Global Market Comments
April 15, 2019
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(MARKET OUTLOOK FOR THE WEEK AHEAD, OR QE IS BACK!),
(SPY), (TLT), (TSLA), (DIS), (FCX), (GOOG), (MSFT), (AMZN)
Let me warn you in advance that I am only going off drugs long enough to write this newsletter.
This year’s flu has finally laid me low and let me tell you it is a real killer. Perhaps it is my advanced age that has magnified its effects. Then I developed an allergic reaction to the flu medicine I was taking. For a couple of days there, I was looking like the Michelin Man.
However, I did have a lot of time to read research. And what I learned was sobering.
For a start, we are fully back to a quantitative easing market. In one fell swoop, the Fed went from an expectation of four interest rate hikes in 2019 to none. By ending quantitative tightening early, it has cut the amount of cash it is withdrawing from the financial system from $4.3 trillion to only $1.5 trillion.
The Fed is in effect reflating the bubble one more time. And what do you do in a QE-driven economy. YOU BUY EVERYTHING! This explains why stocks, bonds, commodities, and energy have all been marching upward in unison this year even though that is supposed to be theoretically impossible.
Yes, the decade long liquidity-driven bull market may have another leg up to go.
A higher high inevitably leads to a lower low. The trades you are executing now may be akin to picking up pennies in front of a steam roller. We are clearly planting the seeds of the next financial crisis. But for now, the pain trade is clearly to the upside.
Those of who who traded through the dotcom bubble are seeing déjà vu all over again. Huge money-losing tech companies are now floating IPOs on a daily basis. This too will end in tears, which is why I have recommended to followers to avoid all of them. This is a sucker’s game.
There is a cloud behind this silver lining. After a ballistic 21.43% move in the Dow Average in four months, markets are trading as if risk is a thing of the past. The euphoria is here and complacency rules. That means the number of new possible low risk/high return trades out there has fallen to zero.
There is another cloud to worry about. The more excess stimulus the Fed provides the economy now, the fewer resources it will have to get us out of the next recession, which might be only a year off. As a result, everyone is long but extremely nervous. They are still participating in the party but are standing next to the exit door. Pent up volatility is building like a volcano ready to explode.
The other great revelation is that markets have been trading extremely short term in nature, only one quarter ahead of what the real economy is doing. So, a stock market meltdown in Q4 2018 discounted a collapsing GDP growth in Q1 2019 of a 1% rate or less. That is down 80% from a year ago peak.
The ultra-strong market in Q1 is anticipating an economic rebound in Q2, After that, who knows?
That’s why I am moving both of my trading portfolios for Global Trading Dispatch and the Mad Hedge Technology Letter to 100% cash positions in the coming week.
Last week was the week when Walt Disney (DIS) morphed from being a has-been media stock hobbled by a failing holding in ESPN to a dynamic company that is suddenly taking over the world. The reward was an eye-popping 25% move in three weeks, which we caught.
Copper demand is rocketing, off of soaring global electric car production. Each vehicle needs 22 pounds of the red metal, and 4 million have been built so far. That number reached 5 million by June. Take a second bite of the apple with (FCX) as well.
General Electric got slaughtered again, with an earnings downgrade from Morgan Stanley. It will take years to sort out this mess. Avoid (GE).
The 30-year fixed rate mortgage plunged to 4.03% and may save the spring selling season for residential real estate.
Apple Topped $200. It looks like the market is finally buying the services story. Stand aside for the short term. It’s had a great run, up 42% from the December low. I’m waiting for 5G until I buy my next iPhone, probably next year.
The Mad Hedge Fund Trader hit a new all-time high briefly, up 15.46% year to date, and beating the pants off the Dow Average. Good thing I didn’t buy the bearish argument. There’s too much cash floating around the world. However, my downside hedges in Disney and Tesla cost me some money when I stopped out. I was late by a day.
We are taking profits on a six-month peak of 13 positions across the GTD and Tech Letter services and will wait for markets to tell us what to do next.
April is so far down -1.50%, as my downside hedges in Tesla (TSLA) and Disney (DIS) cost me some sofa change. My 2019 year to date return retreated to +13.92%, paring my trailing one-year return back up to +27.22%.
My nine and a half year return backed off to +314.06%. The average annualized return appreciated to +33.65%. I am now 100% in cash.
The Mad Hedge Technology Letter has gone ballistic, with an aggressive and unhedged 30% long which expires this week. It is maintaining positions in Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL), and Amazon (AMZN), which are clearly going to new highs.
It’s going to be a dull week on the data front after last week’s fireworks.
On Monday, April 15 at 8:30 AM, we get the April Empire State Index. Citibank (C) and Goldman Sachs (GS) report.
On Tuesday, April 16, 9:15 AM EST, we learn March Industrial Production. Netflix (NFLX) and IBM (IBM) report.
On Wednesday, April 17 at 2:00 PM, we get the Fed Beige Book Indicators. Morgan Stanley reports (MS).
On Thursday, April 18 at 8:30 the Weekly Jobless Claims are produced. At 10:00 AM EST, we obtain the March Index of Leading Economic Indicators. American Express (AXP) reports.
On Friday, April 19 at 8:30 AM, the markets are closed for Good Friday.
As for me, I am staying planted in my bed reading up on research and watching HBO until I kick this flu. After that, I should be good for the rest of the year.
Good luck and good trading.
John Thomas
CEO & Publisher
The Diary of a Mad Hedge Fund Trader
Flat on my Back
Global Market Comments
April 11, 2019
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(THE UNITED STATES OF DEBT),
(TLT), (TBT), ($TNX),
Global Market Comments
April 10, 2019
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(A NOTE ON OPTIONS CALLED AWAY),
(TLT),
(NOTICE TO MILITARY SUBSCRIBERS)
Global Market Comments
April 9, 2019
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(ABBVIE’S BATTLE FOR ARTHRITIS DOMINANCE),
(USING MOMENTUM STOCKS TO CALL THE MARKET),
(MTUM)
You would think that a company with 60% of the arthritis market would see a soaring stock price. But you would be wrong.
Based on its 2019 performance to date though, AbbVie (ABBV) seems to be on the brink of a disaster. From an impressive 54% gain way back in 2017, the giant pharma stock started to lose ground this year with its share price falling by double-digit percentages. Nevertheless, staunch believers of this stock remain steadfastly optimistic about the company's future.
Here are pretty good reasons why they might be right.
A lot of investors have been wary of AbbVie due to the company's dependence on their blockbuster drug, Humira, which is marketed as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, hidradenitis suppurativa, uveitis, and juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Since AbbVie derives 60% of its total revenue from the sales of this drug, it's understandable why its shareholders are getting nervous over its declining performance in the market along with the emergence of competitors across the globe.
Surprisingly, AbbVie isn't the least bit worried about Humira.
One of the main reasons for their confidence in Humira's continued dominance in the market is the fact that biosimilar drugs won't be available in the US until around 2023. Given that two-thirds of Humira's sales or roughly $20 billion of its global profits come from the American market, this timeframe gives AbbVie a couple more years to rake in profits from its top drug. In fact, Humira is projected to keep earning as much as $15 billion up until 2024.
Notably, AbbVie has been labeled as a ruthless competitor with its latest move to mark down Humira by up to 89%. This "market poisoning" tactic, as its critics would dub it, has resulted in exits from a number of competitors and would-be competitors aiming to target the Dutch market as well. Hence, Humira might just be able to assert a renewed monopoly in the European nation via their aggressive discounts.
On top of that, AbbVie has lined up a couple of potential blockbuster drugs to take the baton from their beloved Humira. Plaque psoriasis drug Risankizumab along with rheumatoid arthritis treatment Upadacitinib are anticipated to boost AbbVie’s revenues this year as well.
In fact, both treatments are expected to gain FDA approval this year. These drugs, which are estimated to bring in incremental yearly sales of approximately $10 billion, are expected to pick up additional approvals to cater to other autoimmune diseases as well. Using a back-of-the-envelope calculation to add these two potential blockbuster drugs, therefore, puts AbbVie’s incremental risk-adjusted sales at around $35 billion by 2025.
Meanwhile, the company’s other promising products such as blood cancer treatments Imbruvica and Venclexta as well as endometriosis drug Orilissa are doing good in the market.
AbbVie has been exploring the possibility of expanding the indications for Venclexta to cover chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), multiple myeloma, and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). As for Orilissa, this drug is slated to become yet another blockbuster product for AbbVie as it attempts to win approval for the treatment of uterine fibroids. Should Orilissa succeed in this, AbbVie would be poised to become one of the leading companies in the women's health category.
With all these developments and consistent sales from AbbVie, the company is anticipated to post an earnings per share of $2.05 by the next earnings report. If that happens, then the figures would indicate a 9.63% YOY growth for the company.
In managing my portfolio, I always bear in mind the wise words of Warren Buffett: "If you aren't willing to own a stock for 10 years, don't even think about owning it for 10 minutes." At the moment, AbbVie is sold at a bargain with shares trading at lower than eight or nine times its expected earnings. Looking at the company’s pipeline and history of aggressively protecting its moneymaking drugs, it’s clear that AbbVie is poised to provide a significant boost in anyone’s portfolio in the future.
Buy AbbVie on the next market selloff.
Hardly a day goes by without a reader asking me which indicators I follow when determining my impeccable market timing.
The short answer is that there are hundreds, and the 50-year accumulation updates real-time 24/7 in my head.
However, there is one in particular indicator that is worth mentioning today. That would be the performance of momentum stocks.
Momentum stocks are shares that deliver a larger move in price, or beta, than the market as a whole.
They tend to be the shares of high growth companies that deliver a reliable stream of positive earnings surprises.
In fact, they have earned a large following of traders, known as ‘momentum investors.”
Call them the canaries in the coal mine.
Look at the list of top ten holdings below, and you will find many that you know and love, and are often the subject of Mad Hedge Fund Trader Trade Alerts.
Momentum stocks are attractive because they substantially outperform a more sedentary index, like the S&P 500 (SPY).
Momentum stocks can be a great leading indicator for the stock market as a whole.
When momentum stocks take off like a scalded chimp, it is a good idea to adopt a “RISK ON” approach towards all of your asset selections.
When momentum stocks fail to reach new highs, it is a warning signal that the party is about to end and “RISK OFF” assets are about to gain favor.
This is why I always keep a close eye on momentum stocks when assembling my own trading book.
There is one really easy way to follow momentum stocks and that is to watch the iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF (MTUM) like a hawk.
The (MTUM) seeks to track the performance of an index that measures the performance of 122 U.S. large and mid-capitalization stocks exhibiting relatively higher momentum characteristics than the main market before fees and expenses.
This portfolio is then rebalanced every six months to reflect new market trends and to deep six the losers.
If you want to see how well this works, just take a look at the chart below.
The (MTUM) is particularly attractive because its 0.15% expense ratio is the lowest among the several offerings in the marketplace.
The fund currently has $8.56 billion in assets, so the institutional community takes it seriously.
The trailing 30-day SEC yield is only 1.31%, reflecting the fact that many of its holdings are non-dividend paying technology and health care stocks.
To learn more about the details of the (MTUM) please click here.
And what are momentum stocks telling us right now?
That they have just had an incredible three-month run and are long overdue for a rest.
Just thought you’d like to know.
"There is no disinfectant like success," said Daniel Boorstin, the 12th Librarian of Congress.
Global Market Comments
April 8, 2019
Fiat Lux
Featured Trade:
(MARKET OUTLOOK FOR THE WEEK AHEAD, OR THE FLIP-FLOPPING MARKET),
(SPY), (TLT), (TSLA), (BA), (LUV), (DAL)
Easy come easy go.
Flip flop, flip flop.
Up until March 25, the bond market was discounting a 2019 recession. Bonds soared and stocks ground sideways. Exactly on that day, it pushed that recession out a year to 2020.
For that was the day that bond prices hit a multiyear peak and ten-year US Treasury yields (TLT) plunged all the way to 2.33%. Since then, interest rates have gone straight up, to 2.52% as of today.
There was also another interesting turn of the calendar. Markets now seem to be discounting economic activity a quarter ahead. So, the 20% nosedive we saw in stocks in Q4 anticipated a melting Q1 for the economy, which is thought to come in under 1%.
What happens next? A rebounding stock market in Q2 is expecting an economic bounce back in Q2 and Q3. What follows is anyone’s guess. Either continuing trade wars drag us back into a global recession and the stock market gives up the $4,500 points it just gained.
Or the wars end and we continue with a slow 2% GDP growth rate and the market grinds up slowly, maybe 5% a year.
Which leads us to the current quandary besieging strategists and economists around the world. Why is the government pressing for large interest rate cuts in the face of a growing economy and joblessness at record lows?
Of course, you have to ask the question of “what does the president know that we don’t.” The only conceivable reason for a sharp cut in interest rates during “the strongest economy in American history” is that the China trade talks are not going as well as advertised.
In fact, they might not be happening at all. Witness the ever-failing deadlines that always seem just beyond grasp. The proposed rate cut might be damage control in advance of failed trade talks that would certainly lead to a stock market crash, the only known measure of the administration view of the economy.
This also explains why politicization of the Fed is moving forward at an unprecedented rate. You can include political hack Stephen Moore who called for interest rate RISES during the entire eight years of the Obama administration but now wants them taken to zero in the face of an exploding national debt. There is also presidential candidate Herman Cain.
Both want the US to return to the gold standard which will almost certainly cause another Great Depression (that’s why we went off it last time, first in 1933 and finally in 1971). The problem with gold is that it’s finite. Economic growth would be tied to the amount of new gold mined every year where supplies have been FALLING for a decade.
The problem with politicization of the Fed is that once the genie is out of the bottle, it is out for good. BOTH parties will use interest rates to manipulate election outcomes in perpetuity. The independence of the Fed will be a thing of the past.
It has suddenly become a binary world. It either is, or it isn’t.
Positive China rumors lifted markets all week. Is this the upside breakout we’ve been looking for? Buy (FXI). While US markets are up 12% so far in 2019, Chinese ones have doubled that.
The Semiconductor Index, far and away the most China-sensitive sector of the market, hit a new all-time high. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), a Mad Hedge favorite, soared 9% in one day. It’s the future so why not? This is in the face of semiconductor demand and prices that are still collapsing. Buy dips.
Verizon beat the world with its surprise 5G rollout. It’s really all about bragging rights as it is available only in Chicago and Minneapolis and it will take time for 5G phones to get to the store. 5G iPhones are not expected until 2020. Still, I can’t WAIT to download the next Star Wars movie on my phone in only ten seconds.
US auto sales were terrible in Q1, the worst quarter in a decade, and continue to die a horrible death. General Motors (GM) suffered a 7% decline, with Silverado pickups off 16% and Suburban SUVs plunging 25%. Is this a prelude to the Q1 GDP number? Risk is rising. You have to wonder how much electric cars are eating their lunch, which now accounts for 4% of all new US sales.
Tesla (TSLA) disappointed big time, and the stock dove $30. Q1 deliveries came in at only 63,000 as I expected, compared to 90,700 in Q4, down 30.5%. I knew it would be a bad number but got squeezed out of my short the day before for a small loss. That’s show business. It’s all about damping the volatility of profits.
By cutting the electric car subsidy by half from $7,500 in 2019 and to zero in 2020, the administration seems intent on putting Tesla out of business at any cost. I hear the company has installed a revolving door at its Fremont headquarters to facilitate the daily visits by the Justice Department and the SEC. Did I mention that the oil industry sees Tesla as an existential threat?
The March Nonfarm Payroll Report rebounded to a healthy 196,000, just under the 110-month average. Weekly Jobless Claims dropped to New 49-Year Low. Whatever the problems the economy has, it’s not with job creation. But at what cost? Of course, we have to cut interest rates!
Boeing successfully tested new software, even taking the CEO for a ride. Maybe it will work this time. Airlines will love it. (BA) shares have already made back half their $80 losses since the recent crash and we caught the entire move. Buy (BA), (DAL), and (LUV).
The Mad Hedge Fund Trader hit a new all-time high briefly, up 15.46% year to date, and beating the pants off the Dow Average. Good thing I didn’t buy the bearish argument. There’s too much cash floating around the world. However, my downside hedges in Disney and Tesla cost me some money when I stopped out. I was late by a day.
We are taking profits on a six-month peak of 13 positions across the GTD and Tech Letter services and will wait for markets to tell us what to do next.
March turned positive in a final burst, up +1.78%. April is so far down -1.76%. My 2019 year to date return retreated to +13.69%, paring my trailing one-year return back up to +26.59%.
My nine and a half year return recovered to +313.83%, pennies short of a new all-time high. The average annualized return appreciated to +33.62%. I am now 80% in cash and 20% long, and my entire portfolio expires at the April 18 option expiration day in 9 trading days.
The Mad Hedge Technology Letter has gone ballistic, with an aggressive and unhedged 40% long, rising in value almost every day. It is maintaining positions in Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL), and PayPal (PYPL), and Amazon (AMZN), which are clearly going to new highs.
It’s going to be a dull week on the data front after last week’s fireworks.
On Monday, April 8 at 10:00 AM, February Factory Orders are released.
On Tuesday, April 9, 6:00 AM EST, the March NFIB Small Business Optimism Index is published.
On Wednesday, April 10 at 8:30 AM, we get the March Consumer Price Index.
On Thursday, April 11 at 8:30 AM EST, the Weekly Jobless Claims are announced. The March Producer Price Index is printed at the same time.
On Friday, April 12 at 10:00 AM, the April Consumer Sentiment Index is published.
The Baker-Hughes Rig Count follows at 1:00 PM.
As for me, I have two hours until the next snow storm pounds the High Sierras and closes Donner Pass. So I have to pack up and head back to San Francisco.
But I have to get a haircut first.
Incline Village, Nevada is the only place in the world where you can get a haircut from a 78-year-old retired Marine Master Sargent, Louie’s First Class Barbers. Civilian barbers can never grasp the concept of “high and tight with a shadow”, a cut only combat pilots are entitled to. He’ll regale me with stories of the Old Corps the whole time he is clipping away. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.
Good luck and good trading.
John Thomas
CEO & Publisher
The Diary of a Mad Hedge Fund Trader
