CLIENT TALKING POINTS
USD
Down Dollar is what that ole “reflation” hope is built on and you’re seeing some follow through there this morning with the EUR and YEN up +0.4-0.5% against the USD. But a bullish TREND in the USD remains firmly intact, the risk range is 97.13-99.41.
OIL
Oil up +4.8% in a straight line yesterday led the rally in oversold #Deflation equities – that move does not a bullish TREND make with the immediate-term risk range for WTI now at $34.94-38.08 (sell at the top-end of the range).
JAPAN
Japan doesn’t like this whole up Yen (Down Nikkei for the 5th straight day), so BOJ’s Kuroda opts for the Draghi “whatever it takes” speech overnight saying they’ll even “buy ETFs” (equities!) directly, LOL.
TOP LONG IDEAS
FII
Federated Investors (FII) profitability got a boost last week as the Fed boosted short term rates for the first time in 7 years. Even the slight 25 basis point hike improves profitability in the firm’s leading money fund business by +30% into the New Year.
In essence, the firm rolls 30-day paper throughout the short term fixed income curves and the new higher yields forthcoming into 2016 will allow the company to claw back some of the waived fees it has extended to its client base in money funds. Year-to-date the company has waived over $300 million in fees. With that firmly in the rearview, it becomes an opportunity set as FII gets higher yield from cash products next year.
In the financial sector, FII is the most asset sensitive name we cover, meaning it benefits most from even marginal interest rate hikes.
RH
We have to give Restoration Hardware Chairman and CEO Gary Friedman props for his approximately nine minute segment on Cramer last week. Let's face it, him going on what's arguably the most volatile and biased financial media platform, unscripted, is not what we wanted to see. The risk of fireworks was high.
But he capped off a successful day RH (CFO and IR) had on the investor conference circuit by focusing on the real value drivers at Restoration Hardware (RH) -- growth in product concepts, and RH's real estate transformation. The appearance was planned well before the earnings release, by the way, coinciding with a business-focused trip to NYC. All-in, it was a positive event for the stock.
TLT
Now that the Fed finally hiked federal funds by 25 basis points into a late-cycle slowdown, the fact that TLT was up 1.8% (Wed-Fri.) on “lift-off” should be concerning to the growth accelerating bulls. After the dovish hike, the U.S. Treasury 10-Year Yield (THE GROWTH EXPECTATION PROXY) was down 10 basis points (2.3% to 2.2%). And yes, the most telegraphed rate hike ever was dovish.
Just look at the Fed’s projections and the language in the FOMC's statement. Yellen, essentially, acknowledged what we have said for ~ a year and a half now:
- “The Committee expects that economic conditions will evolve in a manner that will warrant only gradual increases in the federal funds rate”
- “Market-based measures of inflation expectations remain low; some survey-based measures of longer-term inflation expectations have edged down”
- “Net exports have been soft”
- ... And on the Fed’s forward-looking economic projections:
- The Fed kept 2016 GDP estimates unchanged, and downwardly revised 2017 to 2.0-2.3% from 2.0-2.4%.
- 2016 PCE Inflation was downwardly revised to 1.2-1.5% from 1.5-1.8%.
Asset Allocation
| CASH | 66% | US EQUITIES | 2% | |
| INTL EQUITIES | 3% | COMMODITIES | 0% | |
| FIXED INCOME | 17% | INTL CURRENCIES | 12% |
THREE FOR THE ROAD
TWEET OF THE DAY
INSTANT INSIGHT | The Coming #Recession? https://app.hedgeye.com/insights/48235-instant-insight-the-coming-recession… cc @KeithMcCullough $CAT $XLI $WAB #Economy #Yellen
@Hedgeye
QUOTE OF THE DAY
Let your life lightly dance on the edges of time like dew on the tip of a leaf.
Rabindranath Tagore
STAT OF THE DAY
Amazon spent 11.7% of revenue on shipping costs in the third quarter this year.
