After the steepest drop in US equities in history back in February, the stock market rebounded 63% and passed all-time highs from pre-crash levels. With an economy that was once booming turned into a recession, but the market did not seem to care from the belief that the Fed would keep money flowing in and the banks, during a period of almost 0% interest rates, had nowhere to put their money except in the stock market. Led by tech, the market climbed higher than ever before. USD pairs got crushed as GU and EU skyrocketed. Although the S&P has already dipped over 6% in the past week, it seems that the time to buy is not that attractive to investors. Here are some reasons why:
Illusion of the Fed
The Fed, with seemingly unprecedented power to fuel the equities market, made investors feel backed by the central bank to where the market had nowhere to go but up. There was an illusion that the Fed would never let stocks dip whatsoever, but that can only go so far. Fueling the market means printing money, which means increasing debt and inflation. If interest rates rise, the market will tumble as well, so interest rates need to stay low while the USD deals with inflation rising. Keep in mind that interest rates were already very low to begin with as Trump promised the best market we have ever seen. Once corona hit, interest rates only had so far it could go before it reaches 0% or negative. Yes, it is true that missing this most recent bull run killed bearish sentiment, but the bears aren't going to sleep forever. The Fed won't keep printing money forever, and at some point, it is not up to them where the market decides to go.
The lack of new stimulus
Millions of Americans are still out of work, even more so than the great financial crisis of 2008. The unemployment numbers have been greater than 2008 for over 6 months now, and companies are still having lay-offs. Initial jobless claims data shows that the economy is not really recovering. We finally dipped below 1 million a few weeks ago, but the number each week has now been hovering in the 800,000s. The damage done is irreversible, and will take a long time to recover. Some analysts expect 8-10 years to be fully recovered. However, this will not necessarily affect the stock market and major pairs as much. The fact that Americans have been out of stimulus payments since early August shows the true colors of Congress as Democrats and Republicans continue to debate over which package is best. Now is not the time to push agendas or make Capital Hill look bad. It's time to put differences aside and help the people that need it.
Vaccine Drawbacks
News on vaccine has definitely been a major driver in the market's direction this year, but failures in the trials have brought fear back in to the minds of investors. After one patient in a voluntary vaccine trial came down with an unknown illness, the market freaked out and dipped hard with big tech leading the drop. The first step in this biological crisis is to find either a vaccine or efficient treatments to the virus and stabilize the number of cases. The number is still rising now that schools and universities are calling students back to campuses. The University of Georgia made business news when cases spiked over 1,400 positive tests. Sports teams are postponing games, some teams are not playing at all, and billions of dollars in revenue could be lost if cancellations continue.
What will tomorrow bring?
Tomorrow and next week will be interesting. Last week had moments of short-term uptrends forming before price got wiped out again. This pattern happened a lot last week. The bulls are losing momentum with all this crazy news coming out, and tomorrow may be grim. The market is following the same pattern from February: sell offs begin to bring price down before that big correction happened of -34% on the SPX500.
You can tell that the dips are becoming successfully more aggressive the higher we climb. The red candles are now overpowering the green and this recent dip has already wiped out 3 weeks of gains. The healthy thing would be for the market to correct making stock prices and value reach closer to equilibrium. Otherwise, we will see a bull market run completely by FOMO investors who want to make a quick buck on each swing up, and an inevitable correction farther in the future will be worse than if it were to do so now. Since the market has dipped back into correction territory, it's time for it to make a decision. Will we continue to buy in to the Fed-fueled rally, or will we let the market healthily correct so that it makes more sense to start investing again?
We will find out soon.
Disclaimer:
Please note that this email is my personal opinion only. I am not a licensed financial advisor, and any information shared or discussed is not to be construed as investment advice. Trading and investing involves a degree of risk, and is not suitable to all investors. Please consult with your financial advisor before making any sort of investment decisions.
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