Developed Countries

The recovery in global risk assets and currencies is a temporary oversold bounce. It is not supported by signs that global growth is on the mend. Consequently, we are not willing to embrace more risk in our currency strategy just yet.

The previous Insight showed that the financial sector is likely to experience a reprieve from intense selling pressure if the U.S. dollar weakens by enough to halt the slide in inflation expectations. However, before extrapolating any short-term recovery, it is important to keep the cyclical picture within the proper context. The sector has not hit previous valuation troughs. The yield curve is narrowing steadily, and could continue to flatten if domestic economic conditions erode further. Valuations tend to move positively with the yield curve. Moreover, the corporate debt binge of the last few years is ending. Our Corporate Health Monitor warns that balance sheets no longer have the flexibility to pursue aggressive growth, either through M&A or increased leverage. Weakening C&I loan demand warns that credit creation will slow. Against this backdrop, financial sector profitability will be constrained. Consequently, we recommend only a market weighting, with an emphasis on the more defensive components, including REITs, insurance and consumer finance.

Financials have been tightly correlated with global growth expectations in recent years, given the high risk of deflation this cycle. The sector has been rattled by intensifying global growth shocks emanating from China and Emerging Markets and the spillover onto global economies. This process has culminated in a spike in banking sector fears around the world. However, the S&P financials sector has the capacity to enjoy a meaningful recovery from the drubbing it has taken year-to-date, provided the meltdown in inflation expectations takes a breather on the back of hopes for a less stringent Fed. If the U.S. dollar weakens by enough to reduce EM financial strains and reduce deflationary backlash onto the U.S. corporate sector, credit fears could subside, at least temporarily. Is it worth buying into a sunnier view? Please see the next Insight.

Markets see long-term global growth prospects as having deteriorated materially, with policymakers unwilling or unable to do much about it. Meanwhile, recent economic data - U.S. notably - hasn't been that bad. A divergence between what matters to Wall Street versus Main Street explains the disconnect. Accelerating wage growth, lower commodity prices, and cheaper rates are positives for households - but not for many Wall Street sectors. Stay neutral global equities. T-bonds are a "hold" for now. The dollar's selloff is overdone.

The previous Insight showed that semiconductor top-line growth remains under siege. Worse, there appears to have been little effort to realign cost structures to slower sales. The latter will become even more critical in the coming quarters, because pricing pressures are set to intensify. Our global semi inventory proxy is accelerating. Slowing demand has not been met with a sufficient output reduction to rebalance the market. Utilization rates are hitting new lows, and Taiwan export prices have plunged. These trends are a significant pricing power threat, and will compound profit margin pressures. We continue to recommend a high conviction underweight. The ticker symbols for the stocks in this index are: INTC, TXN, AVGO, MU, ADI, SWKS, LLTC, XLNX, NVDA, MCHP, QRVO, FSLR.

Greater safety for European taxpayers and bank depositors necessarily means more risk for bank equity and bond investors. We provide some detail, and also initiate two new short-term positions.

Semiconductor stocks finished last year on a strong note, supported by a surge in M&A and hopes that low oil prices would spur an increase in consumer spending, particularly on electronics. While the latter has improved, the M&A backdrop is becoming more hostile as the cost and access to capital become more restrictive. We put this group on our high-conviction underweight list to reflect our concern that once M&A euphoria faded, a renewed focus on fundamental profit drivers would trigger a de-rating. Apart from better spending on electronics, the data continues to support our bearish call. Global semi sales are shrinking, with key producing countries like Korea and Taiwan suffering from a steep export contraction. That implies heightened liquidation pressures, which will undermine profit margins. Worse, semiconductor companies have been slow to downsize despite threats to top-line growth, adding to profit margin pressures, please see the next Insight. The ticker symbols for the stocks in this index are: INTC, TXN, AVGO, MU, ADI, SWKS, LLTC, XLNX, NVDA, MCHP, QRVO, FSLR.

While the oil market looked right through the Russian-Saudi production-freeze announcement earlier this week, we believe these states may be attempting to put lipstick on the proverbial pig, to provide a plausible narrative to explain the physical reality of lower oil production in a sub-$30/bbl world.

The S&P electrical equipment & components (EEC) group has comparatively less resource exposure than many other industrial sub-industries. The EEC index is comprised of mature, diversified manufacturing businesses with exposure across a broad range of end markets. This provides stability in periods of macro volatility, but limits upside potential during the initial phase of an economic expansion. The group was savaged by the relentless advance in the U.S. dollar, creating deeply oversold and undervalued conditions. To be sure, electrical equipment sales have been pressured by the global manufacturing recession. However, new orders have stabilized. Shipments are far outstripping inventories, which are contracting, and unfilled orders have held steady. Importantly, our EEC productivity proxy has been very strong throughout the general manufacturing malaise. Productivity gains will help offset the loss of competitiveness from the strong U.S. dollar, and also suggests that earnings expectations are far too bearish. If the U.S. dollar begins to soften as a consequence of U.S. economic disappointment, than a valuation normalization is probable. Upgrade to overweight. This pulls up our overall industrial sector weighting to neutral. The ticker symbols for the stocks in this index are: EMR, ETN, ROC, AME.

We recommended buying into rail weakness in November, on the view that a poor earnings outlook was already discounted and that shipment and pricing power trends would improve as 2016 progressed, allowing cost cutting efforts to shine through. However, this call was too early. Despite attractive valuations and the contrary allure of moving to overweight in the midst of recessionary conditions, the anticipated recovery in freight volumes may be more distant than we had envisioned. Domestic economic disappointment is a rising threat, owing to tightening financial conditions, exacerbated by the stubbornly hawkish Fed. Intermodal rail shipments, which account for nearly half of total freight growth, are not growing. Meanwhile, coal shipments are still a major drag. Warm North American winter weather and a manufacturing recession are keeping a lid on electricity production, which will delay any rundown in utility coal inventories. Consequently, a restocking phase, and recovery in coal shipment volumes, is not imminent. Consequently, we recommend paring back to neutral, recording a 5% loss, and shifting into another industrials group, as discussed in the next Insight. The ticker symbols for the stocks in this index are: UNP, CSX, NSC, KSU.