Are recession risks fully “priced in” by the markets? Such was an interesting question asked recently by my colleague Albert Edwards at Societe Generale.
What was once (rather recently) deemed as “off the table” for the Fed this month, the FOMC today took aggressive action, announcing the largest interest rate hike since 1994 (75 bps) as they seek to combat runaway inflation. See below for insights and initial reactions from the investment management teams across the Catalyst and Rational Funds networks:
What was once (rather recently) deemed as “off the table” for the Fed this month, the FOMC today took aggressive action, announcing the largest interest rate hike since 1994 (75 bps) as they seek to combat runaway inflation. See below for insights and initial reactions from the investment management teams across the Catalyst and Rational Funds networks:
Investors are terrified. Such is what you would assume from recent mainstream media headlines and CNBC’s continuous run of “Markets In Turmoil.” There are also plenty of indicators suggesting that retail investors are terrified about financial markets. For example, the net percentage of bullish responses from the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) and the Institutional Investors index (INVI) are near previous bear market lows. Such is despite the sharp rally over the last two weeks.
Will the Fed pause its rate hikes as markets correct? That is the question that everyone is trying to answer. Of course, after more than a decade of monetary interventions, investors have developed a “Pavlovian” response to market declines and the “Fed Put.”
For months, investors have been scaling what feels like an endless wall of worry. Each concern that gets resolved seems to spawn new uncertainties, yet the market has continued its relentless climb higher.