Monthly Archives: September 2020

Markets face headwinds rather than tailwinds headed into October. September was ripe for a sell off. We had been warning that the signs were all there of a market that was overstretched, overvalued, and overdue for a pullback. The S&P 500 was trading two standard deviations above its moving averages. As a reminder, moving averages act like a magnet pulling markets towards them when they trade too far above or below them. The further away they move, the swifter (and more painful) a reversion can be. For example, during this current correction the NASDAQ was down over 12%. While the sell-off was not unexpected, it still caught investors off guard who had become accustomed to the market “only going up”.

So here we are on the last day of September and you may be asking your self “what now”? We have seen the market have a “reflexive rally” in the past few days. This is not surprising either as the markets are all relatively oversold on the short term. It is important to make mention that despite the recent advances, we have been unable to break through the 50 day moving average above us. This points to possible additional selling pressure for the markets. If we are unable to break above the 50 day, it is possible to see a retracement down to the 200 day moving average, or an additional 7.2% decline.

Markets face headwinds rather than tailwinds currently. It appears likely that any additional stimulus program will not be passed, at least not until after the election. The stock market was counting on more stimulus and economic recovery indicators have begun to shift disappointedly as the extra stimulus has now gone dry. The Federal Reserve also made it clear that we should not expect new aggressive intervention from them for now. They have punted the football back to congress, saying it is now in their court to pass a new program. This will likely further concern markets. We are also still dealing with the effects of COVID-19, and the uncertainty of what the winter months may bring in terms of resurgences. We remain in an economic recession and corporate earnings continue to dip. 2021 S&P 500 earnings estimates are down nearly $30 per share since the original estimates made in January 2020. Did I mention we have a presidential election coming up?

With all the headwinds we see, as well as the fact that markets are still very overvalued when compared to longer term means we think investors should remain cautious for now. If you were uncomfortable during this current pullback, you may be taking more risk than necessary. You could consider using any short-term rallies to rebalance your portfolio and adding in some defensive positions until the rest of the headwinds have cleared. I am not suggesting you need to sell all your equity positions, just consider trimming them temporarily. We remain invested and our tactical allocations have continued to perform very well compared to the major indexes. The power in using relative strength and positive momentum to choose allocations means we do not have to take on more risk than we are comfortable with. It also allows us to choose areas that are performing strongly, while excluding the laggards that wind up being drags on performance.

There is no crystal ball when it comes to investing. However, we think investing using emotions, hope, and feelings are not a good strategy. That’s why we rely on math and rules. If you have any questions, you can always email me at ashleyr@victoryfiduciary.com. I am happy to help any way I can. Have a great month!

Ashley Rosser, President

Prior to her career in the financial services industry, Ashley earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Cedarville University.

Ashley decided to make a career change from her ten years within the healthcare industry as a pediatric emergency room nurse to retirement and 401K investment planning. She joined Victory Wealth Partners in 2008 after obtaining her Series 65 professional financial license and went on to earn her AIF (Accredited Investment Fiduciary) professional designation from the Center for Fiduciary Studies.

It has been an interesting month for the stock market so far, especially considering we are only nine days in. We have seen a significant increase in volatility as compared with August. In general September tends to be a weaker month for the market, even without a weak economic backdrop. You may recall last month I discussed the importance of paying attention to the technical moving averages for the market. Moving averages act like a magnet, pulling markets back to them when they become grossly disconnected.

Last Wednesday, during my Midweek Market update I sounded the alarm that the NASDAQ was trading two standard deviations above its moving averages and that a pullback would be unavoidable. We were just too extended for it to be sustainable. The S&P 500 was also trading significantly above its averages, just not quite to the extent of the NASDAQ. The next day we began to experience a significant selloff across the market over the next three trading days. As of Tuesday’s close, the NASDAQ was down 10% and the S&P 500 was down 7%. Most importantly, both indexes are now sitting directly on their 50 day moving average. It is a good reminder that technicals really do matter in the stock market, even if emotional exuberance seems to say otherwise.

The level of greed and speculation occurring in the market makes some advisors have flashbacks to what happened back in the late 90s. Knowing what happened then and is happening now makes me uncomfortable. It feels like history is repeating itself in some ways. Markets remain extremely overvalued at the same time our country is experiencing significant economic weakness. Investor sentiment seems to be “the market can only go higher”. Call options are at all time highs, meaning that investors are “betting” that the market will go higher and not using any type of hedge in their portfolios against downside risk. Many were caught off guard these past few days as markets sold off quickly. Sadly, many inexperienced investors found out that trading options without understanding risk can sometimes turn around and bite you fast. It is important to understand that markets could absolutely turn lower, an additional correction of 10% would not be out of the question.

So what should investors do now? On Wednesday, the market was experiencing a bit of a reflexive rally, which is expected after such a sharp pullback. The question many ask is should I buy stocks now or should I wait? There is fine line between “buying the dip” and “trying to catch a falling knife”. As an investment committee we are concerned about technical data that indicates there could be some additional headwinds for the market, at least in the short term. So in short, we continue to tread carefully. Our five equity positions continue to perform strongly, outpacing the indexes. They also held up remarkably well over this past pullback, further reinforcing why using relative strength to choose your investments can help you outperform the markets. We will be adjusting our current allocations and adding asset classes once we have confirmation that this pullback is complete. We just do not want to try to handle this pullback like a teddy bear, and then find out it is actually a porcupine. As always, please reach out to me if you have any questions. I would love to talk to you. Have a wonderful day.

Ashley Rosser, President

Prior to her career in the financial services industry, Ashley earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Cedarville University.

Ashley decided to make a career change from her ten years within the healthcare industry as a pediatric emergency room nurse to retirement and 401K investment planning. She joined Victory Wealth Partners in 2008 after obtaining her Series 65 professional financial license and went on to earn her AIF (Accredited Investment Fiduciary) professional designation from the Center for Fiduciary Studies.