Fear of a recession may be one of the reasons pushing risky asset prices lower. Yesterday alone, the Dow Jones fell 3.57 percent and the S&P 500 fell 4.04 percent, its biggest one-day drop since June 2020. The Nasdaq Composite was off 4.73 percent.
Another turnaround on Wall Street came after the release of the results of U.S. big-box retail chains such as Wal-Mart and Target. The share price of the former fell by almost 25 percent from its April peak, and the latter by about 40 percent. Why is this important? The U.S. economy is mainly spinning thanks to consumption and largely living on credit. Decrease in consumption by higher inflation, as shown by the results of companies and their comments to the results, can therefore be a wake-up call that the US economy will no longer grow so rapidly. As a result, there has been an even greater fear of recession, which in the current inflationary environment brings to mind the stagflation of the 70s-80s in the United States. Add to that rising lending rates through interest rate hikes, broken supply chains and an expensive U.S. dollar eroding export profits. According to some, this is the perfect set of factors that could push the market further into the embrace of a waking bear market.
In a more optimistic scenario, however, they may predict that inflation will peak in the second or third quarter of this year and then begin to decline starting in the fourth quarter of 2022. At that point, consumers could breathe a sigh of relief as prices would still rise, but no longer as fast as before. The same could be true for the stock market, which statistically, in cycles of interest rate hikes, seemed to create corrections in the first reaction and then continued earlier trends. Investors also might be looking for the point at which they believe the dollar and U.S. bonds have priced in a full cycle of rate hikes before the Fed. At that point, they could switch from the dollar to bonds or stocks, which could also put the brakes on the declines currently seen.
Since the beginning of the year alone, the Nasdaq index has fallen by 27 percent, the S&P 500 by more than 18 percent, and the Dow Jones by less than 15 percent. U.S. 10-year bonds have shrunk by 8 percent, and gold has fallen by 0.5 percent. Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar has gained about 8 percent. This could quite clearly show that the cash phase of the cycle may be underway. It may be followed, according to theory, by the bond phase of the cycle and only the equity phase of the cycle.
Daniel Kostecki, Director of the Polish branch of Conotoxia Ltd. (Forex service)
Materials, analysis and opinions contained, referenced or provided herein are intended solely for informational and educational purposes. Personal opinion of the author does not represent and should not be constructed as a statement or an investment advice made by Conotoxia Ltd. All indiscriminate reliance on illustrative or informational materials may lead to losses. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
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