Monthly Market Report - September 2016
24th August 2016
With commentary from David StevensonWho'd have guessed that just a few short weeks after the
Brexit vote, equity markets would hit near term highs. Both the FTSE 100 and
the S&P 500 have pushed ahead, powering past 20 and 200 day moving averages
and breaking through all short-term technical trend barriers. If the current
positive momentum continues to work its magic on shares we could see the FTSE
100 push past 7000 and the S&P 500 past 2250. This remarkable turnaround in
confidence is mirrored in other key measures - volatility as measured by the VIX
Index in the US (it tracks S&P 500 turbulence) has crashed to near all-time
lows, while over in the bank CDS market, rates on what are in effect insurance
contracts against bank default, have crashed to incredibly low levels.
Investor's clearly believe that the chance of a major debt crisis within the
banking system is increasingly unlikely. Yet these market developments seem
hard to square with government bond yields crashing to all-time lows - the
yield on 10-year gilts is now an incredible 0.56%. Such low yields would
typically suggest that a recession is imminent although in our QE manipulated world,
these low rates may simply be a factor of massive central bank bond purchase
programmes.
In sum then, the optimists seem to have won out. This
cheeriness and optimism has even spread to Japan, with many investors now
suggesting that it represents the next frontier for equity income investors.
Dividend hunters converging on Japan - how the wheel constantly turns within
international finance! And yet investors might want to pause to consider the
link between low gilt yields, surging equities and populism represented by
Donald Trump. Our societies are aging fast which is in turn producing a savings
glut. This helps to lower yields and interest rates, which in turn makes
dividend producing assets more attractive. But these forces also produce low
economic growth and even lower wage growth rates. Which in turn fuels the
populist political agenda, built on smashing up the cosy economic and political
consensus. You have been warned!
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