With all the uncertainty in the news today, a human being might emotionally feel quite anxious. If you hadn’t looked at your portfolio in a while, you may assume it’s not doing so great. But your portfolio does not have emotions and, if properly constructed, is capable of producing in all environments. In fact, if your portfolio did have emotions, it would probably be feeling quite happy as 2016 has so far been a pretty good year performance-wise, at least the portfolios we supervise. The thing is that Wall Street and Main Street don’t operate on the same level. Main Street may be feeling a little down, but Wall Street on the other hand may shrug off those fears and look at the opportunities. Or vice-versa. Case in point: The recent negative feelings of Main Street don’t resonate with the recent positive results stemming from Wall Street.
After a wild finish for stocks in 2q16 thanks to the surprising June 23rd Brexit vote, the US stock market calmed down and continued upward as represented by the S&P500 gaining 3.9% for the third quarter. Other equity markets did even better like small caps* and emerging markets**, both up 9.0%. Outside of equities, both fixed income and alternative markets generally charged ahead, adding to this upbeat 3q16 report.
Let’s start with the results of the major asset classes:
Equities: The MSCI AC World Equity Index registered +5.3% for the quarter and is now up 6.6% on the year. International small cap value***, up 10.5%, was one of the best places to be in the second quarter. That said, the stars of the year remain the mid cap space****, +12.1%, and emerging markets**, +16.0%. The S&P500 underperformance trend continues.
Fixed Income: The Barclays US Aggregate Bond Index, the most recognized bond benchmark, was up 0.5% in 3q16 and now up 5.8% for 2016. Unfortunately, that benchmark doesn’t allocate to the two hot spots in bond land this year: high yield bonds†, +5.6% and 15.1%, quarter-to-date and YTD, respectively, and emerging markets debt‡, +4.8% and 16.6%. Hence, it is prudent to construct fixed income portfolios that contain more than treasury, investment-grade corporate, and agency exposure like the “Agg” and invest into other areas that can provide diversification and potentially better returns.
Alternatives: The Credit Suisse Liquid Alternative Beta Index was up 2.1% for the quarter and 3.2% YTD. Of course, one of the key benefits of alts is that they generally don’t trade in symphony with the rest of the market. But that doesn’t mean they necessarily will go down when equities and fixed income are up, like they were in this quarter. Alts beat to their own drum. What we think is important for our clients is designing an alternatives model with multiple non-correlated alternative assets and/or strategies that collectively produce consistent positive returns.
By looking at the above results and doing some simple math, we can theoretically see that an investor; with a balanced portfolio of, say 50% in equities, 25% fixed income, and 25% alternatives; could have overall net results of 6-8% YTD. And there’s still a quarter to go in 2016! Of course, nothing is guaranteed and there is certainly “uncertainty”. Whereas Wall Street may shrug off lots of things Main Street would not, here is the short list on what is keeping those traders up at night:
- The Election – this really is something that is causing more anxiety for Main Street than it is Wall Street. As crazy as it may seem, the market can actually see “good” in either of the major candidates. What the market doesn’t like is a surprise. If results came out opposite of the polls ala Brexit, it could get ugly, i.e. markets would trade lower. We don’t see that happening though.
- The European banking sector – Is Deutsche Bank with its thin capital issues the next Lehman Brothers? We don’t think so, but those banks all trade with one another and if one major bank fails, there can be a contagion effect that could even affect us on the other side of the globe.
- The economy – If you looked at the companies within the S&P500 and used that as a yardstick for the US economy, you might get a little alarmed to know that 3q16 will almost certainly be the sixth consecutive quarter of falling earnings. That hurts valuations now but we’re cautiously optimistic that that trend will end soon. When actual earnings (and estimates) start to rise, the market could continue to climb (even) higher.
- The Fed - What’s next for the Fed? There are two more meetings this year. We think one 25 basis points rate hike is already “baked” into the market. In other words, traders are expecting it. As long as the Fed keeps communicating clearly, they and their actions shouldn’t cause that much disruption.
In conclusion, Main Street is not Wall Street. For many, this Presidential Election is bringing a lot of unnecessary anxiety and we can certainly understand why. Of course, the market is generally efficient by constantly looking ahead at expectations and adjusts accordingly. Unless there are major surprises, it tends to shrug off news that can make Main Street nauseous. So if it’s getting to be too much for you, feel free to turn off the media noise and keep it off until November 9th, the day after the Election. Wall Street will keep doing its thing. More importantly, DWM will be doing its thing, keeping our clients’ portfolios prepared for what’s next.
Brett M. Detterbeck, CFA, CFP®
DETTERBECK WEALTH MANAGEMENT
*represented by the Russell 2000 Index
**represented by the MSCI Emerging Markets Index
***represented by the DFA Intl Small Cap Value Fund
****represented by the Dreyfus Mid Cap Index Fund
† represented by the Barclays Capital US Corporate High Yield Bond Index
‡ represented by the PowerShares Global Emerging Markets Sovereign Debt ETF