Notes on the Week Ahead

On August 16th, 1858, the first telegraph message was transmitted across the Atlantic on a cable newly laid on the ocean floor. The line speed was slow and the cable failed a few weeks later but it was a start. By the late 1860s, a second cable, made of better material, was in operation and telegrams began to be sent more regularly, cutting the time required for transatlantic communications from weeks to minutes.

“We just came for one thing, too”. Sari and I were meandering toward the checkout in a crowded Costco on Saturday morning and I was reflecting out loud on our accumulation of a substantial and diverse pile of goods, although we had come to buy just one thing. But we were not in the same league as the woman who’d overheard me. She may have come for just one thing too, but the lower rack of her cart was loaded, the little area at the front for babies or purses was full and the main body of the cart was stacked so high above her line of sight that her daughter was helping direct the vehicle to a checkout lane. Clearly the next innovation in cart design needs to be the installation of a periscope.

Investors in the week ahead will likely be most focused on the aftermath of the terrible attacks in Israel over the weekend. The consequences of this violence are, of course, first and foremost a human tragedy for all the families affected and they are in our prayers at this time. However, an initial rise in the dollar and oil prices in response to these attacks serves as a reminder of the potential for conflict in the Middle East to impact the global economy and investors will need to keep a close eye both on the evolution of the conflict and its economic implications.

In an idealized world of medical practice, you would go to the doctor, describe a few symptoms, undergo a few tests and then listen carefully to the doctor’s diagnosis, prognosis and prescription. The diagnosis might well be due to something entirely out of your control and the prescription would often be a pharmaceutical. However, very frequently, the prescription would be in the form of advice on life-style changes. In an idealized world, you would take that advice and implement it.

To tell the truth, I haven’t done much hiking up mountains recently. I did scale a few minor peaks, years ago, when our sons were in boy scouts. However, it was always hot weather heading up and, between separating those young gentlemen who decided to fashion light sabers from tree branches and attempting to corral those whose first instinct was to chase into the woods after squirrels, it was a somewhat trying business. The reward, for all, of course, was the view from the top and it was always breathtaking. However, as you stood on the summit, things would cool off pretty dramatically and you had the sober knowledge that safely descending from the top is always a trickier proposition than getting there.

My father worried out loud, broadcasting his concern about a wide range of issues, ranging from the suspicious surplus of toothbrushes in the upstairs bathroom and his children’s acquisition of strange accents to declining standards in public education and the ominous state of the government’s finances. My mother fretted more quietly, sparing her vocal chords at the expense of her sleep.

Finally, traditional indicators also may be missing the mark in predicting persistent inflation. In particular, in the June Summary of Economic Projections, most members of the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee in effect professed that an unemployment rate of 4% or higher was necessary to attain the Fed’s long-term objective of 2% inflation. However, the unemployment rate has now been below 4% for 21 straight months and, yet, since March of last year, year-over-year wage growth has drifted down from a peak of 5.9% to 4.3% last month.

For almost 60 years, the British journalist and New York resident, Alistair Cooke, recorded a weekly, 15-minute radio commentary entitled Letter from America. As a teenager, I would listen to it, late at night, on the BBC World Service. Cooke had a beautiful speaking voice and a remarkable way with words, as he painted landscapes of American culture and portraits of America’s personalities. Letter from America made me feel well-acquainted with this country long before I arrived here. Cooke, of course, had strong opinions based on his own observations. However, he also had a quality of balance – he was not one to be swept up in the latest national obsession but, rather, spoke of his world in a measured way.

The only real drawback to my job is the number of flights I have to take - but this is a serious drawback when evening flights get delayed. Without the energy to do any productive work, I often combat the misery by playing board games on my iPad and I’ve lately added Monopoly to my repertoire. I used to play Monopoly as a child, of course, but my strategy has evolved with the years. When I was younger, I hated owning boring railroads. Now I quite like them. They’ll never provide with the fortune you can extract from a guest at your Boardwalk hotel. But if you own all four of them, they generate a nice steady income and sooner or later, someone will pick up the Chance card that triggers the minor windfall of double rent.

To be good long term investor, you need courage and you need brains. However, you need them in different quantities at different times. In the depths of a bear market, you mostly need courage since it’s almost a “no-brainer” that the economy will recover and will lift financial assets with it. In a bull market, its mostly about brains since, while people are less haunted by economic fears, valuations are higher, increasing the need to be more discriminating in both asset allocation and security selection.

As the calendar flips to August this week, consumers, workers, investors and the Federal Reserve all have reason to be pleased with recent data. Stock market returns have been strong all year, economic growth has been surprisingly resilient, unemployment remains very low and, despite all of this, inflation has fallen sharply. The Fed continues to tighten in a manner that appears aggressive given the balance of risks. However, so far, this does not appear to have inflicted too much damage on the overall economy or markets. So where do we go from here? One approach to this question is just to review an economic checklist of Growth, Jobs, Inflation, Profits and Rates.

The pandemic was my excuse to abandon piano lessons. It wasn’t that I wouldn’t practice or didn’t enjoy pounding away on the keyboard. The problem was that my piano teacher, Tatiana, is a perfectionist. She wanted me to get it exactly and precisely right and so I practiced the same piece over and over. She would smile as I did my lessons but it was a strained and pathetic smile, as the masterpieces that she had loved from her youth were mangled, tortured and slowly murdered in a most grizzly fashion by yours truly. Finally, I couldn’t do it to her anymore and I used the pandemic as a way out.

Over the centuries, an abiding tension among many major religions has been the pendulum of severity. One era will be marked by a relaxed view, where smiling clergy make liberal allowances for minor transgressions. However, this is often followed by a puritanical reaction, wherein the flock is warned that the path to salvation is an exceedingly narrow and rocky one. The Federal Reserve seems to have undergone a similar transformation in recent years. Long gone are the days of “average inflation targeting” and praise for the beneficial effects of a super-tight labor market. Inflation is now the eternal and infernal enemy and the Fed will yield no quarter in battling it.

When I first arrived in this country, 40 years ago this summer, my strongest impression was that America was a land of optimists. European economists, politicians, commentators and consumers all saw the outlook as dark and troubled. However, Americans, facing equal challenges, seemed to see the glass as half full.

I have a sad tale to relate. After dodging Covid for the last three years, my wife Sari and I were at a wedding two weeks ago and the virus decided to crash the party. Two days later, I tested positive and Sari tested negative. I’ll spare you the grim details, since almost everyone has had a similar experience. However, despite only mild and fleeting symptoms, I experienced a rebound and so I’m sitting alone, testing daily, and waiting for a negative so I can return to society. Investors in 2023 have also been waiting for a negative. Waiting to see if economic growth would turn negative. Waiting for a well-established negative trend on inflation. And waiting for the Federal Reserve to perceive enough general negativity to stop raising interest rates. As the first half of the year draws to a close, the wait continues. However, in rather sharp contrast to my predicament, there is plenty that investors can do while they wait.

One of the advantages of being back in the office, when I am actually in the office, is I get to hear a variety of opinions. These opinions are sharply divided today on the issue of a U.S. recession. One camp feels that recession is inevitable. Another sees a path to a “soft-landing”. Of course, this argument really refers to a recession starting in the next quarter or two. Sooner or later, a recession will occur. However, that brings up other questions, namely, when will a recession start, how deep will it be and how long will it last?

Markets in the week ahead will be focused on Wednesday’s FOMC meeting. We expect the Fed to leave the federal funds rate unchanged although both the post-meeting statement and the dot plot will likely emphasize that inaction this week should be considered “skipping a rate hike” rather than putting an end to monetary tightening. Indeed, Fed communications could explicitly warn of a possible further rate hike in July. On balance, however, cooling data on inflation and growth between now and that meeting should be enough to convince the Fed that no further tightening is warranted. Some of these data will be released this week.

In 1787, on the last day of the Constitutional Convention, a lady asked Benjamin Franklin what form of government had been agreed to. He famously replied, “A Republic – if you can keep it”. He was, of course, alluding to the danger that partisanship or ill-advised policies could yet return the young country to the monarchy it had so recently escaped.

I am shockingly, comically bad at golf. However, that doesn’t stop me from occasionally watching more gifted souls play the game. One of their techniques is to examine a putt from multiple perspectives. They take a careful look at the green as they come up to mark their ball, look at the putt from the side, squat down to consider it from the opposite direction, and generally scout out the lay of the land from all angles. For myself, since I’m generally wielding the putter playing my seventh or eighth, I don’t further test the patience of my companions with such preparations. However, I will admit that, for the average golfer, looking at a putt from multiple angles yields useful information. A similar rationale can be applied to monetary policy decisions. Changes in monetary policy are among the most important drivers of stock and bond returns. Consequently, one of the questions we are asked most frequently is where will the federal funds rate be at the end of the year?

Across the economy, the outlook is for slower growth. Slower growth in demand, in employment, in profits and in inflation. Recession is by no means certain. However, a slow-growing economy is rather like a slow-moving bicycle – the slower its moves, the easier it is to topple it over. And so, in the spring of 2023, there is a significant risk of recession starting before the end of the year.

On Ireland’s Atlantic seaboard, ten miles west of the town of Lisdoonvarna, stand the majestic Cliffs of Moher. They are a popular tourist attraction but also a dangerous one – in the 25 years ended in 2017, 66 people tragically plunged over the cliffs to their death. Of course, there is no reason why anyone should meet such a fate. The long grassy path beside the cliffs is bounded by a wire fence, with frequent signs warning visitors not to cross it or to venture any closer to the cliffs. However, inevitably a few foolishly ignore the warning and, for a few of them, it is their last bit of foolishness on this earth

The quantity of money was a big issue in the background of my childhood. There were no money machines or credit cards (at least in our house). So every Monday, my father would write a check for cash, usually for less than 100 pounds, and hand it to my mother for housekeeping for the week. She would then drive to the bank, cash it, put the notes in her purse and slowly dole them out as the days went by and she tried to keep a family of seven fed. Throughout the week, as she shopped and worried, she would know how much, to the penny, was left. The quantity of money was a binding constraint in her life.

It seems like a distant memory now, but in the decade before the pandemic, the main preoccupation of the Federal Reserve was boosting inflation, as measured by the headline personal consumption deflator, to 2%. Inflation undershot this target in ten of the twelve years between 2008 and 2019.

Eliud Kipchoge, the only man to ever run a marathon in under two hours, is in town for next week’s Boston Marathon. In the runup to the race, reporters will no doubt ask him about whether he is worried about any particular competitor. He will predictably reply that he is not - but that he has to focus on his own fitness and his own decisions in running the race. As with all individual sports, the keys to success or failure lie largely in the athlete’s own hands.

In three weeks, I will once again have the honor of running the Boston Marathon as a member of the gasping geezers division of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team. A year ago, as I clambered up the Newton Hills, I resolved that, if I was ever fool enough to do this again, I’d lose a few pounds before attempting it. Admittedly, a few miles later, I made a sterner vow that I would never be fool enough to do this again, which made the first resolution seem irrelevant.

A good set of brakes is a very comforting thing. A gentle tap of the foot should produce a quiet and gentle deceleration, as brake pads press up against disc rotors, in a smooth but firm action. When I drive these days, I take this technology for granted. However, the vehicles I drove as a young man offered far less assurance. There were times when applying the brakes unleashed a cacophony of shrieking, squealing and grinding noises as worn-out pads battled with rusty rotors. The braking action would be either be frighteningly nonexistent or of a sudden, whip-lash intensity. Of course, in those vehicles, the acceleration wasn’t great either. However, any temptation I might have had to drive more quickly was quickly squashed by doubts about my ability to slow the car back down again when I needed to.

One obstacle to assessing the direction of the American economy is the difficulty in getting a handle on how many people live in this country and how fast that number is growing. It would seem to be a very elementary problem – surely the Census Bureau provides timely data on the size of the population, as well as births, deaths and net migration? But it does not. So far as I know, there is no official consistent measure of any of these numbers on a monthly, (or for that matter an annual basis), going back over the decades. Moreover, the last time the Census provided a projection of the future path of these vital statistics was back in 2017.

Over the years, my standard approach to analyzing corporate profits has been to think of them as the last slice taken from a big national income pie. The growth of the pie itself is important. But so is the size of the other slices, such as labor costs, interest costs and corporate taxes. Once every one else has had their slice, what’s left over is corporate profits. It’s a useful model for analytical purposes. However, it has one glaring flaw, namely that it assigns to corporations a purely passive role, meekly accepting the slice left after all the other factors of production have taken theirs’. In reality, American corporations are muscular and sharp-elbowed, growing profits by enhancing productivity but also by beating back the demands of labor, lobbying for a more favorable tax and regulatory environment and seducing customers into buying more goods and services than they really should, based on sober calculation.

It was 60 degrees in Acton yesterday, as our normally frigid Massachusetts winter continued to be a no-show. Not that I have any problem with this, since running, rather than skiing, is my exercise of choice. But this weirdly mild season is leaving nature very confused with streams gurgling, buds swelling and birds twittering loudly, presumably about their nest-building plans.

There is a slowdown lurking. It is currently hiding so well, in the long grass of statistical anomaly, that many observers, including the Federal Reserve, don’t seem to notice it at all. However, investors need to recognize it and have a clear view on the outlook for economic growth, jobs, inflation and profits, how the Federal Reserve may react to a slowdown, and what this could mean for investment returns over the next few years.

In investing, as in life, it is important to learn from the past, appreciate the present and plan for the future. This is particularly true at turning points. In the early weeks of the New Year, we do appear to be at an economic turning point. Fourth-quarter GDP and consumption deflator data, due out this week, may give the impression of continued solid growth with still strong year-over-year inflation. However, a more real-time assessment of the economy suggests a significant cooling in both, with monetary and fiscal tightening contributing to the slowdown. That being said, it should be recognized that an environment of slow growth, low inflation, low interest rates and strong profit margins is likely to re-emerge in 2024, providing support for higher asset prices. While there are too many short-term risks to justify a very aggressive strategy today, it still likely makes sense to prepare for this environment rather than trying to time market swings in what will likely be a very volatile 2023.

Last Friday afternoon, amidst the lengthening shadows of a winter sun, the Treasury Secretary delivered an ominous warning: By this Thursday, the U.S. federal debt will reach its legal limit, requiring her to take extraordinary measures just to keep paying the bills. Secretary Yellen’s warning was, perhaps, a little premature and she suggested that, with some adjustments, our real rendezvous with disaster might be postponed until June. But even this date is considerably earlier than many assumed in the middle of last year, due, in large part to the budgetary effects of the Federal Reserve’s aggressive tightening.

The word “resolution” has multiple meanings. The most obvious at this time of the year, is a decision to behave differently going forward. In many social sciences, “resolution” refers to a problem that is somehow mitigated or eliminated. Or, taken at its most literal, “resolution” could simply mean coming up with new answers to old questions – that is to say – “re-solving” them.

My first job out of graduate school, in the early 1990s, was as the consumer economist for the economic consulting firm of DRI/McGraw-Hill, in Lexington, Massachusetts. One weekend each month, we would run a U.S. macroeconomic forecast. (It always had to be over the weekend, as this was the only time when we could get our own clients off our mainframe computer.) Anyway, on Saturday afternoon, having produced some preliminary numbers, we would gather around a huge conference-room table and discuss how the forecast was shaping up. My colleagues were smart and seasoned economists and very patient with someone clearly just waking up to how forecasts are constructed in the real world. However, I believe they did somewhat resent my position as “the consumer guy”. Because then, as now, consumer spending accounted for roughly two-thirds of GDP and they would spend much of the weekend vainly trying to offset what they saw as my undue optimism by hacking away at their forecasts for investment, trade and government spending.

At his press conference on November 2nd, Fed Chairman, Jay Powell opined that the window for a soft landing had narrowed. This was very much in line with his messaging for many months which has emphasized that the Fed regards inflation as being much too high and is willing to put the economy in recession, if necessary, to return it to its 2% target. However, it also underscores the economic problem caused by “supply-shock” inflation: it simultaneously boosts inflation expectations, inducing a more restrictive monetary policy, and drags on economic growth.

At 8:30AM, on the first Friday of every month, the Labor Department releases the monthly jobs report. By 8:35AM, the network scriptwriters deliver a verdict to the teleprompters – jobs either “sky rocketed” or “plunged”. The job market is either “red hot” or “stalling out” and, either way, investors need to be worried. No middle ground will keep an audience.

For many people, I suspect, 2022 will be a year to forget. However, for millions of home-builders, home-sellers and home-buyers, it will be remembered for the speed with which a housing boom turned into a housing bust. The reason, of course, has been a surge in mortgage rates. These rates look likely to stay high, at least over the next year, contributing to sharp declines in housing starts and home sales and a negative impact on GDP. Eventually, this could motivate the Federal Reserve to reverse course and cut rates. However, mortgage rates are unlikely to fall to anything like the levels they maintained for the 14 years prior to 2022, while limited housing supply will probably prevent a collapse in prices. Given this, it appears we are now entering an era when the decision to buy a house should be focused more on the finding the right home in which to live than the right asset in which to invest.

Markets bounced higher last week in a justifiable show of enthusiasm as the latest CPI data confirmed that inflation is indeed receding. However, even as investors worry less about inflation they may well worry more about recession. The risk of a near-term recession is climbing. However, such a recession would be more like sliding into an economic swamp than falling off an economic cliff. While a “swamp” recession wouldn’t be very deep, the economy would likely struggle to get out of it. The good news for investors is that a prolonged period of economic swampiness should snuff out inflation and force the Federal Reserve to reverse a significant part of their 2022 tightening.

Among the many challenges of parenthood is trying to get your kids to eat healthy food. As the children get older, the school lunchroom becomes one of battlefields, with some kind of weekly menu posted online or sent home with the kids. Many of these menus appear to imply that the three essential food groups are sodium, fat and sugar. However, some schools employ a little more imagination both in providing healthy choices and evoking some interest in the fare to come. This week the lunchrooms in our own local schools will feature “Rocking Roll Ups” on Monday, “Healthy Half Days” on Wednesday and “National Sandwich Day” on Thursday, with vegetarian options available daily. I’m not quite sure what all of that means but it does sound interesting.

At the peak of the railroad boom of the late 19th century, the Framingham and Lowell line was incorporated to transport goods and passengers up and down the western outskirts of Boston. Over the years, the traffic dwindled, the line was sold and resold and eventually abandoned. However, for more than three decades now, some enterprising local citizens have pursued the construction of a bike trail along the old abandoned line, which is now, finally, mostly complete.

On many occasions in my adult life, I have made New Year’s resolutions to become fitter. As the days of the old year gradually dwindled and my girth gradually expanded, I would commit myself to exercise more and eat less. However, experience has taught me that both of these noble aspirations must be approached with moderation. Any attempt to starve myself while running more miles leads inevitably to physical slowdown or breakdown. Moreover, if I simply refuse to eat more, the exercise comes to a screeching halt.

The Federal Reserve maintains strict rules prohibiting FOMC members from commenting on the economic outlook or monetary policy in the 10 days preceding an FOMC meeting or on the following day. Thereafter they are free to speak and over the last two weeks many have opined on both subjects. Their opinions show remarkable unanimity. They are focused on bringing inflation back down to their 2% target. They acknowledge the uncertainty in the economic outlook, and, as a consequence, they profess themselves to be “data dependent” and frequently quote, with furrowed brows, the year-over-year increases in CPI and consumption deflator measures of inflation.

A famous Sherlock Holmes story concerns the abduction of a race horse and a guard dog that didn’t bark. For those who haven’t read the story, I’ll skip over the reason for the dog’s silence. The point is he didn’t bark – no alarm was raised – no actions were taken - and the horse disappeared. Entering the fourth quarter of 2022, the U.S. economy is teetering on the edge of recession. However, it is a recession that has been delayed and potentially softened by an excess demand for labor, the lack of over-building in the most cyclical sectors of the economy and healthy bank balance sheets.

In weighing the value of any security, the scales of financial markets are supposed to maintain a fine balance between fundamentals and price. The plate of fundamental factors is piled high with macro trends, geopolitical issues, weather and environmental events, policy decisions and individual security attributes. The other plate is far more sparsely occupied – price stands alone, accounting for half of any assessment of the opportunity and risk in the purchase of an asset.

When future historians reflect upon the current age, they might call it “the worry years”. As America emerges from the pandemic, there are still serious health concerns, a yawning political divide, rising autocracy around the world, a brutal war in Europe and the highest inflation in 40 years. Moreover, anxiety triggered by these genuine problems is being amplified by cable channels and social media which ever more efficiently gather their audience by appealing to fear and outrage.

On Saturday, Sari and I made our annual pilgrimage to Kimballs for lobster roll. Kimball Farm, which started as an ice-cream stand in Westford, Massachusetts, has ballooned into a huge enterprise over the years and there was a big crowd lined up in front of us when we arrived. Undaunted, we traced our way to the back of the line and hoped it would move fast. It did not.

Whatever else anyone may say about Jay Powell’s much-awaited speech in Jackson Hole, it had two distinct virtues. It was clear and it was brief, running to just 1,300 well-chosen words. In the same spirit, and despite a sharp 1,008 point slide in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday, it is important to be succinct in discussing both where the economy is and potential Fed policy going forward. For additional insights from Dr. David Kelly, listen to the Insights Now podcast.

The phrase “drawing a line in the sand” has an unhappy history. In the U.S., it is said to have originated with Colonel William B. Travis, who drew a line in the sand at the Alamo declaring his willingness to fight and die rather than surrender. In 2008, following the takeover of Bear Stearns earlier that year, federal authorities drew a line in the sand and let Lehman Brothers go bankrupt. And in recent weeks, Fed officials have seemed to draw a line in the sand on inflation. For the podbeam description, can we add the following line towards the end: “For additional insights from Dr. David Kelly, listen to the Insights Now podcast.”

Normally, the great challenge in talking about the global economy is finding a theme. The economic fortunes of nations are usually driven by such a disparate array of political, financial, demographic and environmental cross-currents that it is impossible to establish a framework for analysis. Twice however, in this still young century, events have unfolded to provide just such a theme as the world battled the global financial crisis in 2008 and the global pandemic in 2020. For additional insights from Dr. David Kelly, listen to the Insights Now podcast.

After weeks of steamy hot temperatures, a cold front is set to move through the Boston suburbs on Tuesday. While the relief will be nice, in truth, the temperature will only edge down from the low 90s to the low 80s. However, it is the start of something and, as we are well aware in this part of the country, longer-term forces will bring us much colder weather before too long.