Tag: Consumer Price Index (CPI)

Big Banks' Meltdown Overblown

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

Higher Expenses and Geopolitics

Capping off 2021, the cohort of big banks had the perfect set-up with secular trends via a confluence of a rising interest rate environment, post-pandemic economic rebound, financially strong balance sheets to support expanded buybacks and dividends, a robust housing market, and the easy passage of annual stress tests. However, as earnings season kicked off in January 2022, investors saw a step-up in expenses, specifically wage inflation. Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Morgan Stanley (MS), Wells Forgo (WFC), and Goldman Sachs (GS) all reported very strong quarters; however, investors couldn't look past the increasing expenses and these stocks sold-off as a result.

To exacerbate the sell-off across the financials, the geopolitical backdrop with the Russian/Ukraine conflict paved the way for a second leg down. This one-two punch resulted in BAC, JPM, and GS selling off 18.3%, 22.3%, and 22.6%, respectively, from their 52-week highs through the first week of March. However, as Jerome Powell sets the stage for an economic "soft landing" with the clear commitment of raising interest rates by 25-basis points and the geopolitical headwinds inevitably abating, the big banking cohort looks appealing at these levels.

Big Banks

Immaterial Geopolitical Exposure

The big banking cohort has minimal to no direct exposure to Russia; thus, the second leg down in this space is not tied directly to the geopolitical conflict. This is especially important as the geopolitical tensions rage on and possibly snap up these stocks as a function of overall market sentiment. Overall, the big banks generate an inconsequential amount of revenue from Russia, per Bank of America's analysis of regulatory 10-K filings. Continue reading "Big Banks' Meltdown Overblown" →

Failure To launch

Posted on by George Yacik

Can everybody just chill a little? Yes, the Fed is “indicating” it’s moving to a less accommodative stance, no more government bond purchases, higher interest rates, maybe a decrease in its massive $9 trillion balance sheet, but it’s decidedly not going away. It simply can’t. Tightening? Hardly.

Indeed, as the results of its January 25-26 monetary policy meeting show, the Fed is basically being dragged kicking and screaming into stopping its asset purchases and raising interest rates to fight inflation, neither of which it actually announced at the conclusion of the meeting. Rather, it said it would buy “at least” another $20 billion of Treasury securities and $10 billion of mortgage-backed securities before ending the purchases “in early March.” It also didn’t raise interest rates, instead saying, “it will soon be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate.” Whenever that is, although everyone seems to believe it means its next meeting, which is set for March 15-16 (there’s no meeting in February). But again, the Fed didn’t say that.

If inflation is so darn dangerous to our nation’s economic health, why is the Fed willing to let it run another month or two before it starts acting instead of, to use Jerome Powell’s famous phrase, simply “talking about talking about” it? Continue reading "Failure To launch" →

Rescue Me

Posted on by George Yacik

How transitory is transitory? Maybe inflation won’t turn out to be as “transitory” as we would like, but even the Federal Reserve thinks inflation will ease sometime in the not-too-distant future, likely this year. The bond market certainly doesn’t seem overly concerned about it, with the 10-year Treasury note trading late last week at about 1.75%, or about six percentage points below the current inflation rate. If inflation is such a big problem that must be addressed immediately, shouldn’t long-term bond rates be closer to 5% or 6% rather than less than 2%?

Then why is the Fed all of a sudden so worried about stamping out inflation when it’s also predicting that the inflation rate will come down fairly soon? What’s the rush?

According to its most recent economic projections released after its December 15 monetary policy meeting, the Fed said it expected inflation to fall to 2.6% this year, from 5.3% last year, then fall to 2.3% next year and 2.1% in 2024. Yet now the Fed can’t seem to stamp out inflation fast enough, even though it was Fed policy not too long ago to let inflation “burn hotter for longer.” What happened with that? Continue reading "Rescue Me" →

2022 Financials Outlook

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

2021 Tailwinds

The big banks have benefited from a confluence of a rising interest rate environment, post-pandemic economic rebound, financially strong balance sheets, a robust housing market, and the easy passage of annual stress tests. Earnings season kicks off in January for all the major financials. The most recent earnings reports from the core financials such as Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and Goldman Sachs (GS) all reported very strong quarters with stock prices breaking out to all-time highs prior to the Q4 overall market turbulence. The biggest banks, by assets, posted profit and revenue that beat expectations. These results came on the heels of booming Wall Street deals and the release of funds previously earmarked for pandemic-related defaults. The big bank cohort is in a sweet spot of a post-pandemic consumer, with rising rates and balance sheets to support expanded share buybacks and dividend increases. These stocks are inexpensive and stand to capitalize on all these tailwinds heading into 2022.

Resilient Consumer

The pandemic has been going on for two-plus years, and the big banks have navigated the coronavirus volatility over this stretch. Throughout the rolling pandemic, the consumer has been resilient, and the potential worst-case financial downsides did not materialize (i.e., massive loan defaults). In addition, the consumer has been strong in retail, housing, autos and the overall holiday spending was robust.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan stated that whether it was a return to loan growth, credit-card signups, or economic indicators like unemployment levels, the company was back in expansion mode. "The pre-pandemic, organic growth machine has kicked back in," "You see that this quarter, and it's evident across all our lines of business." Loan balances at BAC increased 9% on an annualized basis from the second quarter, driven by strength in commercial loans, the company said. Continue reading "2022 Financials Outlook" →

Big Banks - Rising Rates And Earnings Synergy

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

Stellar Earnings

The big bank cohort reported stellar earnings across the board and set the stage for earnings season while sparking a broad rally across the indices. The big banks have benefited from a confluence of impending rising rates, post-pandemic economic rebound, financially strong balance sheets, a robust housing market, and the easy passage of annual stress tests. The most recent earnings reports confirm this secular thesis as Bank of America (BAC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), and Goldman Sachs (GS) all reported very strong quarters, with stock prices nearing all-time highs. The big bank cohort is in a sweet spot of a post-pandemic consumer, rising rates and balance sheets to support expanded share buybacks and dividend increases. These stocks are inexpensive and stand to capitalize on all these tailwinds over the long term.

A Healthy Consumer

The big banks are already transitioning beyond the pandemic based on the results and commentary from the collective companies’ top executives during their respective Q3 earnings. The six biggest banks by assets posted profit and revenue that beat expectations. These results came on the heels of booming Wall Street deals and the release of funds previously earmarked for pandemic-related defaults.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan stated that whether it was a return to loan growth, credit-card signups, or economic indicators like unemployment levels, the company was back in expansion mode. “The pre-pandemic, organic growth machine has kicked back in,” “You see that this quarter, and it’s evident across all our lines of business.” The company said that loan balances at BAC increased 9% on an annualized basis from the second quarter, driven by strength in commercial loans. Continue reading "Big Banks - Rising Rates And Earnings Synergy" →