Risky vs. Safe Assets Fund Flows As confidence returns, cash is pouring into risk assets while safer funds sit on the sidelines, pointing to a robust appetite for higher-return bets. Image: Goldman Sachs Global Investment…
U.S. High Yield Credit Spreads vs. VIX High-yield spreads are pricing in a smooth ride. Spreads are tight, balance sheets look solid, and the risk is that confidence slips into complacency. Active monitoring helps catch…
Seasonality – S&P 500 Index Average Monthly Returns August and September have rarely been kind to U.S. stocks, posting some of the weakest average returns of the year. With July, normally a strong month, now…
ISM Manufacturing Index vs. S&P 500 Index U.S. manufacturing picked up speed in July. The ISM Manufacturing Index climbed to 55.6, beating expectations of 54 and notching a seventh straight month of expansion. Momentum is…
Equity Net Long Positioning – Leveraged Funds and Asset Managers Net Future Positions Leveraged funds and asset managers have piled into long S&P 500 futures, pushing net exposure to a record. That screams risk appetite,…
Valuations – S&P 500 12-Month Fwd P/E Multiple – Top 5 Largest Stocks vs. Other 495 Stocks After nearly a decade of commanding sky-high multiples, the five largest U.S. stocks have lost their valuation premium,…
S&P 500 Quarterly EPS Seasonally Adjusted S&P 500 earnings are running 14% above their nine-decade trend line. Any pullback toward the mean would make today’s rich valuations look fragile fast. Image: Deutsche Bank
Proportion of S&P 500 Beating Earnings Estimate There’s no sign of cracks in earnings momentum. Almost 88% of S&P 500 companies are beating earnings estimates, with the beat rate running well ahead of the 74%…
Consensus Forward 12-Month S&P 500 EPS Equal-weight S&P 500 prices and EPS have risen steadily together. Earnings are still doing the heavy lifting, but the gains are uneven and increasingly concentrated in a handful of…
S&P 500 Performance After a Negative June and July The S&P 500 fell 0.1% in July. Bulls can call it noise, but bears will see a familiar pattern. Since 1950, when both June and July…
Aggregate Earnings Surprise – S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, Philly Semiconductors, Bloomberg AI Value Chain The S&P 500 just posted its strongest earnings season in years, powered by AI-driven profits. When the index beats estimates by…