World News
It was a quiet week in terms of domestic economic news, but it was far from dull in terms of global news. In the UK, Rishi Sunak took over as Britain’s 57th prime minister, replacing Liz Truss, whose 45 days in office was the shortest tenure in UK history. Sunak will be the first prime minister of South Asian descent, the first person of color, the first Hindu prime minister, and at 42 years old is the youngest person to hold the office in modern times. He has previously worked for Goldman Sachs, was a managing director of a hedge fund, and might be the richest person to ever hold the office. He formerly served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) in Boris Johnson’s cabinet. Sunak inherits a difficult economic environment, but the market’s first reactions were favorable and British sterling rallied on the news. Separately, the Bank of England is expected to raise interest rates 75 basis points on November 3, one day after the Federal Reserve is expected to raise the fed funds rate by another 75 basis points.
This week Russia took allegations to the UN Security Council implying that Ukraine is preparing to use a “dirty bomb” on its own territory. Western and Ukrainian officials dismissed these charges as misinformation, but many worry that this could be a pretext prior to Putin escalating the war. Simultaneously Putin notified the US of plans to carry out annual exercises of its nuclear forces.
Over the weekend, the Chinese Communist Party unanimously chose Xi Jinping to be its leader for another term of five years, while also granting him a breadth of institutional power not seen since the days of Mao Zedong. In 2017 Xi removed term limits for the presidency. And in a blatant expression of power, Xi had China’s former president, Hu Jintao, forcibly removed from the final session of the 20th National Congress, a sign that Xi is pushing all but his most loyal allies out of positions of power.
Saudi Arabia’s energy chief Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman blasted the use of emergency oil reserves to manipulate prices in a direct warning to President Biden who just released millions of barrels from strategic petroleum reserves. Saudi’s energy minister stated, “Losing emergency stocks may be painful in the months to come.” President Biden has signed off on historic use of the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) this year, releasing 180 million barrels of oil since April, with another release of 14 million barrels this month. This supply has helped to keep a lid on energy inflation in the weeks before the midterm elections, but it is also putting oil markets under pressure with the SPR at its lowest level since 1984.
Earnings
At the end of the week, slightly more than half of the S&P 500 component companies will have reported third quarter earnings. This week the S&P consensus EPS estimate for 2022 declined to $206.74 and IBES fell to $222.14 bringing EPS growth rates for 2022 to -0.7% and 6.7%, respectively. These estimates are down from $227.51 and $230, respectively, at the end of April. This means the S&P consensus estimate has declined nearly 10% in the last five months and it is still falling. This week forecasts for 2022 declined 59 cents and for 2023 fell 28 cents. And estimates are apt to fall again this week. Google parent Alphabet (GOOGL.O – $104.48) reported earnings of $1.06 per share versus $1.40 a year earlier, based upon disappointing ad sales. Last week Snap Inc. (SNAP – $9.60) reported its slowest ever revenue growth rate and the stock collapsed. Microsoft (MSFT – $250.66) reported earnings of $2.35 per share in its fiscal year ending in September, versus $2.71 a year earlier, and projected quarterly revenue below Wall Street targets across its business units. Microsoft suffered its worst quarterly net income decline in two years and the weakest revenue growth in more than five years. These results fanned fears of a slump in personal computer sales and slowing growth in its cloud computing business. General Electric Co. (GE – $73.00) trimmed its full-year forecast after reporting a decline in third quarter earnings due to higher raw material costs in its renewable energy business and demand uncertainty due to the expiration of renewable electricity production tax credits. In sum, we expect consensus earnings estimates for the S&P 500 will continue to decline. This fact puts our current 2022 estimate of $209 at risk. We will be reassessing our estimates at the end of third quarter earnings season.
A Bounce
There have already been two bear market rallies that tested the 200-day moving averages in the indices in this bear market cycle, and the recent oversold condition suggests we may be in the midst of a third test. This implies there is room at the top for this rally, but we would keep in mind where resistance could be expected. Key resistance levels are Dow Jones Industrial Average: 32,703; S&P 500 index: 4,126; Nasdaq Composite index: 12,458; and Russell 2000 index: 1891. We are monitoring the Russell 2000 index most closely since it is currently testing key resistance at 1,800. This could prove to be significant this week. Failure to better this level would be a sign that the broader rally is weakening. Remember, the Russell had been a lead indicator of the broad market in 2021 when it failed to move in step with the larger capitalization indices, warning of market weakness ahead. And more recently, October’s decline failed to slip significantly lower than the June low, a subtle sign of outperformance. As long as the Russell 2000 stays between resistance at 1,800 and support at 1,640 the technical trend is neutral. However, a break above 1,800 or below 1.640 could be a trigger for the next intermediate term move. See page 7.
The 25-day up/down volume oscillator is currently neutral with a reading of negative 1.21. However, back on September 30, the oscillator hit an oversold reading of negative 5.6 which was a deeper oversold reading than the negative 5.17 reading seen on July 14, 2022. It was also in oversold territory for 8 of 10 consecutive trading sessions in July and oversold for 18 of the 24 consecutive trading sessions in September/October. This was a longer oversold reading than at the previous low and a sign of intense selling pressure. In short, October’s test of the June lows was unsuccessful by several measures, and the bear market cycle continues. This is true despite the nearly 6% two-day gain seen in the market to open October, the 4% two-day gain seen last week and this week’s 1.6% up day. See page 8.
Our views on the stock market and economy are unchanged. With interest rates apt to move higher, the economy is likely to slow. This suggests a focus on recession resistant stocks and sectors, which means finding companies that can have the most predictable earnings streams in a difficult economic environment. In general, this favors value rather than growth as a strategy. We maintain an overweight status on energy, utilities, staples, and defense-related companies in the industrial sector. Our recommendation on healthcare is a neutral weighting, but we do appreciate its defensive qualities. See page 11.
Gail Dudack
PLEASE NOTE: Unless otherwise stated, the firm and any affiliated person or entity 1) either does not own any, or owns less than 1%, of the outstanding shares of any public company mentioned, 2) does not receive, and has not within the past 12 months received, investment banking compensation or other compensation from any public company mentioned, and 3) does not expect within the next three months to receive investment banking compensation or other compensation from any public company mentioned. The firm does not currently make markets in any public securities.
