Sectors

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 in even worse shape. Resources companies have neither the financial wherewithal nor incentive to undertake expansion. Free cash flow has plunged in the mining and oil & gas industries, and balance sheets are saddled with debt. Meanwhile, global construction markets are coming off the boil, even prior to any increase in borrowing costs. Both residential and commercial real estate construction growth is decelerating rapidly, suggesting that oversupply has seeped into markets. The bottom line is that the earnings recession in heavy and ag equipment companies will stay intact. Please see Monday's Weekly Report for more details on our downgrade to underweight. The ticker symbols for the stocks in this index are: BLBG: S5CSTF - CAT, PCAR, CMI.

We went overweight the S&P agricultural chemicals index in early May, a contrarian bet to take advantage of extreme bearishness, undervaluation and the potential for a rise in underlying commodity prices. Since then, a rise in industry M&A activity has borne out our thesis of cheap valuations, generating solid relative returns. Nevertheless, operating conditions may be slower to improve than originally anticipated. Burgeoning wheat and corn harvests this year threaten to keep the supply/demand balance for grains out of whack for another year. The USDA forecasts a hefty surplus in both key commodities. When grain prices advance, farm incomes receive a shot in the arm, providing farmers with both the means and the confidence to increase planting acreage, thereby boosting fertilizer demand. If food prices stay soft, then that positive dynamic is not going to take hold on a cyclical horizon. Instead, farmland prices will stay near cyclical lows, and agricultural-related credit availability will continue to tighten. The latter is already at a 10-year low, reflecting reduced farm incomes. Consequently, we recommend taking profits and downgrading to neutral. Please see yesterday's Weekly Report for more details. The ticker symbols for the stocks in this index are: BLBG: S5FERT - MON, MOS, CF.

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.

S&P communications equipment greenshoots are turning into full blossom, signaling additional share price outperformance ahead. The latest Federal Reserve industrial production (IP) release highlighted that telecom equipment factories are revving their engines, in contrast with muted overall output growth. Historically, industry IP growth has been closely correlated with shipments-to-inventories momentum and the current message is positive (second panel). Output is booming relative to capacity, inventories are lean and telecom equipment imports are subdued, which is supportive of pricing power. All of this is boosting our industry productivity proxy (third panel). The upshot is that S&P communications equipment profits will outperform the S&P 500, serving as a catalyst for a relative valuation re-rating phase (bottom panel). Bottom line: While we are underweight the broad tech sector, we are reiterating our early-August high-conviction overweight stance in the S&P communications sub-group. The ticker symbols for the stocks in this index are: BLBG: S5COMM - CSCO, MSI, HRS, JNPR, FFIV.

Hong Kong's growing political awareness and rising sensitivity to public policy underscores brewing social tensions brought about by decades of <i>Laissez-Faire</i> capitalism. Social policies will likely become progressively more redistributive, with potentially a longer-term negative impact on asset prices.

A common perception is that the euro has been a failure for Italy. We challenge this perception and explain why it is so important for investors, whether it is wrong or right.

The latest FDIC Quarterly Banking Profile showed that bank earnings' improvement remains lackluster. What caught our attention from the release was the persistent widening in the C&I non-current loan rate, coupled with rising C&I charge-offs. C&I loans now comprise the largest category of bank credit and the recent credit quality deterioration is unnerving, despite the low starting point (C&I non-current rate shown inverted, top panel). There are high odds that the credit cycle has turned for the worse given deteriorating corporate balance sheets. Moreover, the latest reading from the labor market conditions index - the Fed's preferred labor market indicator - is signaling that total non-performing loans will soon hook back up (middle panel). This message is also corroborated by the quickly flattening yield curve, which has historically been an excellent leading indicator of the credit cycle (yield curve shown inverted, third panel). Bottom line: Shy away from the banking sector. The ticker symbols for the stocks in this index are: BLBG: S5BANKX-JPM, WFC, BAC, C, USB, PNC, BBT, STI, MTB, FITB, KEY, CFG, CMA, HBAN, ZION, RF, PBCT.

While we recently boosted the broad consumer discretionary index to overweight, we continue to avoid the auto components sub-group. Relative earnings prospects remain poor. The second panel of the chart shows that relative profitability is on the cusp of a melt-down, according to the relative shipments-to-inventory (S/I) ratio. The decline in the S/I reflects both an unwanted inventory build and decline in shipments. Overproduction will ensure that pricing power stays in deflationary territory (third panel). It would take an upsurge in vehicle demand to reverse these trends, but that is unlikely given tightening auto credit on the back of concerns about auto loan quality and a saturation in vehicle sales (bottom panel). Consequently, auto-related corporate profitability will remain under pressure. Bottom line: Stick with a below benchmark weighting in the S&P auto components index. The ticker symbols for the stocks in this index are: BLBG: S5AUTC - JCI, DLPH, BWA, GT.

The S&P air freight & logistics index has been in a long relative performance funk, during which time valuations have been squeezed down to very attractive levels at a time when fundamentals should begin to improve. Business sales are rising relative to inventory. The top panel shows that when inventories are falling relative to GDP, it provides a tailwind to relative performance. Tight inventories intensify the need for rapid delivery services to ensure optimal supply chain management. When inventories are plentiful, there is less need for high-priced, just-in-time, air freight services. Thus, the rundown in inventories is a positive sign for future revenue growth. Even emerging markets are likely to contribute. Asian manufacturing inventories are being depleted, heralding an improvement in Asian air freight growth. Nevertheless, it is important to keep expectations in check, because deleveraging, protectionist/anti-globalization sentiment and low productivity growth globally will cap global trade growth potential. Still, burgeoning online retail sales growth is a boon for package delivery. While some large retailers may take delivery in-house, spillover onto traditional carriers is inevitable. The latest surge in online sales bodes well for an end to industry deflation. We upgraded this group to overweight, please see yesterday's Special Report for more details. The ticker symbols for the stocks in this index are: BLBG: S5AIRFX - UPS, FDX, CHRW, EXPD.

In a Special Report published yesterday, we showed that the transport relative performance bear market and valuation squeeze had already matched what has typically occurred during a recession. Consequently, any stabilization in underlying drivers of global trade could produce a positive share price outcome. Evidence supports the view that the long slump in world export growth is ending. Export volume growth in many emerging countries has climbed back into positive territory. These regions have been the epicenter of global goods production. Global export price deflation has eased, suggesting that some sort of new equilibrium has been established. Importantly, an inventory restocking phase could provide a fillip to overall export growth. Inventories have been rundown in the U.S. and other developed countries, while inventory-to-sales ratios in a number of developing countries have also rolled over. Inventory cycles are fleeting, and investment decisions should key off of overall final demand, but at current valuations, even small amounts of good news could lift the sector. Against a backdrop of productivity and profit margin resilience, the likelihood of a playable advance in the transport sector has increased, particularly in the S&P air freight index. The ticker symbols for the stocks in this index are: BLBG: S5TRAN - UNP, UPS, FDX, DAL, NSC, CSX, LUV, AAL, UAL, KSU, CHRW, EXPD, ALK, JBHT, R.