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Commodities: Time For A Strategy Shift

Posted on by Lior Alkalay

Lior Alkalay - INO.com Contributor


Commodity prices are facing a shift. As inflation heats up and growth stabilizes, the commodity arena is gradually tilting in favor of growth-oriented commodities such as Oil and Copper Meanwhile, commodities associated with inflation protection, e.g., Gold and Silver, are not only losing their allure but face growing sell pressure.

The thought of selling precious metals just as inflation is showing signs of coming back may sound counter-intuitive. After all, precious metals are one of the more well-known methods of hedging against inflation. So, why are precious metals tanking just as inflation is coming back?

Because the capacity of precious metals as an inflation protection method emerges when investors believe that inflation is understated in the official numbers. When inflation becomes fact, we begin to see the classic, "buy on rumor, sell on fact" response; i.e., investors start selling precious metals. Since Gold and Silver do not pay interest, their investment appeal decreases when rates rise. But, when inflation is under-reported, effective rates are lower and the value of the currency, in our case the Dollar, is eroded. And, in this case, precious metals gain appeal for preserving value and as an alternative investment. That would explain Gold’s price surge from July $1,210 an ounce in July to $1,350 in September, when US headline inflation numbers caught the market off guard with a fall to from 2.7% in February to 1.6% in June, meaning inflation was understated.

This dynamic also explains the fire sale that hit precious metals in the aftermath of the Fed's September rate decision. The Fed signaled a rate hike as soon as December and another three in 2018. Gold responded by shedding 3.6% in two weeks.

Gold
Chart courtesy of MarketClub.com

All the while, the rest of the commodities space was holding rather well in the face of higher rates. In fact, in aggregate, excluding precious metals, commodities prices were gaining. One good example is the iShares S&P GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust ETF (GSG), which embodies exposure to the broad commodities market from energy and agriculture to precious metals and gained 0.54% during Gold's selloff. Continue reading "Commodities: Time For A Strategy Shift" →

China: Signals From Dim Sum Bonds

Posted on by Lior Alkalay

Lior Alkalay - INO.com Contributor


Over the past three years, a dark cloud has been looming large in China—a massive debt bubble. It seems that, with each bit of good news, whether it’s GDP growth hitting 6.9% for the second quarter in a row, exports climbing to 7.2% Year on Year or Retail Sales surging by 10.4%, the dark cloud of a looming debt crisis grows darker and more menacing. So, when investors suddenly find their appetite whetted for Offshore Chinese debt, one should sit up and take notice.

Chinese Offshore RMB bonds, amusingly nicknamed Dim Sum bonds, are relatively new in the market, existing only since 2007. The Dim Sums’ appeal is, that they trade on offshore markets, rather than in mainland China, thereby allowing investors to buy Chinese debt without the risk of interference from Chinese regulators. As a result, the performance of Dim Sum bonds reflects the sentiment of Chinese debt more accurately. Continue reading "China: Signals From Dim Sum Bonds" →

S&P 500: Any Juice Left?

Posted on by Lior Alkalay

Lior Alkalay - INO.com Contributor


The S&P 500 (CME:SP500) closed for the week at 2,472.10, after hitting an all-time record, after gaining 10.5% year-to-date. The S&P’s forward Price-to-Earnings ratio, a key ratio for investors, is 17.8 above the 10-year average of 14. And this brings up the inevitable pondering; is there any juice left in the S&P 500?

In searching for an answer, the intuitive starting point might be the S&P’s valuation. We’ve already pointed out that the S&P 500 is trading at a high valuation compared to its 10-year average. Furthermore, according to Factset research, earnings for the 500 companies which comprise the S&P 500 are expected to rise by 9.3% as compared to 9.26% in 2016. Now, while that is a solid figure, it also suggests earnings growth is not accelerating and may even suggest the acceleration in earnings growth is over. And if earnings growth is likely to decelerate in the coming years it cannot account for the S&P500’s 17.8 PE ratio. So, there’s no valid reason why the S&P’s valuation would be the catalyst for another surge. Why not? Simply because it's too high. In fact, the real catalyst isn’t within the S&P500 or even within the stock market; instead, the real reason lies within the Bond market. Continue reading "S&P 500: Any Juice Left?" →

Oil: Is It 2014 All Over Again?

Posted on by Lior Alkalay

Lior Alkalay - INO.com Contributor


In the past two weeks, crude oil futures took a beating; WTI futures ended last week at $46.47 per barrel while futures for Brent crude, the global benchmark, closed at $49.47 per barrel. Both WTI and Brent contracts have now concluded a 15% and 16% fall from their respective peak prices, closing at their lowest point since the deal between OPEC oil producers and 13 non-OPEC oil producers was signed. And the outlook for oil is not encouraging as a broader analysis of both the fundamentals and technical at play reveal a worrisome pattern—a pattern of an oversupplied oil market, ready to nose dive, as it did in 2014.

At the heart of the matter, as in 2014, is the US shale oil industry. Only this time around the US shale industry is significantly more competitive. According to Ron Ness, president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council quoted by Reuters, “the cost of extracting oil at Dunn County, North Dakota, is as low as in Iran” and “the cost of producing a barrel of oil is at $15 and falling" That figure is truly nothing short of dramatic! True, the production cost at Eagle Ford and Permian Delaware facilities is higher than Dunn country. And yet this figure underpins a very important change. In the next oil slump, shale producers won't be under the same pressure to cut production. Meanwhile, oil production in America has risen to 9.29 million barrels a day and is expected to surge to 10 million barrels a day by 2018. All the while, crude oil inventories are stubbornly high. The latest data from the EIA shows crude oil inventories were at 527.8 million barrels, at the higher end of the 5-year range. In fact, as the EIA chart below shows, US crude oil inventories have been persistently above the 5-year range for some time, suggesting demand for crude in the United States is too weak to accommodate the rising supply from shale oil. Continue reading "Oil: Is It 2014 All Over Again?" →

Why Is The Federal Reserve Not Selling?

Posted on by Lior Alkalay

Lior Alkalay - INO.com Contributor


On March 15th, the Federal Reserve Chairman, Janet Yellen, announced that the Fed would raise its target rate to 0.75-1.00% from 0.5-0.75%. Yellen also stressed, in a clear, hawkish tone, that the United States economy is doing well. After roughly three months of “hints” embedded in the Fed’s many statements, that news was hardly a surprise.

But in the same speech, Yellen stressed that the Fed was not ready to start selling the $4.5 trillion in the Treasury Notes, Treasury Bonds and mortgage papers that it holds on its balance sheet. Instead, Yellen stressed that the Fed sees rate hikes as the monetary tool. Further, rate hikes, as a tightening measure, must first be exhausted before the Fed would start selling those trillions. That was a clear retreat from the hints the Fed had dropped in the weeks which followed President Trump’s inauguration.

In fact, one could go so far as to say Yellen’s rhetoric, with respect to the Fed’s balance sheet, has been dovish; the way Yellen specifically emphasized how cautious the Fed is about the prospect of trimming its balance sheet singled that option out as some kind of a “bomb” that the Fed doesn't really want to drop and which could send markets into panic mode. If, indeed, the US economy doing so well, why then is the Fed not ready to roll back Quantitative Easing, a stimulus measure generally considered life support for the banking system? Continue reading "Why Is The Federal Reserve Not Selling?" →