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Markets continued their strong recent run last week as the positive tech narrative persists. The next iteration of the economy will have its winners and losers with many market participants adhering to the idea that companies who have exposure to ‘work from home’, ‘play from home’ and ‘deliver to home’ are well placed to be the big winners. That all remains to be seen as the economic data continues to be, well, simply awful. U.S. figures (detailed fully below) were some of the worst on record, whilst here in Ireland unemployment was 15% at the end of March, and has risen to 28% at the end of April. This negativity was tempered by the fact that new cases were decelerating and parts of the global economy were getting back to work, as market participants hold onto the thesis that the figures are indeed terrible, but temporary. For example in the U.S., 80% of lay-offs were listed as temporary and the overall loss of jobs was smaller than consensus estimates. Within our own portfolios, Zurich have added selectively to medium-term credit across some of our multi-asset funds. Whilst volatility in spreads continues we believe there is value in companies with solid balance sheets and strong underlying fundamentals. As always, if you wish to discuss anything in this newsletter in further detail, please do get in touch. Weekly Investment News Stocks finished last week on a positive note, led higher by tech and energy stocks as oil posted its first back-to-back weekly gain in a couple of months. The gains also brought the technology-heavy Nasdaq Index back into positive territory for 2020. Q1 earnings season is also coming to a close as over 90% of large-cap U.S. companies have reported. The results have been slightly worse than expected, but given the ongoing pandemic it is hard to get a clear view on what the rest of the year might hold. Indeed, over approximately 25% of the S&P 500 have suspended guidance and forecasts for the rest of the year. Economic data continued to be extremely poor with the non-farm payroll figures from the U.S. on Friday producing some startling numbers. Over 20 million Americans are out of work, unemployment is at 14.7% (the highest since WW2), and the number of Americans working was at its lowest level since 2011. The numbers next month are unlikely to be any better. In Europe, negotiations continue over what a final centralised fiscal package may look like as a legal spat between Germany and the EU arose. The dispute centres on the legality of some of the ECB financing operations, an area of disagreement for some time. On the data front, eurozone March retail sales saw the largest decline since 2000, down over 11% for the month. Global PMIs also saw large falls for April as manufacturing data continues to hold up better than services, a theme we noted a number of weeks ago. The overall virus news was broadly positive as new cases continue to grow at a decelerating rate as economies progress with plans to reopen with the U.K. the latest to publish a partial roadmap over the weekend. Finally, the U.S. and China both spoke positively about trade developments following discussions on Thursday, raising hopes that the trade deal hasn’t been hit by the ongoing dispute over the origins of COVID-19.
At Declan Maher Financial Services we are here to help you in this crisis. Contact us : info@declanmaherfs.ie or you can call 0504 95340 – we can help during this lockdown.
As we are into our 3rd wave, getting the best financial advice in these uncertain times is important.
In this new wave – 2021 – The Central Bank of Ireland continues to monitor the evolving situation with regard to COVID-19 in particular adhering to the public health advice and guidance of the Health Service Executive (HSE) and the National Public Health Emergency Team.
We want to continue working with you our client and we are closely monitoring developments related to COVID-19. The Central Bank continue to assess client impact on the economy and the financial system, as more information becomes available day by day if we can return to Face to Face meetings in our Offices in Liberty Square, Thurles. We are operating remotely until it is safe to return from this lock-down.
We hope the Central Bank and their counterparts in the ECB and across the wider central banking community will take appropriate and targeted measures, as necessary and commensurate with the underlying risks.
Influential U.S. Stocks ended lower for the holiday-shortened week on the back of renewed fears of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak on the global economy. Preliminary data from IHS Markit’s U.S. flash composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI) released last week for February fell sharply, signalling the first overall contraction in business activity in U.S. services sectors since 2013. In Europe a faster-than-expected bounce in business activity helped ease concerns around the impact of the COVID-19 coronavirus on regional economic growth. The IHS Markit Eurozone flash composite PMI climbed to 51.6 in February from 51.3 in January, largely due to an increase in the services component. U.K. consumer prices rose for the first time in six months in January, accelerating to an annual rate of 1.8% compared to 1.3% in December. The figure was just below the Bank of England’s 2% inflation target.
With
80% of S&P 500 companies having reported, fourth quarter earnings are
tracking 3% above analysts’ earnings estimates. Mega-cap tech stocks have been
leading the way, contributing 60% of the earnings upside.
A
revision to the method of counting infections led to a surge in new reported
cases of coronavirus in China last week. Asian equity markets were mixed on the
reports as investors struggled to analyse the data. The Eurozone manufacturing
sector was already struggling long before the virus outbreak, confirmed by data
released this week. Industrial output in the Eurozone declined 2.1% during the
month of December, the sharpest decline since 2016.
Investors seemed reassured by
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony on Tuesday and
Wednesday. His comments continue to emphasize that the economy is in a good
place and that the stance of policy is unlikely to change so long as the
incoming information is broadly aligned with the Fed’s outlook.
