Global Multi-Asset Investment Strategist, True Insights

Jeroen Blokland

Global Multi-Asset Investment Strategist

Build Well-Diversified Multi-Asset Portfolios

True Insights

Our research helps investors build well-diversified multi-asset portfolios and profit from market developments. In addition, our unique and proven Macro – Sentiment – Valuation (MSV) investment framework ensures a consistent flow of new investment opportunities. Together with our market views, these opportunities will be reflected in our live ETF-based Global Multi-Asset Portfolios.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul>
<li>One reason the Global Fund Manager Survey is interesting is that it often contains contradictions concerning investor positioning.</li>
<li>Global Fund Managers are joining the AI boom, are heavily overweight tech stocks, but only 54% of them expect AI to boost company profits.</li>
<li>We believe global fund managers are long tech stocks because of strong momentum and the market extrapolation of artificial intelligence impacting earnings and sales growth, not because of superior fundamentals. </li>
</ul>


One reason the Global Fund Manager Survey is interesting is that it often contains contradictions concerning investor positioning.
Global Fund Managers are joining the AI boom, are heavily overweight tech stocks, but only 54% of them expect AI to boost company profits.
We believe global fund managers are long tech stocks because of strong momentum and the market extrapolation of artificial intelligence impacting earnings and sales growth, not because of superior fundamentals. 


Macroeconomics

<ul>
<li>We believe the most recent FOMC decisions and forward guidance on US monetary policy should be interpreted as ‘hawkish.’</li>
<li>Bullish case: Why 'skip' with just 4 meetings remaining, inflation down to 3.5% leaves monetary policy very tight, and the Fed didn't hike in 2006 after a 425 bps increase.</li>
<li>Bearish case: Dec 2024 Fed Fund future at 3.85%, rates are (very) restrictive in any case, this is no environment for growth stocks, look what happened after 2006.</li>
</ul>


We believe the most recent FOMC decisions and forward guidance on US monetary policy should be interpreted as ‘hawkish.’
Bullish case: Why 'skip' with just 4 meetings remaining, inflation down to 3.5% leaves monetary policy very tight, and the Fed didn't hike in 2006 after a 425 bps increase.
Bearish case: Dec 2024 Fed Fund future at 3.85%, rates are (very) restrictive in any case, this is no environment for growth stocks, look what happened after 2006.


Bullish or Bearish? Our Thoughts on the Fed’s Hawkish Pause

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul>
<li>The ISM Manufacturing Index fell to 46.9 and reveals clear downside for equities based on the historical relationship.</li>
<li>The US labor market remains way too hot for the Fed and significantly increases the odds of another rate hike even as a massive drop in inflation materializes. </li>
<li>The P/E ratio of Big Tech stocks equals 56, while earnings growth has turned negative in recent quarters. Not the best starting point with the MOVE/VIX ratio &gt;8.</li>
</ul>


The ISM Manufacturing Index fell to 46.9 and reveals clear downside for equities based on the historical relationship.
The US labor market remains way too hot for the Fed and significantly increases the odds of another rate hike even as a massive drop in inflation materializes. 
The P/E ratio of Big Tech stocks equals 56, while earnings growth has turned negative in recent quarters. Not the best starting point with the MOVE/VIX ratio &gt;8.


ISM Down, Rates Up, Valuation Ballooning; What Could Go Wrong?

<ul>
<li>History shows that stock market bubbles - a 100% price boom within a year, followed by a 50%+ crash in the following year - are extremely rare.</li>
<li>We apply this metric to current market dynamics and conclude there are no booms around these days.</li>
<li>When expanding the definition of a bubble, two of them appear but only in a small subset of the total stock market: Non-profitable Tech stocks and NVIDIA.</li>
</ul>


History shows that stock market bubbles - a 100% price boom within a year, followed by a 50%+ crash in the following year - are extremely rare.
We apply this metric to current market dynamics and conclude there are no booms around these days.
When expanding the definition of a bubble, two of them appear but only in a small subset of the total stock market: Non-profitable Tech stocks and NVIDIA.


Bubble or Breadth: Evaluating the State of the Stock Market

Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Technical Analysis

NASDAQ Composite Index / Technical Analysis

<ul>
<li>Since January 2023 we've anticipated for 4165-4200 to cap upside on the S&amp;P 500 for 2023, but that a rally to 4300-4325 is also possible; this remains our view.</li>
<li>In our 5/2/23 Compass we discussed how the Nasdaq Composite was testing 12,300 resistance, and that a breakout and reach to 13,180 is possible.</li>
<li>The Nasdaq Composite hit 13,154 Tuesday as Technology (XLK), and to a lesser extent Communications (XLC), are seemingly in a blowoff stage, while all other Sectors are neutral to bearish.</li>
</ul>


Since January 2023 we've anticipated for 4165-4200 to cap upside on the S&amp;P 500 for 2023, but that a rally to 4300-4325 is also possible; this remains our view.
In our 5/2/23 Compass we discussed how the Nasdaq Composite was testing 12,300 resistance, and that a breakout and reach to 13,180 is possible.
The Nasdaq Composite hit 13,154 Tuesday as Technology (XLK), and to a lesser extent Communications (XLC), are seemingly in a blowoff stage, while all other Sectors are neutral to bearish.


Downgrading Discretionary & Health Care to Market Weight, Staples & Utilities to Underweight

United States

The NASDAQ Composite Index is a broad-based capitalization-weighted index of stocks in all three NASDAQ tiers: Global Select, Global Market and Capital Market. The index was developed with a base level of 100 as of February 5, 1971.

NASDAQ Composite Index (CCMP INDEX)

Artificial Inconsistencies

Artificial Intelligence brings the Beatles back together, and Global Fund Managers are joining the AI boom. But NOT because of superior fundamentals.

Jeroen Blokland

Bullish or Bearish? Our Thoughts on the Fed’s Hawkish Pause

Reevaluating Monetary Policy: The latest FOMC decisions and forward guidance on US monetary policy should be interpreted as ‘hawkish.’

Jeroen Blokland

ISM Down, Rates Up, Valuation Ballooning; What Could Go Wrong?

The AI Boom remains real, but so is deteriorating Macro, extreme SKEW, the MOVE-VIX divergence, and lofty Big Tech valuation.

Jeroen Blokland

Bubble or Breadth: Evaluating the State of the Stock Market

No current stock market boom is evident, but concerns arise regarding market breadth and concentration of market value in a few major stocks.

Jeroen Blokland

Downgrading Discretionary & Health Care to Market Weight, Staples & Utilities to Underweight

5/2/23 we discussed how $Nasdaq Comp was testing 12,300 resistance, and that a breakout and reach to 13,180 was possible. It hit 13,154 Tuesday as...

Vermilion Research