Machinery

This year's surge in the S&P industrial machinery index is in jeopardy of making a full reversal, because earnings follow-through is not forthcoming. Previous sources of industry support, such as aerospace and automotive demand, are eroding. That is evident in the inability of machinery…

Stocks are flirting with new highs, courtesy of a gradualist Fed and the reduced threat
of incremental near-term U.S. dollar strength.

A playable pair trade opportunity has emerged on the back of shifting capital spending patterns: long communications equipment/short machinery.

On Monday, we downgraded the S&P agricultural chemicals index owing to excess global food supplies, which threaten to dampen prices for a while longer. This also has negative ramifications for heavy equipment and agricultural equipment companies. To make matters worse, other end markets are…

Equities are celebrating domestic economic disappointment rather than re-pricing the risk of ongoing profit struggles. This reinforces that liquidity and share price momentum are still the dominant market forces.

Unlike rails, the S&P industrial machinery index has tested prior relative performance highs even though the global manufacturing sector is still laboring under excess capacity in Asia and weak commodity prices. Relative share price performance has already diverged wildly from oil prices, a…

It is dangerous to equate recent equity strength with economic vitality, as history shows that liquidity-fueled equity advances favor non-cyclicals over deep cyclicals. Take profits in gold, buy rails and sell industrial machinery.

Industrial machinery stocks have surged as if China is headed back to double-digit GDP growth and the U.S. dollar is going to reverse all of its recent year's gains. That combined scenario would produce a rebound in sales growth, and allow investors to bet on increased operating leverage. But that…

Fed hawkishness reinforces the need for an imminent profit recovery to justify current valuations. Our Indicators do not signal such an outcome. Stay defensive, and return to an underweight stance in the industrials sector.

There are a number of warning signs that the global and EM equity bounce is unsustainable. The latest episode of housing recovery in China will prove temporary due to still-large imbalances. Overweight Indian stocks: the credit cycle in India is less vulnerable compared to other EMs. However, the outlook for Indian equities in absolute terms is not bullish.