Barring a disaster in the final trading sessions of the year, the portfolio will return about 5%—excluding fees and dividends—in 2017. This is a far cry from the nearly 20% of the MSCI World, but better than a hole in the head. The good news was concentrated in the first half of the year. Profit-taking trades in Wells Fargo, Sabadell and Japanese equities added to the strong performance. From spring onwards, however, performance hit the skids, and only recently have returns started to improve. Slumps in General Electric, Xper have been the primary drags, but the dumpster fire has been more broad-based than that. A 15% allocation to gold and commodities—industrial and soft—for example, haven’t done me any favours either. Neither have exposure to producers of generic medicines and other small-cap pharma firms. Finally, various attempts to hedge out impending, but ultimately non-existing, sell-offs in the market as a whole also have hurt. Syntel and Urban Outfitters have been rising from the ashes in recent months, and I am hoping that further mean reversion will reach the rest of the portfolio next year. Given where we are in the cycle, the risk of a balanced equity portfolio losing money is rising. But let’s see whether I can’t come up with some ideas.
Read MoreEveryone is now talking about the flattening yield curve in the U.S., and it appears that a consensus is emerging for a Fed-induced recession—or severe slowdown—in 2019. The rationale here is simple. If the Fed hikes three times a year and 5y-to-10y yields won’t get traction, the curve will invert at some point in the latter part of 2018. This, in turn, has historically been one of the best pre-cursors for shift in the U.S. economic cycle. It warms my heart to see that attention has turned to the 2s5s. Forget about the 2s10s and 2s30, the 2s5s is all we need. If markets truly believe that the Fed is about to steer the U.S. economy into a slowdown, 5-year yields won’t go anywhere as the fed funds rate edge higher. If, on the other hand, markets think the economy will keep trucking despite higher rates—perhaps because the Fed gets behind the curve on tax cuts—they will move to sell 5-year notes, in size. Alternatively, markets could take the position that the Fed is unlikely to push too far on the short end in light of still-record low policy rates in Europe and Japan. If that’s your tipple, you are buying 2y notes, and selling the 5y. I have to assume that this month’s Fed meeting will give markets some guidance on these questions.
Read MoreThis essay is full of contradictions and loose ends, so I might as well start with one in the title. This cycle is not over yet, and I am not sure that I have the definitive answer for when it will end. It is, however, well advanced with some themes and narratives. I am writing this in an attempt to make sense of and to explain, a world, which to my despair is increasingly devoid of reason. As a finance geek, I can’t get anywhere without first establishing the state of play in the economy and markets. The most salient feature since the financial crisis has been the unprecedented activism of monetary policy. In 2006, Alan Blinder described central banking in the 21st century. It is a brilliant paper but in dire need of an update given actions taken by policymakers since 2008. Central bankers were first called into action to prevent a collapse. The destruction in markets after Lehman’s failure showed that timidity or firmness in the face of moral hazard risk was impossible. Interbank markets were seizing up, banks were running out of liquidity, and the chaos quickly was spreading to the real economy. Decisive action was needed to avoid the situation spiralling out of control. Central banks had to take their role as lenders of last resort seriously.
Read MoreOne of the more enjoyable aspects of being an independent macroeconomic researcher—at least for a geek like me—is the road trips when you get to speak to clients and prospects. Sure, you see more airport lounges and hotel rooms than you need to. But there is no better way to gauge the zeitgeist than to spend a week in meetings with portfolio managers and asset allocators. I have done just that in New York, and I sense a cautious optimism that the positive trend in equities and credit and the economy will continue for a bit longer. In my capacity as a Eurozone economist, my central message to the wardens of our capital was that the European economy is just fine. But I also spent time floating the following proposition: Monetary policy divergence is back with a vengeance, and macro traders will make, or lose, their money on this theme in the next 12 months. The ECB and the BOJ recently have signalled to markets that they will be stuck with negative interest rates for a while. Meanwhile, the the Fed is on the move, a point highlighted by Friday’s robust advance Q3 GDP report, which suggests that growth in the U.S. economy was a punchy 3% annualised, despite a drag from two hurricanes.
Read More