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Technically Speaking: Wall Street Sets Its Sights On S&P 5000

Just recently in our "Daily Market Commentary" (subscribe for free), we discussed Wall Street setting its sights on S&P 5000.

“Wells Fargo’s Chris Harvey raised his year-end S&P 500 price target to 4,825 from 3,850, as reported by Bloomberg’s.

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Just recently in our “Daily Market Commentary” (subscribe for free), we discussed Wall Street setting its sights on S&P 5000.

“Wells Fargo’s Chris Harvey raised his year-end S&P 500 price target to 4,825 from 3,850, as reported by Bloomberg’s Lu Wang. This move follows a weekend note by David Lefkowitz, head of equities for the Americas at UBS Wealth Management, who raised his year-end price target for the S&P 500 to 4,600 from 4,500. 

Lefkowitz also raised his June 2022 price target to 4,800 from 4,650, with the real headline coming from his year-end 2022 S&P 500 price target — 5,000

‘Yes, the rally off the COVID-19 bottom in March 2020 has been extraordinary, but we think there are further gains ahead,’ Lefkowitz writes. ‘Solid economic and corporate profit growth, in conjunction with a still-accommodative Fed, means that the environment for stocks remains favorable. As a result of our higher EPS estimates, we raise our targets for the S&P 500 for December 2021 by 100 points to 4,600 and June 2022 by 150 points to 4,800. We initiate our December 2022 target of 5,000, representing about 13% price appreciation from current levels.’” – Yahoo

The Race To 5000

Considering the market already doubled from the pandemic lows, the escalation of price targets is not surprising. Such is particularly the case when Wall Street needs to sell products to retail investors.

“The following graph and commentary from GMO, show that over the last year corporations took advantage of higher share prices. Interestingly, IPO issuance is currently running at the same pace as the market peak in 2000. Massive issuance from existing stocks is largely responsible for the big difference between total issuance today versus 2000.”Michael Lebowitz

Like roaches in the kitchen, when there is one, there are always others. Credit Suisse also hiked price targets suggesting that earnings growth is the driving factor. To wit:

With this 2022 outlook, Lefkowitz joins Credit Suisse’s Jonathan Golub who earlier this month put a price target of 5,000 on the S&P 500 for the end of 2022. The equity strategy team at Goldman Sachs also garnered headlines earlier this month in raising their year-end price target to 4,700 from 4,300 while putting a year-end 2022 price target on the benchmark index of 4,900.

Lefkowitz sees earnings growth, not multiple expansionas the driving force behind the market’s rally in the year ahead. 

‘Our price targets assume a forward P/E multiple of about 20x, slightly below current levels of 21x. We expect valuations to remain above historical averages mostly due to the very low interest rate environment. Said another way, stocks continue to look appealing relative to bonds.’” – Yahoo

Rationalizing The Increase

The problem with the analysis is that it is based on rationalizations rather than reality. We discussed previously there is no precedent supporting the view that low rates justify high valuations.

“The primary argument is that when inflation or interest rates fall, the present value of future cash flows from equities rises, and subsequently, so should their valuation. While true, assuming all else is equal, a falling discount rate does suggest a higher valuation. However, when inflation declines, future nominal cash flow from equities also falls, this can offset the effect of lower discount rates. Lower discount rates are applied to lower expected cash flows.

In other words, without adjusting for inflation and, in no small degree, economic growth, suggesting low rates justify overpaying for cash flows is a very flawed premise.

Instead of regarding stocks as a fixed-rate bond with known nominal coupons, one must think of stocks as a floating-rate bond whose coupons will float with nominal earnings growth. In this analogy, the stock market’s P/E is like the price of a floating-rate bond. In most cases, despite moves in interest rates, the price of a floating-rate bond changes little, and likewise the rational P/E for the stock market moves little.’ – Cliff Asness

Let’s set aside the “low rate rationalization” and focus on the “earnings growth” side of the valuation argument.

Earnings Growth A Reflection Of Economic Growth

The biggest problem for the S&P 5000 target is underlying earnings. There is an obvious correlation between economic growth and corporate earnings. Such is because over the long term the economy is what generates corporate revenues. While analysts ramped up earnings expectations following the massive liquidity injections from the Government, the payback is coming.

“As BofA recently noted, global expectations are beginning to roll over from very high levels.

Market Doubles, Fastest Bull Market In History As S&P 500 Doubles.
Market Doubles, Fastest Bull Market In History As S&P 500 Doubles.

The first problem with Wall Street analysis is several:

  1. Historically, earnings estimates are roughly 30% higher than what turns out to be reality.
  2. As reporting dates approach, analysts revise down estimates below reported levels (assuring a high beat rate), and
  3. Analysts are never held accountable to their orginal estimates.

Given the lack of accountability, it is not surprising analysts are always overly optimistic in their initial estimates which gives them plenty of room to downgrade in the future.

However, there is roughly a 90% correlation between the stock market and GAAP earnings growth. Therefore, if earnings do decline, as profit expectations fall, then the S&P will have a more difficult time hitting a high target.

Furthermore, the current gap between corporate profits and the market has historically not ended well for investors.

Valuations Will Remain Elevated

The problem currently is even with the estimated increase in earnings, the QE-driven price increase keeps valuations extended well above historical ranges.

While that statement comes with the caveat that “valuations are terrible market timing metrics,” they do imply lofty expectations are likely to be disappointed.


I previously quoted Carl Swenlin on earnings.
 As Carl noted, there is nothing normal with GAAP earnings. But, of course, today, most companies report “operating” earnings which obfuscate profitability by excluding all the “bad stuff.” 

The following table shows the expectations for reported earnings growth:

  • 2020 (actual) = $94.13 / share
  • 2021 (estimate) = $185.49  (Increase of 97% over 2020)
  • 2022 (estimate) = $200.62  (Increase of 113% over 2020)

The chart below uses these earnings estimates and assumes NO price increase for the S&P 500 through 2022. Such would reduce valuations from 41x earnings in 2020 to roughly 22x earnings in 2022. (That valuation level remains near previous bull market peak valuations.)

However, if analysts are correct and the market hits 5000, valuations remain elevated. Instead of valuations declining, the increase in price keeps valuations hovering near 25x earnings.

Given that markets are already trading well above historical valuation ranges, such suggests that outcomes will likely not be as “bullish” as many currently expect.

“Historically, price has usually remained below the top of the normal value range (red line); however, since about 1998, it has not been uncommon for price to exceed normal overvalue levels, sometimes by a lot. The market has been mostly overvalued since 1992, and it has not been undervalued since 1984. We could say that this is the ‘new normal,’ except that it isn’t normal by GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) standards.” – Carl Swenlin

S&P 5000 Is Likely

We don’t disagree the S&P 500 could well hit a target of 5000. But, let us be honest about the reasons why:

  • $120 billion a month in liquidity,
  • Zero interest rates, and
  • A substantial amount of speculative market fervor.

Like a snowball, the current market momentum could very well carry the S&P higher over the next year.

Such does not preclude a “round-trip” ticket in the future.

Throughout history, overvaluations of markets have never been resolved by earnings catching up with the price. Secondly, the two-fold problem of the temporary nature of the stimulus and inflation leaves the market vulnerable to a downward shift in earnings expectations over the next few quarters. As noted, Wall Street has ratcheted up expectations to try and justify current prices.

While monetary interventions allow market participants to ignore the reality of the economic ties to the market, such does not preclude hair-raising volatility and significant declines, as we saw in March 2020.

More importantly, if the Fed backs off, whether by its design or due to inflation, slower economic growth, or massive debt overhead, rich valuations will matter.

The risk of disappointment is high. And so are the costs of investing based on analysis without all of the facts.

The post Technically Speaking: Wall Street Sets Its Sights On S&P 5000 appeared first on RIA.

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There Goes The Fed’s Inflation Target: Goldman Sees Terminal Rate 100bps Higher At 3.5%

There Goes The Fed’s Inflation Target: Goldman Sees Terminal Rate 100bps Higher At 3.5%

Two years ago, we first said that it’s only a matter…

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There Goes The Fed's Inflation Target: Goldman Sees Terminal Rate 100bps Higher At 3.5%

Two years ago, we first said that it's only a matter of time before the Fed admits it is unable to rsolve the so-called "last mile" of inflation and that as a result, the old inflation target of 2% is no longer viable.

Then one year ago, we correctly said that while everyone was paying attention elsewhere, the inflation target had already been hiked to 2.8%... on the way to even more increases.

And while the Fed still pretends it can one day lower inflation to 2% even as it prepares to cut rates as soon as June, moments ago Goldman published a note from its economics team which had to balls to finally call a spade a spade, and concluded that - as party of the Fed's next big debate, i.e., rethinking the Neutral rate - both the neutral and terminal rate, a polite euphemism for the inflation target, are much higher than conventional wisdom believes, and that as a result Goldman is "penciling in a terminal rate of 3.25-3.5% this cycle, 100bp above the peak reached last cycle."

There is more in the full Goldman note, but below we excerpt the key fragments:

We argued last cycle that the long-run neutral rate was not as low as widely thought, perhaps closer to 3-3.5% in nominal terms than to 2-2.5%. We have also argued this cycle that the short-run neutral rate could be higher still because the fiscal deficit is much larger than usual—in fact, estimates of the elasticity of the neutral rate to the deficit suggest that the wider deficit might boost the short-term neutral rate by 1-1.5%. Fed economists have also offered another reason why the short-term neutral rate might be elevated, namely that broad financial conditions have not tightened commensurately with the rise in the funds rate, limiting transmission to the economy.

Over the coming year, Fed officials are likely to debate whether the neutral rate is still as low as they assumed last cycle and as the dot plot implies....

...Translation: raising the neutral rate estimate is also the first step to admitting that the traditional 2% inflation target is higher than previously expected. And once the Fed officially crosses that particular Rubicon, all bets are off.

... Their thinking is likely to be influenced by distant forward market rates, which have risen 1-2pp since the pre-pandemic years to about 4%; by model-based estimates of neutral, whose earlier real-time values have been revised up by roughly 0.5pp on average to about 3.5% nominal and whose latest values are little changed; and by their perception of how well the economy is performing at the current level of the funds rate.

The bank's conclusion:

We expect Fed officials to raise their estimates of neutral over time both by raising their long-run neutral rate dots somewhat and by concluding that short-run neutral is currently higher than long-run neutral. While we are fairly confident that Fed officials will not be comfortable leaving the funds rate above 5% indefinitely once inflation approaches 2% and that they will not go all the way back to 2.5% purely in the name of normalization, we are quite uncertain about where in between they will ultimately land.

Because the economy is not sensitive enough to small changes in the funds rate to make it glaringly obvious when neutral has been reached, the terminal or equilibrium rate where the FOMC decides to leave the funds rate is partly a matter of the true neutral rate and partly a matter of the perceived neutral rate. For now, we are penciling in a terminal rate of 3.25-3.5% this cycle, 100bps above the peak reached last cycle. This reflects both our view that neutral is higher than Fed officials think and our expectation that their thinking will evolve.

Not that this should come as a surprise: as a reminder, with the US now $35.5 trillion in debt and rising by $1 trillion every 100 days, we are fast approaching the Minsky Moment, which means the US has just a handful of options left: losing the reserve currency status, QEing the deficit and every new dollar in debt, or - the only viable alternative - inflating it all away. The only question we had before is when do "serious" economists make the same admission.

They now have.

And while we have discussed the staggering consequences of raising the inflation target by just 1% from 2% to 3% on everything from markets, to economic growth (instead of doubling every 35 years at 2% inflation target, prices would double every 23 years at 3%), and social cohesion, we will soon rerun the analysis again as the implications are profound. For now all you need to know is that with the US about to implicitly hit the overdrive of dollar devaluation, anything that is non-fiat will be much more preferable over fiat alternatives.

Much more in the full Goldman note available to pro subs in the usual place.

Tyler Durden Tue, 03/19/2024 - 15:45

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Household Net Interest Income Falls As Rates Spike

A Bloomberg article from this morning offered an excellent array of charts detailing the shifts in interest payment flows amid rising rates. The historical…

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A Bloomberg article from this morning offered an excellent array of charts detailing the shifts in interest payment flows amid rising rates. The historical anomaly was both surprising and contradicted our priors.

10 Key Points:

  1. Historical Anomaly: This is the first time in the last fifty years that a Federal Reserve rate hike cycle has led to a significant drop in household net interest income.
  2. Interest Expense Increase: Since the Fed began raising rates in March 2022, Americans’ annual interest expenses on debts like mortgages and credit cards have surged by nearly $420 billion.
  3. Interest Income Lag: The increase in interest income during the same period was only about $280 billion, resulting in a net decline in household interest income, a departure from past trends.
  4. Consumer Debt Influence: The recent rate hikes impacted household finances more because of a higher proportion of consumer credit, which adjusts more quickly to rate changes, increasing interest costs.
  5. Banks and Savers: Banks have been slow to pass on higher interest rates to depositors, and the prolonged period of low rates before 2022 may have discouraged savers from actively seeking better returns.
  6. Shift in Wealth: There’s been a shift from interest-bearing assets to stocks, with dividends surpassing interest payments as a source of unearned income during the pandemic.
  7. Distributional Discrepancy: Higher interest rates benefit wealthier individuals who own interest-earning assets, whereas lower-income earners face the brunt of increased debt servicing costs, exacerbating economic inequality.
  8. Job Market Impact: Typically, Fed rate hikes affect households through the job market, as businesses cut costs, potentially leading to layoffs or wage suppression, though this hasn’t occurred yet in the current cycle.
  9. Economic Impact: The distribution of interest income and debt servicing means that rate increases transfer money from those more likely to spend (and thus stimulate the economy) to those less likely to increase consumption, potentially dampening economic activity.
  10. No Immediate Relief: Expectations for the Fed to reduce rates have diminished, indicating that high-interest expenses for households may persist.

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One more airline cracks down on lounge crowding in a way you won’t like

Qantas Airways is increasing the price of accessing its network of lounges by as much as 17%.

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Over the last two years, multiple airlines have dealt with crowding in their lounges. While they are designed as a luxury experience for a small subset of travelers, high numbers of people taking a trip post-pandemic as well as the different ways they are able to gain access through status or certain credit cards made it difficult for some airlines to keep up with keeping foods stocked, common areas clean and having enough staff to serve bar drinks at the rate that customers expect them.

In the fall of 2023, Delta Air Lines  (DAL)  caught serious traveler outcry after announcing that it was cracking down on crowding by raising how much one needs to spend for lounge access and limiting the number of times one can enter those lounges.

Related: Competitors pushed Delta to backtrack on its lounge and loyalty program changes

Some airlines saw the outcry with Delta as their chance to reassure customers that they would not raise their fees while others waited for the storm to pass to quietly implement their own increases.

A photograph captures a Qantas Airways lounge in Sydney, Australia.

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This is how much more you'll have to pay for Qantas lounge access

Australia's flagship carrier Qantas Airways  (QUBSF)  is the latest airline to announce that it would raise the cost accessing the 24 lounges across the country as well as the 600 international lounges available at airports across the world through partner airlines.

More Travel:

Unlike other airlines which grant access primarily after reaching frequent flyer status, Qantas also sells it through a membership — starting from April 18, 2024, prices will rise from $600 Australian dollars ($392 USD)  to $699 AUD ($456 USD) for one year, $1,100 ($718 USD) to $1,299 ($848 USD) for two years and $2,000 AUD ($1,304) to lock in the rate for four years.

Those signing up for lounge access for the first time also currently pay a joining fee of $99 AUD ($65 USD) that will rise to $129 AUD ($85 USD).

The airline also allows customers to purchase their membership with Qantas Points they collect through frequent travel; the membership fees are also being raised by the equivalent amount in points in what adds up to as much as 17% — from 308,000 to 399,900 to lock in access for four years.

Airline says hikes will 'cover cost increases passed on from suppliers'

"This is the first time the Qantas Club membership fees have increased in seven years and will help cover cost increases passed on from a range of suppliers over that time," a Qantas spokesperson confirmed to Simple Flying. "This follows a reduction in the membership fees for several years during the pandemic."

The spokesperson said the gains from the increases will go both towards making up for inflation-related costs and keeping existing lounges looking modern by updating features like furniture and décor.

While the price increases also do not apply for those who earned lounge access through frequent flyer status or change what it takes to earn that status, Qantas is also introducing even steeper increases for those renewing a membership or adding additional features such as spouse and partner memberships.

In some cases, the cost of these features will nearly double from what members are paying now.

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