Wednesday, April 15, 2020

The Morning Call--Lousy earnings. No problem.


The Morning Call

4/15/20

The Market
         
    Technical

The Averages  (23949, 2846) bounced back yesterday, even in the face of  disappointing bank earnings reports.  Other positive signs include (1) volume was up and breadth strong, (2) the VIX is finally sinking toward a level reflecting declining investor uncertainty, (3) both indices remained above the lower boundaries of their very short term uptrends.  The next visible resistance levels are the 100 and 200 DMA’s (DJIA 26649/3051/3014).

TLT traded lower; but its technical picture was unchanged.  Ditto for UUP although it is nearing both DMA’s as well as the lower boundary of its short term uptrend.   On the other hand, GLD once again soared (on volume), finishing above the upper boundaries of its very short term and short term uptrends for a third day---a signal that it has successfully challenged those boundaries which, in turn suggests that inflation is working its way into investors’ forecasts.

            Tuesday in the charts.

    Fundamental

       Headlines

Yesterday’s stats were mixed.  Month to date retail chain store sales were terrible while March import and exports prices fell though not as much as expected.

            JP Morgan sees no recovery until 2023.

            Overseas, the March Chinese trade balance was better than anticipated.

            The coronavirus

            ***overnight update.

                        ***overnight, White House leaks draft plan to re-open economy.
                      


            More coronavirus data.
           
            The Council to Re-open the Economy.

            State Department warned of potential SARS-like pandemic.

            Paying the price of extreme isolation.

            Will central planning become part of the post-coronavirus landscape?

            Bottom line:  lousy earnings.  Not to worry; the Fed is flooding the Markets with liquidity.  With the exception of couple of months in early 2020, that has proven a plus for securities prices for the last ten years.  So, aren’t the odds in favor of it being a positive this time around?  Probably. 

Warning: based on the likely destruction of corporate earnings, stocks are more overvalued than they were at the February high. 

                        Head NY Fed trader: Our purchases have been unprecedented.

                The latest from Howard Marks.
                   
            The potential reward doesn’t justify the risk.

            This crisis will only make wealth inequality worse.

                BofA’s latest fund manager survey.

    News on Stocks in Our Portfolios
 
           

Economics

   This Week’s Data

      US

            Month to date retail chain store sales plunged from last week’s number.

            Weekly mortgage applications rose 7.3% but purchase applications decreased 1.8%.

            March retail sales fell 8.7% versus estimates of -8.0%; ex autos, they were -4.5% versus -4.0%.

            The April NY Fed manufacturing index came in at -78.2 versus forecasts of -35.

     International

    Other

            This is an interesting article on the mounting level of debt and where the problems will develop.

            The cut in oil production may not be enough.

What I am reading today

           

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