Stableford Capital Insights

In the Stableford Market Commentary October 2020 the election results and Senate makeup are factors that are driving the markets. A divided government is among the better results from an equity market perspective due to a reduction in the risk of higher corporate taxes and minimizes the possibility for less a corporate-friendly cabinet appointees in the new administration.

August was another confusing month, closing with the S&P 500 up 7% despite a high level of market uncertainty. Near-urgent buying was driven by an extreme position in the options market. Discover other August indicators, and what they could mean for the remainder of the year – including why we at Stableford Capital like our holdings.

How are recent volatile activities – such as declines in the equity and fixed income markets, pandemics, civil unrest, politically polarized citizens, international discord – impacting market outlook? Stableford Capital’s leaders take the markets’ temperature and advise investors on what to look for.

How are recent volatile activities – such as declines in the equity and fixed income markets, pandemics, civil unrest, politically polarized citizens, international discord – impacting market outlook? Stableford Capital’s leaders take the markets’ temperature and advise investors on what to look for, including how to find value investments. Learn more.

Why the big equity bounce that seemingly ignores bad news from trade wars, protests, and civil unrest in May 2020? We’ve seen the bottom in economic data, so the news is just getting better from an earnings perspective. Equities are forward-looking, pricing off future expected earnings.

After dropping 30% from the start of the year the low in March, the S&P 500 has rebounded 30% off the March 23 low, and nearly 13% in April to end down roughly 10% year-to-date. The 10 yr. US Treasury remained largely flat during April, closing the month with a yield of 0.64%.

We’re never happy with negative returns but we are happy when we are able to preserve your capital. On a relative basis, that is what we have done. The losses in our strategies are a fraction of the overall equities markets and a 60/40 mix of equities and fixed income. This is why we are proponents of the active approach to investing. It’s times like these when being prudent and risk-averse matters.

The S&P 500 declined 8.4% during February to close down 8% year-to-date and remains at similar levels through March 6. The US-Sino trade-détente and global-growth euphoria that began last September peaked during February and has been replaced with global contagion fears (double entendre).

The S&P 500 declined 1.9% during January, though it hit an all-time high on January 22 and has bounced to similar levels as of February 5. The run-up to all-time highs is largely explained by the Fed’s stealth Quantitative Easing (QE) program, as well as anticipation of better economic conditions following the détente in the US-Sino trade war.

The S&P 500 increased 6.4% during December, driven by the US – China preliminary trade deal and continued Fed stealth Quantitative Easing. While some of the details still need to be worked out with China, there seems to be a détente for now. This break allows markets to view the world order through rose colored glasses.