At the end of Q2 2016, uncertainty was on the rise, the geopolitical environment was fragile and financial markets appeared highly susceptible to exogenous shocks. Global stock indices wobbled, safe haven trades such as long Japanese yen and long US treasuries gained steam, all while gold rallied in tandem with investor uncertainty. We expected much of the same for the summer months of Q3 2016 as the US election cycle unfolded. Yet, the resilience of financial markets has truly been phenomenal. The US stock market, as represented by the S&P 500 TR index is up over 8% for the year. The NASDAQ composite hit another all-time high in September. Truly, this resilience may not be an anomaly after all. Excluding 2008, the US stock market has been up every year since 2003, many of these years it’s been up double digits, though past performance is no guarantee of future results. For those of us who value fundamentals and see the current economic landscape as a highly intricate house of cards, the continued rally, and subsequent drop in equity market volatility, is perplexing. Chairwoman Janet Yellen punted on increasing interest rates this quarter. Although the yield on the 10-year treasury was ultimately up in the third quarter, it also hit an all-time low in July of 1.36% in the post Brexit flight to quality. Ongoing massive global central bank stimulus (bond buying) led to an even larger supply of negative yielding bonds globally, making our US 10-year treasury look like a high yielding security relative to our foreign brethren. Can this continue forever? Surely, at some point in the not too distant future, negative interest rates will be viewed as some kind of insane experiment where we all should have known better. Yet, we feel that the financial markets seem as complacent as ever, comfortable and warm in a central bank security blanket.
We firmly believe the Fed should raise interest rates this year; yet, this assertion is materially dependent on the strength of economic data as we move into Q4. At the same time, the US is not an economic island. We could see economic data continue to improve; but if Europe continues to struggle, growth in China slows further, or other global forces take hold, the potential for a Fed rate hike could disappear. As we sit here today, the yield curve continues to flatten; which has been an economic harbinger. What’s nearly for certain in our minds is that global central banks will intervene with appropriate liquidity to prevent any political crisis from turning into a financial crisis. But, with zero to negative interest rates globally, central banks are already constrained and have limited tools to stabilize markets.
Accordingly, we believe investors should look to diversify portfolio risks away from long-only holdings in stocks and fixed income, dependent of course, on the individual’s goals and risk tolerances, among other factors. The traditional 60/40 portfolio has been a winning asset allocation since the depths of the financial crisis but in our opinion has overstayed its welcome. We are in no way predicting a crisis; rather, we view this as a market in which preemptive thinking is paramount.
