February 8, 2021 – Market Update Table of Contents
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MARKET UPDATE subscribe at sandyleeds.com February 8, 2021 – Market Update Table of Contents I. Last Week........................................................................................................2 A. Markets (Barron’s) (Barron’s) .....................................................................................................2 B. Why Shares Rose Last Week (WSJ)..............................................................................................3 C. Employment Report (Barron’s) (Bloomberg) (WSJ) ......................................................................3 II. Different Views on the Stock Market ..............................................................4 A. Bill Gross’ Investment Outlook: “Little Bit Softer Now” (PR) .......................................................4 B. Fed Can’t Ignore its Role (Bloomberg) .........................................................................................4 C. Bonds vs. Equities (Bloomberg) ..................................................................................................5 D. Merger Arbitrage Bets (WSJ) ......................................................................................................5 E. Bubble (WSJ) ..............................................................................................................................6 III. Free Trading and Payment for Order Flow (PFOF) ..........................................7 A. Free Trading Costs (WSJ) ............................................................................................................7 B. Robinhood Hidden Costs (WSJ) ...................................................................................................7 C. Payment for Order Flow (Matt Levine -- Bloomberg) (WSJ) .........................................................8 D. Citadel Profits (WSJ) ..................................................................................................................9 E. Time to Stop Trading Conflicts that Cost Investors Billions, by retired Senator Levin (FT) ..............9 IV. Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs) .......................................... 10 A. SPAC (CNBC) ............................................................................................................................ 10 B. SPACs Performance After the Acquisition (Barron’s) ................................................................. 10 C. GME Traders Moving into SPACs (WSJ) ..................................................................................... 10 V. General Interest ........................................................................................... 11 sandyleeds.com 1 I. Last Week A. Markets (Barron’s) (Barron’s) 1. Last week: DJIA +3.9%; S&P +4.6%; Nasdaq +6%; Russell 2000 +7.7% a. Hedge funds had “degrossed” last week and had to reload i. They had closed short and long positions last week b. While jobs report was disappointing (49K jobs and December report revised down to 227K from 140K), other news was more positive i. ISM services survey new order and hiring components point to growth ii. More stimulus payments iii. Improving Covid news 1. Weekly number of new cases down 30% from two weeks ago 2. New vaccines coming a. JNJ has filed for emergency-use authorization b. Novavax headed in right direction 3. Clorox dropped 8% (this was a pandemic play) iv. Oil and interest rates may be signaling growth 1. Energy ETF (XLE) +8.2% as oil climbed 8.9% ($56.85 / barrel) a. Oil is highest it’s been since January 2. Financial ETF (XLF) improved as 10-year yield hit highest level since March v. VIX receded to the low 20s 2. Yield curve is most upward sloped in years a. 2-year yield: .09%; 10-year: 1.19%; 30-year: 1.97% i. Since Aug: 30-yr +73 bps and 10-yr +63 bps ii. 2-year stays low b/c Fed is not expected to raise rates b. Higher yield seems to be higher inflation expectation i. Seem to be expecting higher inflation 1. Got a boost from Biden’s $1.9T plan 2. 5-yr breakeven inflation: 2.28% (+80bps since Sep); 10-yr 2.21% ii. Stimulus will also bring higher growth, but TIPs yield falling c. Implications: i. As 2/10 spread approaches 1.3%, may be sign of Fed raising rates ii. Maybe the steady rise in yields could help preclude a “taper tantrum” iii. Bank stocks may continue to post strong performance iv. Treasury yields will eventually climb high enough to draw investors back into the market 3. A little bit of irony… a. Koss shares had been at $3 at the end of last year and hit $127 last week i. The Koss family and executives sold $45MM of stock 1. Greater than the market cap at the end of 2020 2. Mostly sold at $20 - $60 ii. Who would have ever thought that Robinhood would be an entity that moved money from the poor to the wealthy! sandyleeds.com 2 B. Why Shares Rose Last Week (WSJ) 1. Possible new stimulus a. Particularly with a weak jobs report 2. New vaccines (such as JNJ) 3. Decline in volatility 4. Earnings growth 5. Low interest rates C. Employment Report (Barron’s) (Bloomberg) (WSJ) 1. Nonfarm payrolls increased by just 49K a. December was revised down from 140K to 227K b. Remember that the economy lost 9.3MM jobs in 2020 – still need them back 2. Jobless rate (U-3) fell from 6.7% to 6.3% (6.9% if no misclassification error) a. More people employed b. More people leaving workforce (lower participation rate) 3. U-6 rate fell to 11.7% 4. The negative news: a. Private payrolls increase by only 6K last month i. Job cuts in retail trade, transportation and warehousing, and leisure and hospitality b. Almost 40% of the unemployed have been out of 27 weeks or more (4MM+) i. Highest percentage since 2012 c. Large differences in unemployment rates: i. Whites (5.7%); Asian (6.6%); Hispanics (8.6%); Blacks (9.2%) 5. Some bright spots: a. Household survey implies that employment rose 381K i. And this was led by full-time jobs (300K+) b. Americans working longer hours i. Average weekly hours rose to 35 1. Highest in data back to 2006 ii. Average weekly hours for non-supervisory workers rose to 34.4 hours 1. Longest workweek since 2000 c. Employment at temporary-help services jumped most in three months (+3.1%) i. May foreshadow a pickup in hiring ii. Payrolls at temporary-help services climbed almost 81K d. As of last month, financial, tech, and management consulting have returned to pre-pandemic levels i. Job postings for tech and finance are up 20% and 11% e. Average hourly earnings rose .2% MOM and 5.4% YOY sandyleeds.com 3 II. Different Views on the Stock Market A. Bill Gross’ Investment Outlook: “Little Bit Softer Now” (PR) 1. The “bubblicious” stock market a. IPOs like DoorDash soared 80% on its first day b. Airbnb jumped 110% -- giving it a $100B market cap 2. Market is being driven by fiscal stimulus and monetary policy a. Negative real rate 3. Two points of caution a. What if the reassembled economy, absent a large amount of office space, retail stores, and new Boeing airplanes doesn’t create a capitalist creative destruction replacement in short order i. How many fiscal packages can the stock market stand before it realizes that GDP is now opioid-like (dependent on more) 1. If we have to constantly run trillion-dollar deficits, the market should trade at a lower P/E a. We’re more like the Nordic and European markets b. Stock prices and p/e multiples are affected by interest rates i. Low bond yields result in low earnings yields (high P/Es) ii. Low yields mean that distant cash flows retain their value 1. The 200 bp decline in real 10-year yields since Jan. 2019 have been instrumental in the 50% market rise since then 4. Real yields need to stay low for all of this to continue B. Fed Can’t Ignore its Role (Bloomberg) 1. It’s hard to miss the tell-tale signs of a bubble: a. IPOs are popping more on the first day of trading than they have since the dot- com days i. Airbnb, DoorDash, Snowflake b. Recent speculation on GameStop and other heavily shorted stocks c. Hertz and other low-priced stocks that speculators chased d. Bitcoin 2. In some ways, it’s like the tech bubble with everyone getting rich a. SPACs b. Whatever Chamath Palihapitiya is touting c. WallStreetBets d. Digital currencies 3. The current mania is different for one reason: monetary policy a. During the tech bubble, Fed had raised rates to 6.5% heading into 2000 4. Negative real yields are probably the chief source of all this speculation a. If real yields are positive, why take risk in stocks b. Now JPM says that households’ equity allocation has risen to record highs, surpassing the beginning of 2000 sandyleeds.com 4 C. Bonds vs. Equities (Bloomberg) 1. For the past ten months, investors have justified the huge melt-up in stock prices by pointing to low bond yields 2. This case is no longer compelling: a. Stock yields are lower (b/c prices have increased) i. The S&P is up 8% since September 1. S&P earnings yield is at a record low 3.16% 2. S&P dividend yield is 1.5% ii. Nasdaq 100 is up 9% since September 1. Earnings yield of 2.5% 2. Dividend yield of .72% b. 10-year UST yields have almost doubled to 1.14% i. 30-year is close to 2% 1. Yield on long bonds now exceeds the S&P 500’s dividend yield by the most since before the crisis 2. Bloomberg Barclays index of AA-rated corporate bonds with an average maturity of 13 years yields 1.6% (highest since June) a. This also exceeds the S&P’s dividend yield c. In some ways, this is a return to normalcy i. It’s been rare for equities to yield so much more than USTs and high- quality corporate bonds 1. In late