We are definitely in an abnormal economic environment. We just came off a 2% real GDP growth performance in a quarter — the fifth in this nascent recovery — where the economy is usually humming along at a 4.3% clip and on a lot less government stimulus. Make no bones about it, heading into year two of the post-recession recovery, the pace of activity is usually accelerating, and doing so at a 5% rate. Meanwhile, look for the Fed to cut its macro call yet again tomorrow — for the fourth meeting in a row. This is what is so fascinating and frightening, simultaneously. Just as the market became a feeding frenzy after the Fed began to aggressively cut the discount rate in August 2007, few people are focusing on the reasons why the central bank is being so pro-active. The Fed just may well be seeing something in the economic outlook that has yet to fully register with Mr. Market.

 

 

 

But one thing is for sure, the fact that the stock market could sustain momentum after that rock-and-rolling ISM report yesterday is a tell-tale sign that all the good news is priced into asset values. Just as the bad news was priced in when the ISM was heading to 30 at the lows nearly two-years ago and the selling pressure in equity-land began to lose momentum.

 

One thing we can say is that the sputtering Financials sector is giving us a lead on what to expect. The Financials peaked in February 2007 and the overall market did a double-top in July and October of that year. It’s all about lags — sorry, but the materials and industrial sectors could only carry the overall market for so long without the financials playing a leading role. Look at the similarities now — a failed attempt at a new peak in the S&P 500 at a time when the Financials are still languishing 15% below their nearby highs.

 

It all sounds so, so familiar. Including the “bullish” (read: complacent) results from Barron’s Big Money Poll. Go read the one from this same time three years ago and read the current edition and tell us you don’t feel a chill up your spine!

 

WHERE’S THE INCOME?

 

Well, it is concentrated at the corporate level. Here is the story. Companies have no reason to hire or pay their workers more because they are sitting on so much idle capacity. So, cost-cutting and productivity gains manage to propel corporate bottom-line performance, hence acting as a critical antidote to lagging revenue growth. Remember, even at the business level, this has been a revenue-less recovery in profits.

 

Meanwhile, the lack of growth in labour input and compressed wage trends, characteristic of a jobs market gripped with chronic excess capacity, have left the household sector with absolutely no income growth of their own. This is both remarkable and disturbing.

 

Indeed, personal income actually fell 0.1% MoM in September, far below consensus views of a 0.2% increase. The prior month was revised lower as well, now at 0.4% versus 0.5% before. The biggest source of weak income was transfers (mostly jobless benefits), which dipped in September, but wages and salaries were still marginally down as well.

 

Real personal income excluding government transfers, one of the four critical components of the National Bureau of Economic Research’s recession-expansion determination, was marginally negative again in September: -0.037% MoM, -0.003% in August, -0.018% in July. On an annual rate basis, it is down 0.4%, and does seem to have put in a peak in June.

 

In nominal terms, spending also came in below expected, rising only 0.2% versus consensus view of a 0.4% increase. In real, or volume terms, consumer spending eked out a 0.1% advance. By finishing off the third quarter on such a soft note, there is only 0.6% at an annual rate being “built into” Q4 real consumption.

 

Also keep in mind that the savings rate fell to 5.3% from 5.6% in August. Absent the drawdown in savings, consumer spending, in real terms, would have actually fallen 0.2% on the month.

 

Despite the weak U.S. dollar and booming commodity prices, the inflation data remained as tame as tame can be. The core PCE deflator came in flat in September (the consensus was looking for a 0.1% increase). On a YoY basis, the core PCE deflator is now running at 1.2%, the slowest pace since September 2001, before that, June 1998, then you have to go back to June 1965 to see this trend again. The equity market may indeed require Ben Bernanke’s divine intervention, but the bond market has this powerful disinflation trend to support it, not to mention that for every bond bull out there, there are 20 equity bulls.

CLEAR BIFURCATION BETWEEN THE INDUSTRIAL AND HOUSEHOLD SECTOR

 

While the personal spending and income data were disappointing, the ISM manufacturing index was anything but. The October ISM index jumped to 56.9 from 54.4, to the highest level in six months. Analysts were expecting a slight dip to 54.0 and even the most bullish forecast missed the mark.

 

The details, for the most part, were very strong. We were amazed by the jump in production, where the index leapt 6.2 points to 62.7 in October. This seems at odds with the inventory data from last week’s GDP data, which showed a huge accumulation. We would have thought that given that inventories jumped $46.7 billion to $115.5 billion, adding over one percentage point to GDP growth, that we would have seen less production in October.

 

Other details were strong as well with new orders (+7.8 points) and employment (+1.2 points) posting strong increases. Exports were also up, jumping six points to 60.5, the highest since April. This is likely a weak U.S. dollar story.

 

ALL IS NOT WELL FOR THE P.I.G.S.

 

It was a tough session for P.I.G.S. (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain) bonds yesterday, on negative sentiment surrounding German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s proposal for ‘burden sharing’. In other words, bond investors will have to share in the cost of government bailouts in the future. Irish debt was particularly hard hit, with 10-year yields rising to 7%, new record highs. Portugal yields backed up to 6% (2½-week highs) and the 2-year note in Greece is now yielding 9%, the first time since late September it has been above 9%.

Not surprisingly, the cost of insuring sovereign debt rose as well, the 5-year Irish CDX spread rose to 496bps. Assuming recovery rates of 35-50%, this translates to 40-55% chance of a default. In Greece, CDX spreads hit 832bps, suggesting the market is pricing in 60-75% chance of a sovereign debt default.

 

(c) Gluskin Sheff

www.gluskinsheff.com