Last week, I voiced a little more concern about the stock market as the S&P 400 and Russell 2000 broke to the downside from their trading ranges. So far, they haven’t been able to regain previous levels. Now, we have the S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 trading at the lower end of their ranges and it looks like stocks have further to go on thew downside before finding more solid footing.
As I have said for months, based on market history, the challenging party needs a lower stock market to have a chance to win. For this election, the number has been 18,000 although the lower the better for Donald Trump. At the same time, I have been using the biotech sector as a bellwether for Clinton’s chances of victory. Interestingly, biotech has been falling sharply since late September which runs counter to the polls and latest email scandal. Of course, fundamentals in the group could be overpowering political models.
On the key sector leadership front, semis, banks and transports have been strong and really holding up the market. Only consumer discretionary hasn’t been cooperating. While utilities have bounced back nicely, staples, REITs and telecom remain laggards which should be good stocks over the intermediate-term.
High yield bonds, which have held up very well are now under modest pressure, another small concern. Although stocks have struggled, treasury bonds are not providing the expected safe haven, even though commodities have also been hit. Adding it all up, you have a bit of a liquidity problem in the markets as it appears investors are building cash positions for now.
The Fed begins a two-day meeting today and it would be a complete shock if they raised rates tomorrow. However, given the political landscape and events of the past few days, nothing can be rules out!
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