Financial professionals are blaming the latest round of risk asset uncertainty on a variety of factors, from the continuing sell-off in oil to the possibility of Greece being kicked out of the euro-zone. Still others are pointing to anxiety over the U.S. Federal Reserve’s intention to raise its overnight lending rate target in mid-2015 – the first move of its kind since December of 2008.
Meanwhile, the biggest names in bonds have added fuel to the fire. Bill Gross at Janus has declared that the good times are over; he anticipates a plethora of “minus signs” in front of riskier asset classes by year-end. Similarly, Jeff Gundlach of DoubleLine believes the U.S. 10-Year yield will test 1.38% from its 2.0% level. That is in sharp contrast to the unanimous verdict of economists that the 10-year would be sharply higher; the average expectation is 3.0% by December.
Since the beginning of last year, I have argued the exact opposite and extolled the virtues of owning long-maturity treasuries via Vanguard Extended Duration (NYSE:EDV) and/or Vanguard Long Term Government Bond (NASDAQ:VGLT). The yields on these safer havens have been more favorable than the sovereign debt of beleaguered foreign governments in the developed world. Even today, a 10-year U.S. Treasury at 2.0% compares quite favorably with German bunds (0.5%) and Japanese government bonds (0.3%).
A wide variety of international and emerging market stock assets floundered in 2014, and they have continued to descend in the New Year. Yet it may come as a shock to some buy-the-dip enthusiasts that many U.S. stock ETFs have already broken below key support levels. The ones that I have identified in the chart below are currently below 200-day long-term trendlines (exponential).
Paradise Lost? U.S. Stock ETFs Begin Falling Below Respective Trendlines
While nobody can predict whether the current flight from risk will be yet another head fake – investors have snapped up U.S. stock shares on every 4%-8% pullback since the winter of 2011 – extreme movements in both commodities and currencies in recent months do not bode well for the bulls. For example, dramatic falls in the price of crude oil historically correlate with an increase in geopolitical and economic crises. Does anyone believe that Wall Street can continue to ignore an uptick in overseas strife at the same time that the energy sector is reeling stateside? Similarly, the swift appreciation of the US Dollar and the quick depreciation of other world currencies over the last six months is likely to reduce the desire for carry trade activity and/or increase the desire to take some “chips off the table.” In other words, assets like PowerShares DB Dollar Bullish (NYSE:UUP) can be safe havens from stock turbulence, yet the ripple effects can create a desire for a reduction in risk taking across the board and an increase in desire for U.S. Treasury bonds.
As an advocate for long-duration treasuries since the first week of January 2014 – as one who wrote at great length about the virtues of a barbell approach in a late-stage stock bull – I decided to investigate the unusually high positive correlation of two of my largest holdings, Vanguard Extended Duration (EDV) and Vanguard Dividend Growth (NYSE:VIG). Historically speaking, treasuries and stocks have a slight positive correlation in good times and a strong negative correlation in bad times. That’s why 2014 represented an unlikely scenario where matching “risk-off” capital preservation with “risk-on” capital appreciation produced risk-adjusted gains that far exceeded stocks alone.
Although CNBC would rather talk about the remarkable run in U.S. equities, there has been an unwillingness to address the extraordinary success of “risk-off” assets like EDV. On the contrary. The unanimous expectation for 55 of the leading economists in the country had been for the 3.0% 10-year yield to climb in 2014, with an average projection of 3.4%. It fell to 2.2.% The unanimous decision this time around is for the 10-year to rise from 2.2% to 3.0% in 2015. Alas, it is falling yet again here in the New Year. Granted, I may not be the only contrarian on middle-of-the-yield-curve rates, but I do not run a bond fund and I have plenty of stock exposure. I just know when and how to employ multi-asset stock hedging.
Until we see a genuine bear scare, I do not expect tremendous coverage of the index that I helped to create with FTSE-Russell, the FTSE Custom Multi-Asset Stock Hedge Index. I affectionately refer to it as the “MASH” Index. Yet it should be noted that there are a variety of currencies, commodities, foreign bonds and U.S. bonds that have a history of exceptionally low correlations with U.S. stocks. What’s more, low correlations do not mean poor performance when stocks are soaring and great performance when stocks are struggling. It simply means that the assets move independently.
That said, month-over-month, the FTSE Custom Multi-Asset Stock Hedge Index (a.k.a. “MASH”) is up 2.5% whereas the Dow logged -2.6%. Year-over-year? MASH gained 6.8% while the Dow picked up 6.3%. Granted, the last month demonstrates that multi-asset stock hedging works particularly well when stocks struggle, but it is hardly a prerequisite. The year-over-year results show that the index can garner admirable gains – better the t-bills or money markets – even in a stock uptrend.
An investor can not invest in the FTSE Custom Multi-Asset Stock Hedge Index (MASH) directly yet, though an exchange-traded note is likely to appear in 2015. Those who may be interested in pursuing a separately managed account can contact Pacific Park Financial, Inc. directly. Do-it-yourself enthusiasts may acquire index components such as zero coupon bonds via PIMCO 20+ Year Coupon (NYSE:ZROZ)), iShares National AMT-Free Muni (NYSE:MUB) as well longer-dated Treasuries in iShares 10-20 Treasury (NYSE:TLH). Currencies like the dollar and the franc can be acquired in CurrncyShares Swiss Franc (NYSE:FXF) and PowerShares Dollar Bullish (NYSE:UUP). The index also includes gold via SPDR Gold Trust (ARCA:GLD).
Disclosure: Gary Gordon, MS, CFP is the president of Pacific Park Financial, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser with the SEC. Gary Gordon, Pacific Park Financial, Inc, and/or its clients may hold positions in the ETFs, mutual funds, and/or any investment asset mentioned above. The commentary does not constitute individualized investment advice. The opinions offered herein are not personalized recommendations to buy, sell or hold securities. At times, issuers of exchange-traded products compensate Pacific Park Financial, Inc. or its subsidiaries for advertising at the ETF Expert web site. ETF Expert content is created independently of any advertising relationships.