Market Update

• Stocks, oil reverse course. Global equities are taking a breather from the steep selling pressure over the last two days as U.S. markets rise in tandem with WTI crude oil, which is finding support around its 50-day moving average, and European indexes, which are up 2-3% across the board. Today’s action comes on the heels of a second day of declines on Monday that left the S&P 500 down another 1.8%, as materials and financials continued to lead the retreat. Overnight, Asian markets recovered from a rocky start; the Nikkei Index closed near flat and China’sShanghai Composite gained 0.6%. Elsewhere, safe-haven assets are slipping as the yield on the 10-year note ticks higher after closing yesterday at 1.44%, and COMEX gold pulls back from its recent highs.

Macro View

• Treasury rally continues post-Brexit vote. The flight-to-safety trade was still in effect on Monday, as yields fell across the curve. In addition to the economic uncertainty, the vote likely keeps central banks, particularly the Federal Reserve Bank (Fed) and Bank of England (BOE)more market-friendly for longer. Expectations for the BOE are shifting toward a rate cut and possible restart of bond purchases. Over the past two days, the yield on the 10-year Treasury declined over 0.30%, from 1.74% to 1.44%. Looking back to the beginning of 1962, a move this extreme over two days has occurred during less than 0.75% of all trading days–highlighting the rarity of such a sharp and swift move.

• History suggests high-quality bonds may hold gains over the near term. A look back at prior market shock events such as Lehman, the flash crash, the debt downgrade, the collapse of LTCM, and the 9/11 terrorist attacks shows that Treasuries generally hold onto safe-haven gains over the coming 1-3 months following a shock event. Despite the sharp move lower in Treasury yields and even more expensive valuations, a reversal is unlikely soon, if history is any guide. We discuss in more detail in this week’s Bond Market Perspectives. In the meantime, the 10-year Treasury yield at yesterday’s close level of 1.44% is just above the all-time low of 1.39%, reached on July 24, 2012, and the 30-year Treasury yield is within striking distance of the February 2016 all-time low.

• Fed rate hikes turn to rate cut expectations. Near-term rate cut expectations increased on Monday, with futures pricing showing a nearly 25% probability of a rate cut at the September or November Fed meeting. Another 0.25% rate hike is not fully priced in until early 2018. Market expectations of the future path of interest rates had started to move lower in recent weeks, but Brexit has accelerated the more market-friendly Fed view and supports the lower for longer theme.

• High-yield spreads back above 6% post-Brexit. As is typical during bouts of flight-to-safety buying, lower-rated bonds such as high-yield, bank loans, and preferred securities lagged high-quality counterparts. The average high-yield bond spread, based on the Barclays High Yield Index, closed Monday at 6.4%, with the average yield of the index back above 7.5%. Considering year-to-date gains and valuations that are only fair in our opinion, recent weakness does not create a buying opportunity and the sector continues to have a tight correlation with oil, which poses a risk if dollar strength continues.

• Municipals keep pace with Treasuries. Municipal bonds rallied along with other high-quality bonds during Friday’s flight to safety, and the Barclays Municipal Bond Indexgained 0.4% for the week. Municipal bond almost matched the strength of Treasury gains one-for-one, which is rare during bouts of flight-to-safety buying. As a result, average 10- and 30-year AAA municipal-to-Treasury yield ratios remained on the expensive side of recent ranges, at 88% and 90%, respectively. Average AAA municipal yields closed at new all-time lows on Monday.

• Home prices suggest solid housing market–no boom, no bust. The Case-Shiller Home Price Index posted a 5.0% year-over-year increase in April, the same increase as in March, keeping home prices largely in-line with income growth, which has been running between 4.5-5%. This data point–along with others on home prices, sales, and construction released over the past month–continues to suggest that housing is adding to gross domestic product (GDP) growth here in 2016, as it has since 2011.

• The data dilemma: pre-Brexit versus post-Brexit data.Today’s data for home prices are for April, and as such, do not reflect any changes to the market post-Brexit. This pre-Brexit versus post-Brexit theme in the data will be in place over the next several months, as investors gauge what (if any) impact Brexit has had on the U.S. economy. Data released over the rest of this week (June vehicle sales and June Institute for Supply Management [ISM])both fall into the pre-Brexit bucket, as will the June jobs report due out on July 8. The weekly initial claims data should be watched closely, and the first real post-Brexit data point will be the July Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data, due in the third week of July.

• Worst two days since August 2015. The S&P 500 dropped another 1.8% yesterday on the heels of a 3.6% drop on Friday, for a two-day decline of 5.4%. That is the largest two-day drop since late August 2015. Technically, the S&P 500 closed beneath its 200-day moving average for the first time since March as well. The real interesting action was in the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX). The “fear gauge,” as it is well known, dropped 7.4% yesterday, even as the S&P 500 dropped nearly 2%. Incredibly, since 1990, only once has the S&P 500 dropped more on a similar VIX implosion and that was during the Iraq invasion of Kuwait in August 1990.

• What happens after a big drop on a Friday? The S&P 500 has dropped more than 3% on a Friday 10 total times since 2000, including last week’s drop. As we noted in the After Market Call on Friday and on Twitter over the weekend, Monday tends to be rather weak after a big drop on Friday. That trend played out yesterday; today on theLPL Research blog we will take a closer look at this development and see what happens each day of the week after a 3% drop on Friday.

Monitoring the Week Ahead

Tuesday

• Case-Shiller Home Price Index (Apr)
• Eurozone: European Leaders Summit

Wednesday

• Personal Income and Spending (May)
• Yellen (Dove)
• Fed Announces Bank Stress Test Results
• Eurozone: European Leaders Summit

Thursday

• Bullard (Hawk)
• Germany: Unemployment Change (June)
• Eurozone: CPI (June)
• China: Official Mfg. PMI (June)
• China: Caixin Mfg. PMI (June)
• Japan: Tankan Survey (Q2)
• Japan: CPI (May)

Friday

• ISM: Mfg. (June)
• Vehicle Sales (June)

Click Here for our detailed Weekly Economic Calendar

 

Important Disclosures

Past performance is no guarantee of future results.

The economic forecasts set forth in the presentation may not develop as predicted.

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide or be construed as providing specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual security. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly.

Stock investing involves risk including loss of principal.

Investing in foreign and emerging markets securities involves special additional risks. These risks include, but are not limited to, currency risk, political risk, and risk associated with varying accounting standards. Investing in emerging markets may accentuate these risks.

Treasury inflation-protected securities (TIPS) help eliminate inflation risk to your portfolio, as the principal is adjusted semiannually for inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI)—while providing a real rate of return guaranteed by the U.S. government. However, a few things you need to be aware of is that the CPI might not accurately match the general inflation rate; so the principal balance on TIPS may not keep pace with the actual rate of inflation. The real interest yields on TIPS may rise, especially if there is a sharp spike in interest rates. If so, the rate of return on TIPS could lag behind other types of inflation-protected securities, like floating rate notes and T-bills. TIPs do not pay the inflation-adjusted balance until maturity, and the accrued principal on TIPS could decline, if there is deflation.

Bank loans are loans issued by below investment-grade companies for short-term funding purposes with higher yield than short-term debt and involve risk.

Because of its narrow focus, sector investing will be subject to greater volatility than investing more broadly across many sectors and companies.

Commodity-linked investments may be more volatile and less liquid than the underlying instruments or measures, and their value may be affected by the performance of the overall commodities baskets as well as weather, disease, and regulatory developments.

Government bonds and Treasury bills are guaranteed by the U.S. government as to the timely payment of principal and interest and, if held to maturity, offer a fixed rate of return and fixed principal value. However, the value of fund shares is not guaranteed and will fluctuate.

Investing in foreign and emerging markets debt securities involves special additional risks. These risks include, but are not limited to, currency risk, geopolitical and regulatory risk, and risk associated with varying settlement standards.

High-yield/junk bonds are not investment-grade securities, involve substantial risks, and generally should be part of the diversified portfolio of sophisticated investors.

Municipal bonds are subject to availability, price, and to market and interest rate risk if sold prior to maturity. Bond values will decline as interest rate rise. Interest income may be subject to the alternative minimum tax. Federally tax-free but other state and local taxes may apply.

Investing in real estate/REITs involves special risks such as potential illiquidity and may not be suitable for all investors. There is no assurance that the investment objectives of this program will be attained.

Currency risk is a form of risk that arises from the change in price of one currency against another. Whenever investors or companies have assets or business operations across national borders, they face currency risk if their positions are not hedged.

Technical Analysis is a methodology for evaluating securities based on statistics generated by market activity, such as past prices, volume and momentum, and is not intended to be used as the sole mechanism for trading decisions. Technical analysts do not attempt to measure a security’s intrinsic value, but instead use charts and other tools to identify patterns and trends. Technical analysis carries inherent risk, chief amongst which is that past performance is not indicative of future results. Technical Analysis should be used in conjunction with Fundamental Analysis within the decision making process and shall include but not be limited to the following considerations: investment thesis, suitability, expected time horizon, and operational factors, such as trading costs are examples.

This research material has been prepared by LPL Financial LLC.

To the extent you are receiving investment advice from a separately registered independent investment advisor, please note that LPL Financial LLC is not an affiliate of and makes no representation with respect to such entity.

Not FDIC/NCUA Insured | Not Bank/Credit Union Guaranteed | May Lose Value | Not Guaranteed by any Government Agency | Not a Bank/Credit Union Deposit

Securities and Advisory services offered through LPL Financial LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor

Member FINRA/SIPC
Tracking # 1-511442