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Inverted No More

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valueplays
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“Davidson” submits:

Q3 2019 hedge fund letters, conferences and more

Daily details matter, especially during periods of shifting market psychology. Inversion in the T-Bill/10yr Treasury rates occurred May 2019 after a tumultuous period of rapidly falling 10yr Treasury rates beginning Nov 2018 with the onset of the Chinese attempt to take over Hong Kong and the ensuing protests. This drew recession signals from algorithms when US economic indicators continued to signal expansion. Coupled to algorithms was a stronger US$ and the PMI(Purchasing Managers Index) contributing additional misleading signals. The PMI is an opinion survey, i.e. market psychology, of Purchasing Manager expectations which has reflected negative outlooks in the past when economic indicators such as the Chemical Activity Barometer(CAB) remained positive. At some unpredictable point, economic trends become recognized and market psychology realigns. It appears we are witnessing this process at work the past few days.

Treasury rate spread

This morning the T-Bill/10yr Treasury rate spread, a market psychology driven trend, turned positive by 0.07% after being negative by 0.51% the 1st week Sept 2019. Changes such as these form major market turns. While it is too early to state something definitively, hindsight of previous turns strongly suggest we are seeing a turn positive today.

Treasury rate spread

The T-Bill/10yr Treasury rate is a key market psychology indicator. A widening positive-spread is very positive for equities as it reflects capital into equities.

Economic indicators provided signals the past 2yrs that expansion continued uninterrupted. Negative market psychology fed on itself causing one non-economic signal after another to reinforce algorithmic models during this period in the face of economic strength. Economic trends always win!

In my opinion, this is what we are seeing today.

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Todd Sullivan is a Massachusetts-based value investor and a General Partner in Rand Strategic Partners. He looks for investments he believes are selling for a discount to their intrinsic value given their current situation and future prospects. He holds them until that value is realized or the fundamentals change in a way that no longer support his thesis. His blog features his various ideas and commentary and he updates readers on their progress in a timely fashion. His commentary has been seen in the online versions of the Wall St. Journal, New York Times, CNN Money, Business Week, Crain’s NY, Kiplingers and other publications. He has also appeared on Fox Business News & Fox News and is a RealMoney.com contributor. His commentary on Starbucks during 2008 was recently quoted by its Founder Howard Schultz in his recent book “Onward”. In 2011 he was asked to present an investment idea at Bill Ackman’s “Harbor Investment Conference”.