WEBVTT - Fed's Aim Is to Boost Asset Prices; Don't Fight It

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to the Bloomberg Penl Podcast. I'm Paul swing you

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<v Speaker 1>along with my co host Lisa Brahma Waits. Each day

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<v Speaker 1>we bring you the most noteworthy and useful interviews for

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<v Speaker 1>you and your money, Whether at the grocery store or

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<v Speaker 1>the trading floor. Find a Bloomberg Penl podcast on Apple

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<v Speaker 1>podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts, as well as

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<v Speaker 1>at Bloomberg dot com. The key question, though, in my mind,

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<v Speaker 1>as the spire reaches new highs of record highs, how

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<v Speaker 1>much can a twenty five bases point rate cut actually

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<v Speaker 1>continue to support risk assets? Joining us here Peter Sheer,

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<v Speaker 1>head of macro strategy at Academy Securities. Uh, he's here

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<v Speaker 1>in our interactive broker studios. Peter, what is the answer

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<v Speaker 1>to that? I mean, does this seem like it makes

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<v Speaker 1>sense to you that stocks are rallying on this expected

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<v Speaker 1>rate cut? Weirdly, it actually does. I'll give you my

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<v Speaker 1>real cynical answer in a second. I think the first

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<v Speaker 1>thing is what we've seen is a shift in the

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<v Speaker 1>FEDS reaction function. I think the reality is they are

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<v Speaker 1>going to do very little, too slow the economy. So

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<v Speaker 1>if we see any pause of science, they're not going

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<v Speaker 1>to react quickly any negatives. They're going to react very

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<v Speaker 1>very quickly to help out. So I think that's what's

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<v Speaker 1>being priced in. And if you want the cynical answer,

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<v Speaker 1>the FED is really out there to boast their asset prices.

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<v Speaker 1>That belief is sinking in. That's what they're gonna do.

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<v Speaker 1>You trade it that way, you think that that's what's

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<v Speaker 1>going on. There's a growing view that power who did

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<v Speaker 1>want to kill the power put or the FED put.

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<v Speaker 1>I think it's much easier to say you want to

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<v Speaker 1>kill it than being the person responsible for it. And

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<v Speaker 1>now he's gone the other way. They're there to support

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<v Speaker 1>asset prices. So right now, you think that the best

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<v Speaker 1>gauge of what the Federal Reserve will too is just

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<v Speaker 1>to look at risk assets. If they're selling off, they're

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<v Speaker 1>going to cut rates. If they're rallying, they might be

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<v Speaker 1>a little bit more patient. Yeah, I think that's it.

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<v Speaker 1>So I think we've got one more good squeeze here.

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<v Speaker 1>I think we see vick Strop maybe down to eleven,

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<v Speaker 1>stocks continue to go higher yields. I think the front

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<v Speaker 1>end is gonna be anchored. I think we're actually gonna

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<v Speaker 1>see a realization Hey, if the Fed wants inflation, long

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<v Speaker 1>endnield should be higher. So I think you're gonna see

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<v Speaker 1>tens and thirties back up a little bit, all right,

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<v Speaker 1>So how long can this go on before people care

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<v Speaker 1>about the real economy again? I think you need to

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<v Speaker 1>see the squeeze finish, whether it's two weeks to a month.

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<v Speaker 1>I want to see some of the sentiment surveys kind

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<v Speaker 1>of get to extremes positive where every last bear gets

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<v Speaker 1>pushed in. Okay, so this is this is a tactical

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<v Speaker 1>bet on your part. Yes, I think that's what this is. Right,

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<v Speaker 1>everyone's kind of having taken this message. Trade wars seem

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<v Speaker 1>off the table for now. It's the summer. It's slow,

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<v Speaker 1>y be short, this squeeze goes, and then we're set

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<v Speaker 1>up for a fall. Okay, So then we're set up

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<v Speaker 1>for a fall. So let's move beyond just the next

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<v Speaker 1>two weeks to a month and talk about what happens

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<v Speaker 1>later in the year as we start to get more

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<v Speaker 1>economic data and wage pressure, whatever happens on the trade front,

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<v Speaker 1>how much do risk us it's potentially follow in your view,

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<v Speaker 1>what's the what's the fallout? Or is this just gonna

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<v Speaker 1>be a bumpy road for a while. I think it's

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<v Speaker 1>gonna be a bumpy road. To me. The real pause

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<v Speaker 1>is going to be if trade wars start leading to

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<v Speaker 1>the conclusion that we're actually gonna win, We're gonna fight

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<v Speaker 1>for five G and the U s is actually gonna

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<v Speaker 1>dominate five G rather than letting whahweh do it. Then

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<v Speaker 1>I think risk assets can go off to the races.

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<v Speaker 1>If it looks like we're gonna lose, we're gonna cave in,

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<v Speaker 1>we're gonna let away dominate. I think we're gonna have

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<v Speaker 1>problems there. And that's to me the swings. I think

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<v Speaker 1>Europe actually might surprise us to the upsides. Right now,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm short term technically bullish. I think there's probably more

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<v Speaker 1>upside than downside. And where I look at the economy heading, okay,

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<v Speaker 1>so you think there's more upside than downside when it

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<v Speaker 1>comes to US equities. What about high yield? You know,

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<v Speaker 1>I think high yield's kind of played out. It's going

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<v Speaker 1>to be a carry game at most um. Whether we

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<v Speaker 1>will start seeing a few companies at trouble or not.

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<v Speaker 1>Maybe I think that was more likely at the start

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<v Speaker 1>of the year when all in yields were slightly higher.

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<v Speaker 1>That's all in. Lower yields just helps all these companies

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<v Speaker 1>risk assets are well and alive, you know, M and

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<v Speaker 1>A activities there, so companies can sell off. I think

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<v Speaker 1>it's going to be kind of a mean for high

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<v Speaker 1>yield all right. And then the other question is, I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>I think it's just going to be a bumpy road

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<v Speaker 1>for a while. Does that mean that the prospect of

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<v Speaker 1>a recession is pushed out substantially more uh than many

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<v Speaker 1>are currently factoring in. Yes, I think it's pushed out. One.

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<v Speaker 1>We now have this new reaction function from the Fed,

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<v Speaker 1>so they're going to be overly aggressive trying to fend

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<v Speaker 1>off a recession. And then I think people get a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit too concerned. Remember Q four, Oh it's bad.

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<v Speaker 1>Q one is gonna be a disaster, Q onet or not. Fine.

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<v Speaker 1>I think Q two is gonna be weak, But part

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<v Speaker 1>of the weakness is going to be all the trade

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<v Speaker 1>war related fights, the tariffs. Some of that's going to

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<v Speaker 1>go away in Q three and Q four. So I

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<v Speaker 1>don't think we're going to see this kind of straight

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<v Speaker 1>line down. And to me, Europe's the wild card. What's

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<v Speaker 1>Laguar gonna do is you able to implement stimulus there

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<v Speaker 1>then all of a sudden, you know again there's might

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<v Speaker 1>be positive surprises from Europe which we haven't seen in years.

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<v Speaker 1>One thing I'm struggling to understand is the efficacy of

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<v Speaker 1>quantitative easing and of lowering rates at a time when

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<v Speaker 1>borrowing costs are so low. I just I'm trying. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>there have been a number of academic studies that have

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<v Speaker 1>come out showing that each additional round of quantitative easing

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<v Speaker 1>and lowering rates from an already pretty low base doesn't

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<v Speaker 1>really do all that much when it comes to juicing

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<v Speaker 1>up the economy. So at what point do people care

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<v Speaker 1>about that? Again? At some point I completely agree with

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<v Speaker 1>you too, though I'm not sure that these policies are right.

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<v Speaker 1>I hate the idea of negative yields. I think negative

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<v Speaker 1>yields are disaster for banks. I think at some point

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<v Speaker 1>twenty years from now, people are going to revise how

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<v Speaker 1>they look at economics and say inflation actually targets to

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<v Speaker 1>the Fed funds rather than vice versas. So all these

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<v Speaker 1>cuts actually deep are deflationary over time. I think we're

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<v Speaker 1>doing a lot of wrong things, but I've long since

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<v Speaker 1>stopped trying to fight what I think is wrong and

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<v Speaker 1>just accept what I think the FED and there are

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<v Speaker 1>going to do and try and trade around that. So

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<v Speaker 1>do you think that it's a good idea to go

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<v Speaker 1>long US equities right now and also go a long,

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<v Speaker 1>longer dated U S bonds. No, I actually don't like

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<v Speaker 1>that trade here. I think that's been one of the

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<v Speaker 1>trades I'm starting to do some more work on. And

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<v Speaker 1>you know, what I've been looking at is what are

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<v Speaker 1>the safe trades? What are the safe assets. So a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of people are in these sixty forty type funds

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<v Speaker 1>where you own equities and you own bonds. I really

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<v Speaker 1>don't like that here. I think yields are low, stocks

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<v Speaker 1>at all time high. I think we want to pay back.

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<v Speaker 1>I've also been looking at some of these men Vall

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<v Speaker 1>and low Ball equity targeted funds. They've had massive amounts

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<v Speaker 1>of inflows. It feels to me like people are kind

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<v Speaker 1>of reaching and saying, oh, I can invest in stocks,

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<v Speaker 1>but they're safe stocks. I'm like, yeah, stocks aren't all safe,

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<v Speaker 1>and when we have problems, they're all going to be hit.

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<v Speaker 1>So that's kind of reluctant to I'd rather own equities here.

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<v Speaker 1>Than bonds. I'd like to be short long dated bonds

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<v Speaker 1>here short them. So you think that the olds are

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<v Speaker 1>going to rise, I think in the tens and thirties

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<v Speaker 1>are gonna go higher significantly or just a bit. Tend

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<v Speaker 1>to thirty basis points, so you know, meaningful from here? Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I think we should be to to thirty five on

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<v Speaker 1>the tenure treasury. Okay, just going forward, I'm trying to

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<v Speaker 1>understand the picture in the key election year. What are

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<v Speaker 1>you expecting in terms of what assets are expected to

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<v Speaker 1>do the best at a time. If the Federal Reserve

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<v Speaker 1>is supporting the markets with the reaction function as you

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<v Speaker 1>describe it, uh, and if certainly the government is looking

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<v Speaker 1>to bolster markets given the fact that President Trump would

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<v Speaker 1>like to get reelected, what are you looking for? So,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, we've talked about this before and it's kind

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<v Speaker 1>of maybe a weird view what I say. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>look at the TV show Survivor. Let's pretend Trump has

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<v Speaker 1>an immunity doll. That immunity doll is a trade deal

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<v Speaker 1>with China. Why use it now? Right? Use that close

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<v Speaker 1>to the election. So I think we're gonna see a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of hype about a trade deal Q one, Q

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<v Speaker 1>two next year, and that's going to really bolster energy stocks,

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<v Speaker 1>and I think tech interesting. So we're going to be

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<v Speaker 1>listening in on J. Powell, the Federal Reserve Chair, speak

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<v Speaker 1>in front of the House Committee, beginning of a two

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<v Speaker 1>day testimony in front of Congress. UH, and we are

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<v Speaker 1>going to hear from him. What are you expecting to

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<v Speaker 1>hear from him today? I think a lot of what

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<v Speaker 1>he wrote, he's going to focus on inflation, right. Everything

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<v Speaker 1>else really doesn't justify why he wants to be so dovey.

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<v Speaker 1>So I think this lack of inflation is gonna be

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<v Speaker 1>something we hear over and over. Thanks for listening to

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<v Speaker 1>the Bloomberg P and L podcast. You can subscribe and

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<v Speaker 1>listen to interviews at Apple Podcasts or whatever podcast platform

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<v Speaker 1>you prefer. Paul Sweeney, I'm on Twitter at pt Sweeney.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Lisa Abram Woyds. I'm on Twitter at Lisa A.

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<v Speaker 1>Bram Woyds. One. Before the podcast, you can always catch

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<v Speaker 1>us worldwide on Bloomberg Radio