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Summary
- Italy is in (a lot of) debt.
- GOOG and META come tumbling down.
- Bearish sentiment prevails in the US.
- We are panicking post-Covid.
Italy Is in (a Lot of) Debt
BTP yields are trading near heights last seen in 2014, even after recent rallies. With public debt/GDP above 150%, the interest burden is making headlines again (Chart 1). But we do not think Italy’s debt is an issue – for now, at least. The situation could change come the elections.
GOOG and META Come Tumbling Down
The communications index of the S&P 500 had a great run until last year, outperforming the market by 57%, thanks to Alphabet (GOOG) and Meta (META) (Chart 2a). However, it has been the second-worst performer in 2022, due both to collapsing highfliers and poor performance by old-line telecom, cable and media companies (Chart 2b).
We think the communications sector currently looks cheap. The highfliers now trade at reasonable P/E ratios and have solid business models.
Bearish Sentiment Prevails in the US
We are in a bear market, and it is a bear that will probably keep growling. As risk markets sell off worldwide, investors have become more certain on their bearish US equity bias. According to the survey-based short-term investor optimism (AAII) survey, bullish sentiment reduced to 19.4%, while bearish sentiment increased 11.4pp to 58.3% (Chart 3).
Our Post-Covid Panic
We may not be in full-on panic mode, as in 2008 or early 2022, but investor uncertainty is still in the 92nd percentile (Chart 4). That could be an opportunity, though: a recent paper shows how the VIX and other popular sentiment measures can predict short-term returns.