While the oil outlook and the present direction of the market might seem contradictory, this is not the case. A prime factor behind the market’s overall market performance has been what Bank of America – in a note dated October 6 – called the “greatest bond bear market of all time“. Bond funds saw $2.5 billion in outflows till the Wednesday of that week due to yields on 30-year Treasuries rising above 5% for the first time since 2007. The current loss in 30-year bonds from the peak in the market in July 2020 to now far outpaces that of any previous bear market, with buy-ins into bond being termed a “humiliation trade”.

However, the bank says there’s no capitulation: Treasuries funds continued to see inflows of $4.6 billion in that week albeit with a preference for shorter-term paper due to which yields on 2-year Treasuries fell 9 basis points.

The overall effect on the market has been extremely poor equity breadth, with pile-ons into select stocks to balance out portfolios now overloaded with increasingly unmarketable long-term bonds. High-yield “junk bonds” have also been taking a beating since these select stocks are implied to be more survivable in a high-rate environment than issuers of junk bonds that are more sensitive to high interest expenses.

Even the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) meetings on September 26 and October 5 noted thus in its summary released on October 10, “Given the impact of higher interest rates, and uncertainties associated with inflation and growth, some risky asset valuations appeared stretched”. In particular, the FPC noted that a deterioration in the global economic outlook, further increases in risk-free interest rates, or further interest rate volatility could lead to sharp reductions in asset prices – with U.S. dollar-denominated corporate bonds and U.S. technology equities being specifically vulnerable – and further tightening in financial conditions for households and businesses.

In Conclusion

Overall, market trajectories indicate an underlying impression that the Middle East and its current crisis is essentially “factored out” of market estimations for the most part. While U.S. equity markets might look like they’re doing well, several “leading” stocks are increasingly approaching “overheated” due to market flows with no significantly meaningful macroeconomic indicators for the upside. Periodic waves and troughs can be expected, as seen over the past several weeks. Caveat emptor.