Here are the main factors driving the ASX this week according to portfolio manager PETE DAVIDSON. Reported by portfolio specialist Chris Adams

Banking sector concerns are receding and there is now greater confidence on the US interest rate outlook.

This has helped support equities.

The S&P/ASX 300 gained 3.2% last week. The S&P 500 was up 3.5% and the NASDAQ 3.4%.

We also seeing some merger and acquisition activity, notably in the small-cap resource sector.

A sense that rates may be near their peak — and growth is slowing — could support further corporate activity.

US banking

The Fed’s weekly balance sheet data showed a decline of about $US28 billion last week, compared to an expansion of about $US94 billion the week before. 

This suggests bank liquidity requirements have decreased, and pressure from deposit outflows may have eased.

At the height of the banking crisis, withdrawals from the Fed’s discount window reached GFC levels.

Last week’s withdrawal remains large in absolute terms. But the market is interpreting the fact that they have rolled over and are declining as a sign the banking crisis has peaked.

Inflows into US money market funds have also decelerated,

After spiking to about $US120 billion in each of the prior two weeks, last week saw about $US66 billion inflows.

Concerns about deposit safety at smaller banks also appear to have eased.

Data shows the banking system as a whole is losing deposits. But last week’s outflows came from large and international banks, while small banks held steady and saw a marginal increase in deposits.

Right now small bank credit growth remains strong at around 8% per annum. Commercial real estate (CRE) loans remain a concern and an area to watch.

Small, regional banks dominate CRE lending. Weakness in office assets could be a potential risk, since physical occupancy in US office markets remains low as a result of work-from-home.

But underneath all this, US and European banks are well-regulated and capitalised and the response from policy makers so far has been decisive. 

Corporate credit

Corporate credit spreads widened in response to the banking crisis, but have now started narrowing again. This reflects improved confidence in US banks.

Australia’s corporate bond market was effectively closed to new issuance and secondary liquidity for two weeks due to concerns about the overseas banking sector.

But swift action by policy makers seems to have restored confidence and the local corporate bond market has re-opened.

Last week ANZ issued a large three-and-five-year deal.

Toyota Australia issued $625 million of debt. Volkswagen Australia and Worley (WOR) are also looking to issue new bonds. 

Secondary market liquidity has been somewhat challenged, but is improving by the day.

US macro data

Last week was largely uneventful on the data front.

The Fed’s preferred measure of inflation — the Core Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCE) index — came in at +0.3% month-on-month for February versus +0.4% expected and +0.6% in January.

A +0.3% monthly rate annualised is just a touch below 4%, which is probably not low enough for the Fed to feel comfortable in pausing rates.

But it indicates inflation is moving in the right direction.

As of March 23, the market was implying a peak in rates of 4.9% in May 2023, with rates at 4.1% by the end of 2023.

This is down from a March 8 reading of a 5.7% peak in September and 5.5% at year-end.

Markets

The S&P/ASX 300 end up 3.3% for the first quarter of 2023, courtesy of a rebound in the last week.

The S&P 500 was up 7.5% and the NASDAQ 17.1% for the quarter.

Bond yields rose as confidence improved last week, with US two-year yields up 26bps. They end the quarter 40bps lower, while 10-year Treasuries are 41bps lower than they started, at 3.47%.

The Safeguard Mechanism legislation was passed last week, requiring most facilities directly producing more than 100,000 tonnes of annual CO2-equivalent emissions to reduce their pollution significantly by 2030.

This poses a challenge for the mining sector, given its heavy reliance on diesel and the potential for higher costs.

Last week resource companies led the market, on the back on stronger commodity prices and M&A activity. The lithium sector rebounded sharply following US giant Albemarle’s all-cash $A5.5 billion bid for local lithium miner Liontown (LTR, +73.2%).

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About Pete Davidson and Pendal Focus Australian Share Fund

Pete is Pendal’s head of listed property and a portfolio manager in our Aussie equities team. For more than 35 years, he has held financial markets roles spanning portfolio management, advisory and treasury markets.

Pendal Focus Australian Share Fund is Crispin Murray’s . Find out more about Pendal Focus Australian Share Fund here.

Pendal is an independent, global investment management business focused on delivering superior investment returns for our clients through active management. 

Contact a Pendal key account manager here

This year Australian investors should be aware of government influence in four areas, says Pendal’s head of equities, Crispin Murray.

• Government policy poses risks for investors
• Wages, banks, energy, climate
• Find out about Pendal Focus Australian Share fund
• Watch Crispin’s latest Beyond The Numbers webinar

A GROWING trend toward government policy intervention in business is becoming an issue for investors, says Pendal’s head of equities, Crispin Murray.

Murray was speaking at his biannual Beyond The Numbers webinar.

“As investors our focus is on the practical reality of market environment we are operating in,” he says.

“One key shift we have seen is the number of companies referencing the growing influence of government policy on their outlook.”

Investors should be aware of government influence over the companies in their portfolios from four perspectives:

1. Determining award wages
2. Industrial policy, including regulating the big banks
3. Power and gas policy
4. The carbon reduction pathway

Below, Crispin goes into detail:

Award wages

Higher wages will impact the profitability of companies with a high share of domestic labour costs like the supermarkets and there are signs the government will push for a real wage increase.

A decision on the minimum wage and award wages is due mid-year, in a process that is normally tied to inflation in the March quarter.

“Will the government push for real wages to be protected? Which could lead to wage increases of 6 or 7-plus plus percent?” says Murray.

“The challenge is that maybe inflation is set to fall over the course of this year and may head back towards 4 or 5 per cent — and so perhaps a 5 to 6 per cent wage increases is more appropriate.

“This is a battle that will need to be determined.”

Industrial policy

Industrial policy is also an emerging risk for investors.

“Our recent meetings with the banks had a very different tone,” says Murray.

“The banks have moved from being reasonably relaxed about the fact that rising interest rates were going to help support their margins.

“Now, they’re much more concerned about the backlash that this is creating in the community and from government.

“What we’re seeing, I believe, is anticipation of potential intervention by the government.”

Early intervention in the banks’ interest rate settings is already occurring, he says.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is investigating how banks set interest rates for savers and some banks have already lifted savings rates to head off the inquiry.

“We also may see potentially an increase in the bank levy”, which is a quarterly tax on the largest banks calculated as 0.015 per cent of liabilities.

“The signal that sends to other companies is [to be] very mindful about using their pricing power.

“The government is saying ‘inflation is an issue — real wages have gone down — the corporate sector should absorb some of these inflationary pressures themselves.

“‘And if you’re not prepared to do it, we might find a way of intervening to make you do it’.”

Power and gas policy

Electricity and gas policy is also an area of intervention for the federal government.

“Clearly there’s been issues with policy in Australia for many, many years.

“But right now, we’ve got a real challenge — like it or not, we’re going to need gas for the next 10 years to help firm renewables.

“That is the lesson that the rest of the world has learned as a result of the Ukraine invasion.”

Australia is beginning to wake up to the fact that if there is no reliable domestic gas supply at a reasonable price, power prices have to go up, he says.

But the government’s attempt to cap gas prices is just leading to a breakdown in the marketplace: “There are no contracts being signed. And as a result of that, no one’s going to look to develop gas.

“This is again a key issue for companies in that sector.

“We’re hopeful that perhaps a little shifting of positions can occur that will solve this problem.

“If it doesn’t, then power costs will be going up, and it will hit households and it will hit corporate profits.”

Carbon reduction

The carbon reduction pathway and the safeguard mechanism is another area of government influence on business.

The safeguard mechanism requires companies that emit more than a certain amount of greenhouse gases to reduce their emissions each year or face financial penalties.

Export exposed companies get favourable treatment to ensure they are not put at a competitive disadvantage.

(Pendal’s ESG credit analyst Murray Ackman explains more here.)

“It is still in consultation phase. The government is seeking feedback.

“But as it stands today, what we’re hearing is certain companies are saying ‘we’re not going to qualify for being export-exposed’.

“For example, steel — because of the way it’s been measured — is not being considered export sensitive.

“Which means for those companies, they’re going to have to be reducing the carbon emissions between 4% and 5% a year through to 2030.

“Their current plans are maybe around 1%.”

The challenge is that the technology to solve for that kind of accelerated reduction pathway does not exist anywhere in the world, says Murray.

“That may mean that they start having to think about not investing in their businesses,” he says.

“We need to be very clear on that and make sure that we’re not caught out by that in our investments.”

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About Crispin Murray and Pendal Focus Australian Share Fund

Crispin Murray is Pendal’s Head of Equities. He has more than 27 years of investment experience and leads one of the largest equities teams in Australia. Crispin’s Pendal Focus Australian Share Fund has beaten the benchmark in 12 years of its 16-year history (after fees), across a range of market conditions.

Pendal is a global investment management business focused on delivering superior investment returns for our clients through active management. 

Find out more about Pendal Focus Australian Share Fund  

Contact a Pendal key account manager

Here are the main factors driving the ASX this week according to portfolio manager Jim Taylor. Reported by portfolio specialist Chris Adams

THE US Fed has discovered that when you push harder and faster than ever before, it’s likely something will break.

It’s taken time, but the market has found the weakest link in the form of shortfalls in bank asset-liability matching.

Bank asset-liability matching is when a bank ensures it has enough money to cover its obligations by balancing its assets and liabilities.

The likelihood of a full-blown banking crisis is relatively low, given better capitalisation of the US banks and relatively low loan-to-value ratios of US mortgages.

A “Goldilocks” scenario is also possible, where growth slows due to credit tightening as a result of pressure on banks – meaning rates don’t need to go to 6%.

But the full implications of this issue are yet to be seen, and the market last week was looking for guidance from treasury secretary Janet Yellen.

Her mixed messaging prompted some sharp market reactions.

The Fed raised rates by 25bps, largely in line with expectations (which ranged from 50bps to no hike at all).

Fed chair Jay Powell signalled that peak rates were close, but he maintained the mantra of “higher for longer”. The market says otherwise, with rate cuts baked into implied pricing for the back end of 2023.

Overall equity markets have performed reasonably well over the past couple of weeks, given what has been thrown at them. The bears would certainly be feeling quite short-changed.

The S&P/ASX 300 was off 0.58% last week and is down 3.36% for the month to date. The S&P 500 gained 1.41% for the week and is up 0.16% for the month.

Notwithstanding all the postulating over the course of the week, we have three open questions on the US banking issue:

1. The outcome for First Republic Bank
2. The FDIC’s sale of Silicon Valley Bank
3. Congressional action on deposit insurance

US banking

After delivering a 25bp hike in rates, Powell acknowledged that “recent developments are likely to result in tighter credit conditions for households and businesses and to weigh on economic activity, hiring, and inflation. The extent of these effects is uncertain.”

As a result, it was too soon to determine the effects and how monetary policy should respond. 

He noted that the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) had considered a pause. But the hike was supported by a “strong consensus” with a change in guidance around additional hikes.

The “dot plots” graph which outlines future expectations continues to suggest higher for longer.

When quizzed on the market’s implied 125bps of rate cuts due to the banking issues, Powell said the Fed didn’t see rate cuts this year. (Though this was based on how the Fed now sees the economy evolving).

There was greater focus on Secretary Yellen’s comments.

On Monday she said US regulators might act to protect bank depositors if smaller lenders were threatened.

The government was ” resolutely committed” to mitigating financial stability risks where necessary. But she did not address the issue of whether Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) coverage could be expanded to cover all deposits.

On Wednesday, Yellen said she had “not considered or discussed anything having to do with blanket insurance or guarantees of all deposits” in response to a question on whether Treasury would circumvent Congress and insure all deposits.

The market took exception to this and on Thursday Yellen walked this back, saying:

“We have used important tools to act quickly to prevent contagion. And they are tools we could use again. The strong actions we have taken ensure that Americans’ deposits are safe. Certainly, we would be prepared to take additional actions if warranted.”

Meanwhile the Fed’s balance sheet continued expanding (though at a slower rate than the previous week), as banks move to shore up funding.

The total balance sheet grew US$94 billion, on top of US$300 billion the previous week. This included (among other items):

• $37 billion in guaranteed lending to the FDIC (vs +$143 billion the previous week)
• $42 billion drawn from the new Bank Term Funding Program (vs +$12 billion)
• $43bn decrease in discount window borrowing (vs +$148 billion)

Breaking down growth by the 12 Federal Reserve banks is instructive.

Growth in Fed assets is concentrated in the New York and San Francisco regions, which are up US$35 billion and US$24 billion for the week, respectively.  There were modest increases across most other banks. But the continued concentration in just two districts gives the market some comfort around the risk of wider contagion.

There is still a clear and significant shift in deposits from smaller to bigger banks.

There is also a reduction of about US$100 billion in net deposits, which is feeding into some US$120 billion of flows last week into money market funds, on top of a similarly strong week before.

US interest rates

The FOMC statement and press conference suggest the Fed now sees risks to the economic outlook as more balanced than earlier in the month.

Banking sector stress adds downside risks to growth, employment and inflation.

But despite already tightening conditions, recent data shows inflation has not yet cooled sufficiently to be consistent with Fed targets.

The real interest rate (nominal rates minus inflation) is now near 0.9%, which is nearing the 1% that Powell previously indicated was “restrictive territory”.

The Fed is navigating a fine line by raising rates 25bps (versus the 50bps some were expecting prior to Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse) and keeping the terminal rate consistent at 5.1%.

It recognises that inflation remains too high, but also accepts the economic outcome from the current banking crisis has a long way to unfold, with obvious risks to the downside.

Prior to the Fed’s meeting, markets were pricing an 82% chance of a 25bps hike – with cuts starting in November.

During Powell’s post-announcement press conference, the probability of a June cut increased from 55% to 80%.

US macro data

Existing US home sales surged 14.5% in February, the most since mid-2020.

The median selling price of a pre-owned home fell 0.2% from a year earlier.

The jump in February sales follows 12 straight months of decline, but still leaves monthly sales 27.8% below the peak in January 2022.

The rate on a new 30-year conventional mortgage was 6.18% at the start of February – nearly 100bp lower than the recent peak in October. But it’s since risen sharply to 6.71% last week. 

Mortgage payments for a new purchaser of a median-priced existing single-family home was equal to 51% of disposable income in February.

That’s down from the recent peak of 55% in October, but significantly above the 30% to 35% before Covid.

Rates are likely to remain elevated for some time, so a meaningful improvement in affordability will need to come via a decline in home prices.

Layoffs continue to grow without any reflection in unemployment claims. This probably reflects generous severance packages and ease of regaining alternate employment.

Australian macro

Growth in advertised rents in Australia has significantly outstripped growth in the CPI measure of rents for all rental housing since the onset of the pandemic in 2020.

So, unlike in the US where leading indicators are improving, there seems to be no relief coming domestically in the rent component of CPI.

European macro

The Bank of England pushed ahead with another rate hike, increasing by 25 bps to 4.25% – the highest since 2008.

The central bank believes UK living standards will remain flat this year and left the door open to further increases.

Further details were hammered out for the Swiss government’s solution to the Credit Suisse issue.

European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde ensured there was no ambiguity in her message regarding impact from the Credit Suisse crisis on policy.

“In such an environment, our ultimate goal is clear. We must – and we will – bring down inflation to our medium-term target in a timely manner,” she said.

In this regard, she has been helped by the fact that EU gas prices continue to fall and are down 45% this year.

Markets

Bonds yields fell in the aftermath of the Fed meeting.

The two-year and 10-year curve has steepened, with short-term yields falling more than long. But the cash rate/10-year curve has become even more inverted.

In US equities, large-cap technology and defensives have outperformed, while leveraged exposures like banks and property trusts have underperformed.

The US dollar has weakened. Commodity sector performance has been rather mixed.

The S&P/ASX 300 saw reasonable performance over the week. There was an expected weakness in REITs and financials while gold companies performed well.

There was limited company news.

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About Jim Taylor and Pendal Focus Australian Share Fund

Drawing on more than 25 years of experience investing in top-performing Australian companies and a background in accounting, Jim manages our Long/Short Fund and co-manages our Imputation Fund. He is a Chartered Accountant with membership of the Australian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Pendal Focus Australian Share Fund is managed by Crispin Murray. The fund has beaten its benchmark in 14 years of its 18-year history (after fees), across a range of market conditions. Find out more about Pendal Focus Australian Share Fund here.

Pendal is an independent, global investment management business focused on delivering superior investment returns for our clients through active management. 

Contact a Pendal key account manager here

The Fed has finally signalled it’s ready to pause rate hikes. Meanwhile we’re all watching for the next signs of stress after almost 5% in a year, says Pendal’s head of government bond strategies TIM HEXT

• Find out about Pendal fixed interest funds

IT’S now been a year since the US Federal Reserve started hiking rates.

Since then the pace has been relentless, with a total of 4.75% of hikes in nine meetings.

At every opportunity, the Fed’s message has been “more are coming” and “rates need to be higher to contain inflation”.

Finally, the Fed today gave some hope the end of hikes is getting close, leaving the door open to a pause shortly.

As expected, the Fed today hiked 25 basis points to a target range of 4.75% to 5%.

The accompanying statement also featured a softening of language.

Future hikes no longer “will” be needed but now “may be appropriate”. Finally, the door is ajar for a pause.

The rest of the statement contained the usual language around a strong commitment to returning inflation to the 2% objective.

The “dot plot” – which shows where the 11 members of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee think rates are going – suggests one more hike this year, peaking at 5.125%.

The consensus is 4.4% for the end of next year and 3.25% at the end of 2025. Neutral is viewed as 2.4%.

Economic projection revisions were small. GDP was lowered slightly to 0.4% for this year despite a strong Q1.

No wonder recession risks and concerns remain high.

Response to banking wobbles

Chair Jay Powell’s press conference contained some interesting insights.

Despite maintaining a brave face, it seems this month’s banking wobbles did rattle the Fed.

We learned a pause was on the table for this meeting amid potentially tighter credit conditions.

The European Central Bank’s logic in hiking 50 basis points last week – that to resist would suggest lack of confidence in the banking system – was not at play here.

Market response

Bond markets rallied modestly on the FOMC statement but were given a decent boost by Powell’s comments.

US 10-year yields are back below 3.5% and near the lows from last week’s turmoil, despite the banking crisis having passed (for now).

Markets are now well ahead of the Fed, pricing in almost 1% of cuts by year end.

US two-years are sub 4%, indicating rates nearer 3% than 5% next year.

What’s next?

We are now all on “break watch”.

Where will we see the next signs of stress after almost 5% of hikes in a year?

The field is wide open. Commercial property, private equity and the non-bank financial sector are a few of the areas that thrived in the zero-rate environment.

A largely fixed-rate loan market in the US has dampened the impact of the hikes so far – but that will end.

Equities have largely taken it all in their stride. Stresses may be offset by lower rates, meaning it may be a case of picking the sector winners and losers more than the overall market direction.

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About Tim Hext and Pendal’s Income & Fixed Interest boutique

Tim Hext is a Pendal portfolio manager and head of government bond strategies in our Income and Fixed Interest team.

Tim has extensive experience in banking, financial markets and funding including senior positions with NSW Treasury Corporation (TCorp), Westpac Treasury, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Deutsche Bank, Bain & Co and Swiss Bank Corporation.

Pendal’s Income and Fixed Interest boutique is one of the most experienced and well-regarded fixed income teams in Australia.

Find out more about Pendal’s fixed interest strategies here

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About Pendal

Pendal is a global investment management business focused on delivering superior investment returns for our clients through active management.

In 2023, Pendal became part of Perpetual Limited (ASX:PPT), bringing together two of Australia’s most respected active asset management brands to create a global leader in multi-boutique asset management with autonomous, world-class investment capabilities and a growing leadership position in ESG.

Contact a Pendal key account manager

Here are the main factors driving the ASX this week according to our head of equities Crispin Murray. Reported by portfolio specialist Chris Adams.

• Find out about Pendal Focus Australian Share fund

NEWS headlines are full of bank runs and bailouts, emergency weekend policy-maker meetings and record declines in short-end yields.

These are signs of the system stress that often accompanies periods of financial tightening.

Last week this was reflected in dramatically lower bond yields as US two-year government bond yields fell 75bps. Brent crude oil was off 11.9% and gold gained 5.8%.

The S&P 500 gained 1.4%, while Australia (S&P/ASX 300 -2.8%) and European equities (EuroSTOXX 50 -3.8%) lost ground. 

The common thread was a market view that financial shocks would trigger a recession, requiring central banks to reverse course quickly.

Concerns over economic growth and an expectation of lower rates saw a rotation away from resources and cyclicals to growth and bond sensitives.

The consequences for financial markets are too early to call.

Policy makers face a complex challenge of balancing the apparently conflicting objectives of preserving financial stability and fighting inflation.

The impact on equities will be determined by the ability of policy makers to contain risk and the flow-on effects on rates and economic growth.

Potential scenarios

Potential outcomes range between two poles:

1. Moderate additional financial tightening, which helps reverse the economy’s stronger momentum this year. This scenario could see economic growth fall by 25bps to 50bps and take out a rate hike without derailing the soft-landing story. Equities therefore hold up in current trading range.
2. A substantial credit crunch as capital flees smaller banks, removing liquidity for small businesses and commercial real estate. This could trigger a significant recession, affecting earnings and forcing central banks to dramatically cut rates. Under this scenario equities make new lows, though we would likely see a rotation to growth.

It is natural to compare this situation with the Global Financial Crisis, but there are significant points of difference, which suggest far less risk for markets.

Bank capital ratios and liquidity buffers are far greater than they were in the GFC.

Banks generally are profitable and have scaled back their more volatile business streams.

Policy makers have the available tools and playbooks to respond and there is far better transparency over the interconnected exposures of financial institutions.

There will be companies with weak or more vulnerable franchises. We are likely to see more of these flushed out in coming weeks.

But that does not equate to a systemic crisis.

The key for markets is whether the policy response can restore confidence beyond just patching up funding in the short term, as has so far been the case.

Two key issues

There are two separate financial issues, occurring simultaneously: 1) Credit Suisse and Europe and 2) US banking issues

1. Credit Suisse and Europe

In Europe, pressure on Credit Suisse culminated in a takeover by rival UBS in a government—brokered deal at the weekend.

Credit Suisse had pre—existing issues. It was undergoing a turnaround plan established late last year alongside a capital raising.

There were continuing outflows from the private bank and asset management business. Clients were losing confidence and shifting assets to other groups or into government bonds.

This reduced profitability, crimping Credit Suisse’s ability to wear losses likely to come from running down the troubled investment bank (which was the source of its issues). 

The question is now whether the takeover deal restores confidence or whether we begin to see concerns over UBS.

It’s worth noting that UBS is far more profitable and has a much smaller investment bank.

It is important to note that this is not currently being viewed as a broader European banking crisis.

Capital and liquidity requirements are far stronger than they were in the GFC.

After years of restructuring, banks are less exposed to financial market volatility and are more profitable.

There is an estimated EUR400 billion equity buffer in the system compared to requirements.

As a result, credit default swap (CDS) spreads for big global banks have not surged in tandem with Credit Suisse’s.

At this point we don’t expect the Credit Suisse issue to trigger a systemic problem in Europe, leading to a recession.

This could change, but it would require a significant policy failing.

2. US banking issues

The second issue is in the US and has potentially more structural implications.

The issue is a fundamental weakness in the US banking system relating to a high reliance on uninsured deposits for funding and a lower level of regulation on sub-$250 billion balance sheet banks.

The US banking system is highly fragmented.

The biggest banks — those with more than $100 billion in assets — account for about half the asset base.

Then there are about 100 regional banks with $10 billion to $100 billion in assets and some 3500 community banks with less than $10 billion.

The issue is that smaller banks are not heavily regulated. Just over half of all US deposits are insured under a Federal Deposits Insurance Corporation (FDIC) scheme that promises to cover up to $250,000 of a depositor’s funds.

The fundamental problem is that corporate treasurers and high net worth individuals who are “uninsured” are now being far more careful with who they leave their money.

As a result, we have seen substantial deposit runs, with withdrawals continuing even after the FDIC announced that all deposits would be protected.

This is evident in money market funds which saw US$116 billion in inflows this week. It was the fifth-biggest week on record (dating back to 1992).

It can also be seen in use of the Fed discount window, which is the way the Fed provides a liquidity backstop to the financial system.

Last week banks borrowed $153 billion — an all—time record. The week before it was $4.6 billion.

This reflects depositors withdrawing funds and banks needing to seek alternative funding.

The Fed has announced emergency funding to backstop depositors at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank and the creation of a Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP).

This shouldn’t be seen as quantitative easing. It isn’t creating new money and technically it’s lending — not buying.

It should help stabilise markets, but illustrates that the Fed balance sheet is proving hard to shrink.

Treasury secretary Janet Yellen has tried to calm concerns by drawing on provisions that enable the Fed to act in the face of a systemic financial crisis and by insuring SVB and Signature depositors.

This requires a super majority of the FDIC, Federal Reserve, the Treasury Secretary and the President to agree.

This is clearly meant to represent an implicit guarantee on all depositors in banks with more than $120 billion on their balance sheet.

The challenge is they do not have the authority to make that an explicit guarantee. This can only come from Congress.

That is unlikely to happen any time soon. It would probably come with new rules on regulation and be a complex process to legislate.

The problem is no one knows how far potential support from policy makers would extend.

Yellen got tied up in knots in congressional testimony while explaining why depositors in community banks should not move their money to big banks.

The pressure on these smaller banks is likely to prevail, which leads them to draw on the discount window and the new Fed facility which uses par value (not market value) in assessing collateral.

This is not a sustainable solution.

The next bank in the firing line is First Republic which received a $30 billion deposit influx from the largest US banks, which were effectively recycling the deposits they were receiving as First Republic’s customers were leaving. 

This is an effort to demonstrate that they believe the deposit guarantee is there.

At this point we are waiting to see which form the solution takes.

What does this mean for the US?

The key issue here is not so much contagion risk, as the other banks are receiving extra liquidity and there are not large direct credit exposures to these banks.

Instead, it is the transmission mechanism to the broader economy, since smaller banks are major providers of credit.

Banks with less than $250 billion in assets provide around half of total commercial and industrial loans and 80% of commercial real estate lending. Smaller banks also dominate residential lending.

The concern is these funding pressures could trigger a credit crunch on top of existing tighter financial conditions — driving the economy into recession.

A more benign outlook may be that this credit tightening equates to 25-50bps of a slowdown in GDP growth, helping deal with an economy that has been running too hot. In this scenario the flow-on effects might be limited given tight labour markets.

This could mean that one of the expected 25bp rate hikes from the Fed is removed.

A more bearish view seems to be dominating at the moment given the sharp drop in two-year US government bond yields.

This move was greater than that seen in the GFC and around 9/11. It’s seen by many as a warning bell for recession.

The consensus for US rates now implies no more rate hikes and 100bps of cuts by year’s end.

A number of other signals support a more bearish view:

• As measured by the “Move” index, bond market volatility is back to levels not seen since the GFC.
• Historically, the first cut in a rising rate cycle has been a poor near-term indicator for the economy or for equity markets, though the latter generally recovers relatively quickly.
• Once it starts steepening from a point of maximum inversion, the yield curve is often a signal for upcoming recession.

The exception to a number of recessionary signals is the most recent one — where there would not have been a recession if it were not for Covid.

A lot of people are wary of betting against history.

It is worth stepping back and thinking about why these historical relationships apply.

Essentially, it is a function of the Fed raising rates too hard for too long, effectively over-tightening and creating a recession and large earnings drop.

Initial rate cuts are therefore a reflection of the weakness rather than a positive for the market.

This cycle is somewhat unusual as we have an overlay of the pandemic, excess savings, extremely tight labour market and a recovering China.

While a recession is probably more likely than not, it is still a more complex issue than some traditional indicators would suggest.

The other — more bearish — complexity in this cycle is that the Fed still has not dealt with inflation.

Historically, Fed pivots have usually come when inflation was running between 1 and 2% — not above 4% as it is today.

US inflation and the Fed

The latest US CPI data — lost in the noise last week — did not provide relief.

Headline CPI is better at 6% year-on-year as energy declines and three-month annualised is 4%.

But monthly core CPI was firm at +0.45%, underpinned by +0.6% monthly growth — the highest since September 2022.

If you overlay lead indicators on rents, it’s possible to see inflation falling to 4% — but remaining sticky there. That is just not low enough for the Fed to declare victory.

So, this week’s meeting is lineball on a 25bp move. There is a view that deferring a potential hike to May costs very little on the inflation side but could make a big difference on the financial stability side.

For the equity market, the banking issues are bad for financials, but the prospect of fewer rate hikes is good for growth stocks, helping prop up the market last week.

Central banks

The ECB’s expected 50bp rate hike also got lost in the noise.

It was notable that the forward guidance moved from saying rates need to rise significantly higher for an extended period, to now being data dependent.

In China, the PBOC sneaked in an unexpected cut to the bank reserve ratio requirement on Friday as well. This is seen as an important signal towards supporting growth

Finally, in Australia rate expectations have stepped down materially from 4.15% to 3.40% at the end of 2023, implying no more hikes. 

Markets

Credit spreads have been widening out, but not yet signalling something more concerning.

There are pockets of stress emerging in some areas, notably commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS).

In terms of equities the US, the S&P 500 has held the 3800 support, but still does not look too healthy.

Commodity Trading Advisers — which are used as an indicator of marginal players in equities — have moved quite underweight in US equities, with potentially more to go into quarter end.

The other feature of the market worth noting is the rotation back to growth as expectations have shifted on the risk of recession and the path of rate hikes.

The S&P/ASX 300 underperformed the US due to the fall in resource and energy stocks on global growth concerns.

 

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About Crispin Murray and Pendal Focus Australian Share Fund

Crispin Murray is Pendal’s Head of Equities. He has more than 27 years of investment experience and leads one of the largest equities teams in Australia. Crispin’s Pendal Focus Australian Share Fund has beaten the benchmark in 12 years of its 16-year history (after fees), across a range of market conditions.

Pendal is a global investment management business focused on delivering superior investment returns for our clients through active management. 

Find out more about Pendal Focus Australian Share Fund  

Contact a Pendal key account manager

Should we be concerned about the knock-on effects of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse? Pendal’s AMY XIE PATRICK explains

• Find out about Pendal fixed interest funds

COCKROACH theory refers to the belief that problems affecting one company may indicate similar problems with other similar companies.

After the collapse of California’s Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), the market and the media are on the lookout for more cockroaches.

The good news is that SVB was an unusual cockroach. The bad news is that other creepy crawlies lie in wait.

Two main issues led to SVB’s fall.

The first was an unusual decision not to hedge interest rate exposure or mismatch between its assets (long-dated fixed income instruments) and liabilities (deposits).

Most banks face this mismatch. Few would leave it unhedged.

Bloomberg’s US Treasury index returned -12.3% in 2022. This gives an indication of the mark-to-market damage that would have hit SVB’s long-dated fixed income assets.

The second factor was the concentration risk in its customer base.

The Silicon Valley tech sector formed almost the entirety of the bank’s borrower and depositor base.

Ultra-low interest rates going into and coming out of the pandemic were a huge boon to this sector.

At the time, money was virtually free and poured into high-growth sectors hungry for returns. But by the end of 2022 – after 425 basis points of interest rate hikes – that was no longer the case.

Higher discount rates needed to be applied to potentially speculative future earnings in the sector.

All at once, SVB found its customers calling on their deposits.

The need to satisfy these liquidity demands caused SVB to start realising some of those steep mark-to-market losses in their assets.

SVB is the 16^th largest lender in America, but its $200 billion of assets still sat below the $250 billion threshold at which banks need to report unrealised losses.

This helped hide the stress before a classic run on deposits in early March.

Are there more cockroaches?

There could be other lending institutions with similar red flags, but the bank’s problems were largely self-made.

Many regional US banks go under every year.

Most often, it is due to the poor quality of their loan books. Not because of poor risk management.

That is perhaps the most heartening takeaway from the SVB crisis.

Unfortunately, other risks have been uncovered by the bank’s collapse.

Here are the main lessons:

1. Easy money a thing of the past

The first is that easy money is a thing of the past.

The SVB crisis reminds us that the promise-heavy tech sector needs much more diligence now that money-good T-bills pay between 4.5% and 5%.

Similarly, in Australia cash and near-cash investments yield 4% or more.

This naturally pushes up the bar for going further out along the risk curve and down the liquidity ladder.

When money was virtually free, illiquid and opaque investments such as private debt and equity seemed attractive.

Just as had been the case with SVB until now, unrealised losses within these investments have yet to come to light. That flood of money is reversing.

2. Hurdles for mortgage-backed securities

A second risk is highlighted by the mortgage-backed securities (MBS) losses on SVB’s asset portfolio.

Mortgage-backed securities allow investors to own part of a bundle of home loans that have been packaged together.

Interest rates were not the only blame factor here. So was the quality of the underlying assets.

Like clockwork, a global synchronised housing downturn is following the synchronised global rate hiking cycle.

Australian credit portfolios heavily invested in illiquid residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) face significant hurdles this year.

The value of RMBS portfolios will be affected by the house price correction we’re already experiencing, as well as payment delays from stressed borrowers.

In addition, the RMBS issued by non-major banks are of poorer quality, leading to more accidents waiting to happen.

As Pendal’s senior credit analyst, Terry Yuan, says: “Set-and-forget credit portfolios often rely on the AAA rating of RMBS to raise the average portfolio rating of their holdings, giving them more room to veer into the low-BBB space.

“Both ends of the ratings spectrum will experience a lack of liquidity should something go wrong”.

That is not what true fixed income is supposed to feel like for the end investor.

3. The information factor

The third risk unveiled by the SVB crisis is that of information. Unlike the GFC, and thanks to technology, rumours can become truths in the space of a few tweets.

The reality is that SVB depositors are likely to be made whole. The shame is they could have got there without going through this mess first.

Faced with panic, with fear spreading like wildfire, it was individually rational to “sell first and ask questions later”.

This will happen to other institutions as well, leaving the biggest and safest of lending institutions to benefit from the fall-out.

What we can learn from SVB

SVB’s failure reinforces our investment views for 2023.

We thought this year’s set-up for bonds looked good even before this most recent crisis surfaced.

The trend of cooling inflation will continue to play through.

The SVB collapse highlights the need to hold a true-to-label fixed income allocation in your portfolios – if only for insurance.

Over the past week, 10-year Commonwealth government bonds rose in value by more than 2.25%.

Portfolios exposed to that move would have felt cushioned against a 2.5% hit to Australian equities over the same period.

Our patience on credit should be rewarded.

Since the third quarter of 2021, we have held a defensive stance in our credit and income portfolios, favouring quality and liquidity over stretching for that extra bit of yield or spread.

We have also been long-time abstainers from RMBS.

Their valuations did not reward us when money was near-free, and the illiquidity they face does not make them attractive now that cash rates are approaching 4% in Australia.

Floating rate senior unsecured paper from our major banks, on the other hand, are a safe place to bias our credit allocations towards.

Rates, US recession risk, Chinese growth and government intervention will set the underlying economic picture for Aussie stocks this year, says Pendal’s CRISPIN MURRAY

• Aussie equities remarkably defensive
• Four issues will drive the underlying economic picture
• Find out about Pendal Focus Australian Share fund

AUSSIE equities have proven remarkably defensive over the past 12 months compared to global shares and other asset classes — delivering a 6.5 per cent return in the year to February, says Pendal’s head of equities Crispin Murray.

The recent ASX reporting season delivered an earnings revisions distribution — the ratio of upgrades to downgrades — in line with long-term averages as a post-Covid sales boost dissipated.

Earnings are on track for 2 per cent growth in 2023 and 1 per cent in 2024, Murray says in his new biannual Beyond The Numbers webinar.

That means a material decline in shares is unlikely over the course of 2023, he says.

“However, if we do get the RBA forced to hike rates far higher than the economy can absorb — and we do get a downturn — then we’re going to see much more material downgrades.

“That is the risk scenario for the market. But that is not the scenario we expect.”

Remarkably defensive

Why have Australian companies proven relatively defensive over the past year?

Partly it’s structural, he says.

The Australian share market skews to financials and resources. Banks have benefited from higher interest rates and commodity prices have buoyed the mining companies.

But a more important underlying explanation is the rise in company earnings that has meant that even as stock valuations fall in the face of higher interest rates, stock prices have been largely unaffected.

“What we’ve actually been able to achieve in Australia is a derating of the market without the actual market having to drop because earnings revisions were positive and these were positive across all parts of the market,” says Murray.

“Even the industrials really haven’t been exposed to an economic slowdown and they were bouncing back from impacts of the pandemic.

“Where we are sitting today, we’re quite comfortable with the overall rating of the market.”

Four key issues

Four key issues will drive the underlying economic picture for Australian companies, Murray says:

1. The risk of a US recession

The US economy is proving more resilient than many people thought, Murray says.

“There has been a material change in US interest rates and for a lot of people that was inevitably going to lead to a recession — but it so far has not.

“There is clearly now a school of thought saying that the US economy is more resilient.”

He says some measures of monetary tightening suggest the worst has past, setting the US up for soft landing.

On the flipside, a “very negative” yield curve and the biggest ever one year decline money supply growth since the 1930s indicates tough times ahead.

“As we stand today, we would expect perhaps a mild recession — we’d still be somewhat cautious.

And that’s why we believe that you still need to be very careful about what you’re paying for certain companies in this market environment.”

2. The outlook for Chinese growth

The growth of China is a significant factor in the success of Australian corporations.

Murray says the key question for investors is how much Chinese growth can accelerate out of the zero COVID period.

“China dealt with COVID very differently to the rest of the world.

“They did not throw anywhere near as much stimulus at their consumers so they saw consumer spend falling well below trend for an extended period.

“So the first thing that will underpin Chinese is growth is a return to that trend level of consumption and that in itself can add 2 per cent to 3 per cent to growth over the next couple of years.”

Growth could be even stronger if Chinese consumers dip into the money they have saved like their counterparts in the US and Australia.

“There is a big debate about whether this will happen,” says Murray, noting Chinese people are typically quite cautious in terms of their saving to protect themselves and their families’ health care and education.

”But clearly, China is in a far better position today than it was six or 12 months ago.”

3. Interest rates and their impact on the Australian economy

Closer to home, the trajectory of the Australian economy is a critical driver of corporate earnings and an important factor in determining which parts of the market to invest in.

The key to the economy is interest rates.

Mortgage repayments in Australian households as a percentage of disposable income have risen in line with rates, but there has been a change in mix — as people pay more interest they are cut back on principal payments.

This is a reversal of the recent past, when low interest rates allowed higher principal repayments.

“This probably explains why we haven’t necessarily seen any real effect on consumption — as those interest payments are going up, we’re just compressing the principal repayments.”

Murray says that, as a proportion of household income, interest repayments are unlikely to reach the heights of the GFC and should remain below the levels of the early 1990s.

“This doesn’t mean we won’t still see a material consumer slowdown, because the rate of change is material. But it’s not as bad as perhaps it is perceived. In my view, we will not get a recession here.”

4. The growing influence of Australian government policy

A growing trend towards government policy intervention is becoming an issue, says Murray.

Partly, this is evident in the recent regulation of the gas industry and the stepping up of Australia’s carbon reduction pathway.

Murray says he is also hearing from banks that they are concerned about the potential for more regulation on deposit rates.

Companies with a high share of labour costs could also be impacted by the government’s push for real wage increases.

Overall outlook

Overall, 2023 will be a good year for investors with deep insight into individual companies, Murray believes.

“Today reminds me of 2012 going into 2013, where the markets were very thematic — and that’s creating a lot of stock opportunities.

“We are seeing this as a great time to identify opportunities and really differentiate and get some insights into the stock.

“We’re very confident on the outlook.”

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About Crispin Murray and Pendal Focus Australian Share Fund

Crispin Murray is Pendal’s Head of Equities. He has more than 27 years of investment experience and leads one of the largest equities teams in Australia. Crispin’s Pendal Focus Australian Share Fund has beaten the benchmark in 12 years of its 16-year history (after fees), across a range of market conditions.

Pendal is a global investment management business focused on delivering superior investment returns for our clients through active management. 

Find out more about Pendal Focus Australian Share Fund  

Contact a Pendal key account manager

Here are the main factors driving the ASX this week according to Pendal portfolio manager JULIA FORREST. Reported by portfolio specialist Chris Adams.

• Find out about Pendal Focus Australian Share fund

THE odds of a 50bp US rate hike next week increased markedly after hawkish comments by Fed chair Jay Powell – but that didn’t last long.

Powell last week told US Congress that if the data indicated faster tightening was warranted, “we would be prepared to increase the pace of rate hikes”.

Stronger-than-expected data suggested “the ultimate level of interest rates is likely to be higher than previously anticipated”, he said.

The comments drove two-year US Treasury yields above 5% for the first time since 2007.

The spread between two-year and 10-year bond yields inverted to -107bp – the biggest inversion since 1980 when then Fed chair Paul Volcker was trying to kill inflation.

However, all this was reversed after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) late in the week, which saw yields fall.

Market expectations for next Wednesday’s decision quickly dropped back to a 25bp hike.

Equities continued to sell off. The S&P 500 fell 4.5% and the S&P/ASX 300 shed 1.2%.

US labour markets and SVB

On Friday we saw a strong US payrolls number with 311,000 additional jobs versus 225,000 expected.

This followed a very strong January number.

February average hourly earnings were up 0.2% M/M and +4.6% Y/Y, slightly below consensus (+4.7%).

In normal circumstances the labour numbers would have realised the Fed’s worst fears about labour market resilience – and we would have seen bond yields spike.

But rates collapsed across the curve in response to the failure of SVB, the 16^th biggest bank in the US.

The sudden failure does not appear to be a systemic issue.

The failure was tied to the specific and concentrated nature of SVB’s depositors in the venture capital and cryptocurrency sectors. Deposits attributable to digital currency customers account for 82% of the deposit base.

It appears cash drain from the cryptocurrency fallout and cash burn on venture capital starts-ups led to cash withdrawals.

This forced SVB to sell $11.4 billion of its “available for sale” securities, including Treasuries, mortgage-backed securities and municipal bonds.

After the recent sell-off in fixed income markets, this crystalised a $1.8 billion loss.

Bank stocks were sold off on Thursday and Friday with investors concerned about the quality of bank balance sheets and outlook for net interest margins.

It’s difficult to know if this will be an ongoing issue, since most bank investment portfolios are held to maturity and not forced to mark to market.

There appears to be no issue with deposits in the US banking system.

This episode demonstrates that banks need to offer competitive rates to retail and business depositors, since they are now competing with Treasury bills that offer over 5% and money market funds that offer 4.5% to 5%.

This will squeeze net interest margins or possibly impact the amount of credit in the system. 

We have seen signs of credit tightening in response to the cycle.

But we don’t know if financial conditions are tight enough to dampen inflation enough to get back towards “normal”. 

Rate-tightening cycles normally work their way through the economy via housing, manufacturing orders, corporate profits and then employment – in that order.

The housing market reflects higher rates, as do new orders, which look bleak.

At this point sales have started to retreat but operating margins in the US remain elevated and profits resilient.

Employment remains strong, though history shows that when employment starts to deteriorate, it does so quickly.

Labour markets tend to be tight until they are not – then central banks realise they have over-tightened.

Australia

As expected, the RBA hiked rates 25bps to 3.6% last week.

The tone was less hawkish and markets are pricing a terminal rate of 4.14% in November 2023.

We are yet to see a meaningful slowdown in consumer data, though sentiment remains soft.

This is puzzling given some 17% of households borrowed at trough rates and 35% face higher rents.

Hiking rates is the only policy tool available to the RBA, though this only affects about half of households.

The other half remain cashed-up, while negative “real rates” on savings encourage continued consumption.

It’s no surprise that luxury goods and international travel spending remain strong.

 

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Monetary policy gets the headlines — but investors would be wise to pay more attention to fiscal policy, argues Pendal’s TIM HEXT

• Budget decisions dwarf rate changes
• Fiscal policy to dictate if going into recession.
• Find out about Pendal fixed interest funds

WHILE Australia focused on the RBA’s 10th rate rise in a row this month, Team Albanese was working in the background on the May federal budget.

The March rate rise added about $7.5 billion to repayment schedules across the nation.

By comparison, the May Budget will include hundreds of billions of dollars in spending initiatives and cuts, impacting all parts of the economy.

Why does monetary policy get so much attention?

Which is more important for investors: monetary or fiscal policy?

“We’ve built a whole system around monetary policy and the wisdom of the independent central bank,” says Tim Hext, head of government bond strategies at Pendal.

“But fiscal policy doesn’t get enough attention.

“Fiscal policy is more likely to determine whether or not Australia is going to have a recession,” he adds.

Monetary policy – movements by the Reserve Bank in the official cash rate, which is used as a basis for other lending rates – is conveyed regularly, normally 11 times a year after central bank board meetings.

Fiscal policy – the government’s spending policies – normally has only two spotlight events.

The first is the annual budget on the second Tuesday of May, and the second is the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook (MYEFO) about six months later.

The power of monetary policy comes less from the actual movement in interest rates, and more from the secondary round impact on asset prices, Hext says.

“The direct impact of monetary policy might not be that huge, but if it causes a boom in asset prices, such as people’s homes, it’s going to make people feel wealthier,” Hext says.

There is about $3 trillion of debt in the economy, Hext says.  About $1.2 trillion is held by foreigners and the rest is local – Australians lending to Australians.

Therefore the net impact of a one per cent rate hike on the economy is only $12 billion. The other $18 billion of payments are between Australians.  

“After 3.5 percentage points of hikes we are $42 billion a year worse off,” Hext explains.

Fiscal policy the main game

“The government spent $250 billion during Covid. Fiscal policy remains the main game for people’s pockets and the economy.

“It explains why the Australian economy is proving more resilient to rate hikes, at least for now.”

Hext says in a world of four per cent wage growth, bracket creep means fiscal policy is tightening.

Bracket creep occurs when income growth causes individuals to pay higher average income tax each year.

Stage 3 tax cuts, legislated for the middle of next year, will reverse bracket creep, assuming they go ahead.

“Tight fiscal and monetary policy will be a major headwind through 2023 and the Federal Budget in May should confirm this,” he says.

“In essence, fiscal policy just doesn’t get enough attention.”

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About Tim Hext and Pendal’s Income & Fixed Interest boutique

Tim Hext is a Pendal portfolio manager and head of government bond strategies in our Income and Fixed Interest team.

Tim has extensive experience in banking, financial markets and funding including senior positions with NSW Treasury Corporation (TCorp), Westpac Treasury, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Deutsche Bank, Bain & Co and Swiss Bank Corporation.

Pendal’s Income and Fixed Interest boutique is one of the most experienced and well-regarded fixed income teams in Australia.

Find out more about Pendal’s fixed interest strategies here

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About Pendal

Pendal is a global investment management business focused on delivering superior investment returns for our clients through active management.

In 2023, Pendal became part of Perpetual Limited (ASX:PPT), bringing together two of Australia’s most respected active asset management brands to create a global leader in multi-boutique asset management with autonomous, world-class investment capabilities and a growing leadership position in ESG.

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Here are the main factors driving the ASX this week according to our head of equities Crispin Murray. Reported by portfolio specialist Chris Adams.

• Find out about Pendal Focus Australian Share fund

EQUITIES remain range bound, having absorbed a material rise in bond yields without breaking down through technical support levels.

The S&P 500 gained 1.96% last week, helped by stabilising bond yields and a weaker US dollar.

The S&P/ASX 300 was flat (-0.03%). Gains in the resource and energy sectors offset a decline in REITs and domestic cyclicals.

Weak results in discretionary retail and concern over impending rate hikes weighed on the latter. 

There was limited news in the wake of reporting season and the market remains braced for further signals from central banks.

Fed chair Jay Powell provides his semi-annual Monetary Policy Report to Congress this week.

The decline in equity markets this year has helped tighten the “Total Financial Conditions” index – a measure of changes in key indicators such as mortgage rates, credit spreads, equity markets and currency moves – possibly allowing the Fed to be more balanced in its comments.

This suggests the market should be reasonably well supported for now, as long as growth and inflation don’t continue to surprise to the upside.

Elsewhere, resource and commodity prices have been stronger in hope of positive statement from the Chinese National People’s Congress. Though the signals indicate less stimulus for growth than many anticipated.

Economics and policy

China

The National People’s Congress, which officially starts Xi’s third term and introduces many new faces at top posts, announced a target of 5% GDP growth for this year.

This is down on last year’s 5.5% target – though up from the 3% that was actually achieved.

There had been hope of a higher target – somewhere near 6% – to reflect the re-opening of China’s economy.

The 5% target – despite an environment of potentially strong “revenge spending” by Chinese consumers – suggests Beijing is not planning material policy changes to stimulate growth, particularly in housing and infrastructure.

This may be prompted by fears around inflation.

This is consistent with local government bond quotas, which are traditionally used to fund investment and are lower than last year.

Beijing is targeting employment stability, with a goal of maintaining unemployment at 5.5%.

US

The latest Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) Services PMI came in at 55.1 for February, versus 55.2 in January and 54.5 expected.

The new orders component was particularly strong, though the price outlook fell (which is a positive).

This puts paid to theories that the strong reading in January data was an aberration.

It reinforces the issue that the US economy remains too strong to enable inflation to slow sufficiently at the current rate setting.

Service sector resilience is supported by other surveys which note continued strength in restaurant spending.

Anecdotes from home builders suggest the year has got off to a better-than-expected start, despite continued high mortgage rates.

The ISM manufacturing index came in at 47.7 versus 47.4 in January – and below an expected 48.

This suggests manufacturing remains weak but is not deteriorating. New orders are improving and there are no signs yet of significant impending job losses.

US Non-farm business output per hour data – a measure of productivity – continues to decline as we see the pandemic boost unwind.

The economy continues to recover employment without driving additional growth. This potentially signals labour hoarding. It may also indicate job growth in lower-productivity sectors.

Central bank action

The market is locked in on a 25bp from the US Fed.

While economic data has been stronger since last meeting there are emerging signs of easing labour market pressure.

This should encourage the Fed to be patient and stick to the plan of 25bp hikes – while focusing more on the duration of rates at higher levels to deal with lingering inflation pressure.

The European Central Bank is in a greater bind, since inflation data has been materially worse than expected.

European core inflation expectations have risen from 5.2% to 5.6% with the release of regional data, leading to a step-up in inflation and rate expectations.

A 50bp hike is the likely outcome and the tone of comments will probably be quite hawkish given the fear of inflationary pressure on wage negotiations.

The market expects another 50bp in May.

The Reserve Bank of Australia is expected to hike 25bps on Tuesday.

We are watching to see whether it eases back on recent hawkish rhetoric. The RBA may be able to point to some early anecdotal signs of a softening economy, though these are limited and not yet sufficient to offset an apparent strong economic momentum.

While we’re seeing a significant rise in household interest payments, the total as a share of household income is still well below that seen in the GFC, given the growth in income in recent years.

This suggests a soft landing is possible.

But it may also signal the need for rates to rise beyond market expectations.

Markets

The S&P 500 bounced off its 200-day moving average last week, which is a significant support level.

The sell-off this year has not been marked by higher volatility and breadth has been narrower, which is constructive.

The Australian market continues to be resilient.

The domestic and rate-sensitive part of the market was down last week after a signal of inventory building in the Harvey Norman (ASX:HVN) result.

This was offset by a bounce-back in resource stocks after a weak February.

Overall, resources were weakest during reporting season, as sentiment on China faded and results showed an increase in costs.

Discretionary retail was weaker as market concerns around domestic interest rates rose.

This led to underperformance in the banks, which were also affected by fears of margins rolling over due to strong competition.

Earnings season winners tended to be companies where fears had built but did not eventuate in the result. Examples include:

• Medibank Private (MPL)– where the cyber-attack had minimal impact on customers
• Orora (ORA) – where no evidence of a US slowdown was evident
• QBE (QBE) – which delivered an in-line result with no new surprises and a clever reinsuring of the highest-risk part of its back-book
• Ampol (ALD) – which is seeing margins recover in its convenience retail business

 

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About Crispin Murray and Pendal Focus Australian Share Fund

Crispin Murray is Pendal’s Head of Equities. He has more than 27 years of investment experience and leads one of the largest equities teams in Australia. Crispin’s Pendal Focus Australian Share Fund has beaten the benchmark in 12 years of its 16-year history (after fees), across a range of market conditions.

Pendal is an independent, global investment management business focused on delivering superior investment returns for our clients through active management. 

Find out more about Pendal Focus Australian Share Fund  

Contact a Pendal key account manager