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Our Top Market Takeaways for November 3, 2023

Sweet relief. Heading into Friday morning, the S&P 500 U-turned from its recent sell-off and is now on track for its best week of 2023. Bond yields, especially on the longer end, have fallen dramatically. That’s propelled U.S. Treasuries to one of their best weeks of the year. Both 10-year and 30-year yields have fallen roughly 40 basis points from their highs just a few weeks ago. Even U.S. high yield bonds showed up to the rally, with spreads tightening on Thursday by the most since February.

So as we barrel toward the end of the year, are markets finally finding direction?

This week has been jampacked with big-picture catalysts – from a flurry of central bank meetings to a handful of economic data prints, to a new sense of the government debt situation – and each seems to have brought a clearer sense of the path forward.

Here is what we learned, and why we think it may bring more comfort for investors:

1. Pretty much every major central bank has said they’re done hiking (just without actually saying they’re done hiking).

The Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of England all kept policy rates unchanged at their latest meetings. Only the Bank of Japan is left holding on to an easier policy stance, and still, it’s slowly shifting toward tightening.

The line graph shows the historical and implied policy rates across 4 central banks: the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of Japan.

After months of questioning when the end would come, and even one “skip” meeting followed by a hike thereafter, conviction that the Fed is actually done with hikes is growing. Markets are pricing in just a ~30% chance of one more hike. If it comes at all, investors are betting on it happening in January. By then, policymakers should have an even clearer read on the economy, and this month’s data has pointed to more cooling.

Why it matters: When the Fed has officially hiked its last time in the past, that’s tended to provide a runway for markets to rally. In the last seven Fed hiking cycles, U.S. stocks and investment-grade bonds meaningfully outperformed cash – by 19% and 14%, respectively – over the following two years.

2. The economy is slowing a bit, and that’s not a bad thing.

So far, inflation has cooled without much economic pain. As we noted last week Q3’s U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) print was a case in point for how resilient growth has been.

But from here, growth probably needs to slow down a little to ensure that inflation doesn’t reaccelerate (and prompt more moves from central banks). This week, from manufacturing and services reads to labor market data (see the cooldown in hiring in today’s jobs report), signs have pointed to some fading momentum. CEOs have echoed the same this earnings season, with more notes of dampening demand and shifts in spending patterns (even as the overall trend is still a solid one).

In more good news for a potential soft landing, word also came that the economy might be getting more “productive.” In other words, it’s using all the resources it has – from all its workers and its capital to its technological investments – more efficiently than it used to. The latest read on U.S. productivity, measured by how much employees are producing per hour, advanced by the most in three years. Meanwhile, unit labor costs, or how much a business pays its workers to produce one unit of whatever it’s producing, fell last quarter – its first decline since 2022. Taken together, this means inflation may be able to keep cooling while the economy avoids a meaningful contraction.

3. The Treasury plans to borrow less than expected next quarter.

Bond yields surged over the summer in part as the Treasury said it was going to have to issue more debt to help fund the government’s spending. All else equal, more Treasury supply puts downward pressure on prices and upward pressure on yields.

Fast forward to this week: In its latest update, the Treasury said it plans to borrow less than it anticipated in Q4, and it also intends to issue less longer-dated bonds than expected to get its job done. That shift may make it easier for the market to digest the added supply.

While we still need to see how buyers will take on this latest round of supply, this week’s news signals that bond markets might be faced with less volatility ahead.

Markets hate uncertainty, and they thrive on clarity.

In all, a better sense of the path forward offers more runway to rally.

It’s a bond buyer’s market with interest rates at today’s levels. One of the most popular measures of the U.S. Treasury yield curve (i.e., the difference between 2-year and 10-year bond yields) has moved from about 100 bps of inversion in July to about 30 bps today. For investors, this means that you don’t need to give up nearly as much yield to extend duration. Across the maturities, risk spectrums and issuer types, investors have the opportunity to buy bonds at yields we haven’t seen in 15 years. For U.S. taxpayers, we think municipal bonds look especially compelling, offering the potential for an even greater pickup in yield, low default risk and an attractive entry point with seasonal supply trends. To echo our earlier point and add potential urgency, yields have a habit of falling (and prices rising) after the Fed is done raising interest rates.

This line graph shows the 10-year Treasury yield since the start of 2023.

We think now offers an entry point for U.S. stocks. Even after this week’s rally, stocks are still pricing in a lot of bad stuff. Roughly 70% of S&P 500 stocks are in correction territory (or down 10% or more from their 52-week highs), and broadly, valuations are about back in line with long-term averages. Seasonality could also prove favorable: Going back to 1950, November and December are usually two of the best months of the year. Finally, with more stability in bond yields, investors can soon refocus on fundamentals. Earnings are having a transition quarter, and expectations from here point to future growth. That’s especially true for tech+, where improving earnings and the power of artificial intelligence (AI) combine to create a compelling case.

This bar graph shows the S&P 500 earnings per share growth, year-over-year as a percentage.

Finally, if we’re wrong, alternatives can be a powerful force in portfolios beyond diversification. For example, infrastructure and real assets can offer protection if inflation lingers (or, in a worst case, reaccelerates). Private credit can benefit in an environment with higher interest rates and tighter financial conditions, and experienced managers can capitalize on stress in commercial real estate.

In all, we see opportunity in a world in transition.

Your J.P. Morgan team is here to discuss what it means for you and the opportunities we see ahead.

All market data from FactSet and Bloomberg Finance L.P., 11/03/23.

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Small capitalization companies typically carry more risk than well-established "blue-chip" companies since smaller companies can carry a higher degree of market volatility than most large cap and/or blue-chip companies.

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Bonds are subject to interest rate risk, credit and default risk of the issuer. Bond prices generally fall when interest rates rise. 

Investing in fixed income products is subject to certain risks, including interest rate, credit, inflation, call, prepayment and reinvestment risk. Any fixed income security sold or redeemed prior to maturity may be subject to substantial gain or loss.  

Investing in alternative assets involves higher risks than traditional investments and is suitable only for sophisticated investors. Alternative investments involve greater risks than traditional investments and should not be deemed a complete investment program. They are not tax efficient and an investor should consult with his/her tax advisor prior to investing. Alternative investments have higher fees than traditional investments and they may also be highly leveraged and engage in speculative investment techniques, which can magnify the potential for investment loss or gain. The value of the investment may fall as well as rise and investors may get back less than they invested. 

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