U.S. picture contrasted with China’s dimmer growth outlook with Shanghai’s market down fell 6.5 percent in March. That was the main reason for big emerging markets losses of a 3.7 percent last month. In the developed world Britain fell 1.2 percent but German stocks rose 0.8 percent (see chart below for details).
World stocks have had a great first quarter however, posting gains of 11.8 percent, the best start to a year since 1999. In terms of value, they gained $3.78 trillion, more than recouping last year’s $2.96 trillion loss.
Market exhaustion?
It’s curious to see so many asset managers reaffirm their faith in a bullish 2012 for world markets just as a buzzing first quarter comes to a close on Friday with hefty gains in equities and risk assets. Whether or not there is a mechanical review of portfolios at quarter end, it’s certainly a reasonable time for review. The euro zone crisis has of course eased, the ECB has pumped the banks full of cash and the U.S. recovery continues. So, no impending disaster then (unless you subscribe to the increasingly-prevalent hard-landing fears in China). But after 11+ percent gains in world equities in just three months on the back of all this information, you have to wonder where the “new news” is going to come from here. The surprise factor looks over and we’re highly unlikely to get 10%+ gains in global stocks every quarter this year. So, is it time for tired markets to sober up for a while or maybe even reconsider the risk of reversal again? Strategists at JPMorgan Asset Management, at least, reckon the economic news has just lost its oomph.
There are broad signs of exhaustion in markets, which is coinciding with a softening in the data, suggesting that in the short term the moderation in the “risk on” environment may continue.
JPMAM cite the rollover in the Citigroup economic surprises indices, shown below, and also say their own propietary Risk Measurement index — a 39-factor model built on data from money markets, equities, economic data, commodities etc — is flagging more caution.
Time for a pause and bit of a think then, at least until the first-quarter corporate earnings season kicks in next month. And it’s here the next leg of any equities story may have to play out, rather than in the corridors of central banks and finance ministries. Gavyn Davies, Fulcrum Asset Management chairman and formerly BBC chairman and Goldman Sachs economist, reckons the valuation case for equities is pretty strong after a lousy decade — even if government bond yields continue rising. What’s less certain, he says, is whether the historically high share of nominal GDP commanded by after-tax corporate profits can persist. This requires a paradigm shift, one he reckons is bridged by globalisaton trends. One quarter won’t solve that puzzle, but attention may shift in that direction over the coming weeks.
Two months rally + long markets = correction?
The debate in global financial markets is whether the new year’s rally is either just pausing or coming to an end.
Many say the rally so far has been driven by only thin volumes (for more on volumes read this story) and thin volume rallies tend to outlive high volume stampedes.
The market certainly seems to be getting very long — which itself suggests that the market was due for a correction one way or another.
Data Explorers, provider of securities lending data tracking and short selling and fund activity across 20,000 institutional funds, says the value of stock on loan stands at $706.5 bln as of the beginning of March, its highest since December 7, against a lendable supply of $7.4 trln.
(Click on the graph to enlarge)
The haves and have-nots of the (energy) world
Nothing like an oil price spike to bring out the differences between the haves and have-nots of this world. The ones who have oil and those who don’t.
With oil at $124 a barrel, the stock markets of big oil importers India and South Korea posted their first weekly loss of 2012 on Friday. But in Russia, where energy stocks make up 60 percent of the index, shares had their best day since November, rising more than 4 percent. The rouble’s exchange rate with the dollar jumped 1.5 percent but the lira in neighbouring Turkey (an oil importer) fell.
Emerging currencies and shares have performed exceptionally well this year. Some of last year’s laggards such as the Indian rupee have risen almost 10 percent and stocks have jumped 16-18 percent. But unless crude prices moderate soon, the 2012 rally in the stocks, bonds and currencies of oil-poor countries may have had its day. Societe Generale writes:
As oil prices are now flirting with $125 per barrel, it is reasonable to start thinking about the potential impact on global emerging markets of an oil price shock and the currencies likely to gain the most from elevated oil prices and those that won’t….Russia appears as the clear winner of a potential oil price shock, and the rouble is therefore the best hedge against this risk
The bank advises its clients to buy the rouble and sell the currencies of oil importing Israel and Hungary. In Asia it suggests selling the Korean won. It also recommended exiting long positions on the Turkish lira.
Russia is the clear winner. Revenues from the energy sector provide half the state’s income and according to the graphic below from SocGen, oil exports account for 15 percent of Russia’s economy. At the other end of the spectrum are Taiwan, Korea and Turkey where oil imports make up between 7-12 percent of GDP.
