Be in the know. 15 key reads for Tuesday…

  1. Value will trump highflying growth stocks if this bond-market indicator bounces back, says Bill Gross (MarketWatch)
  2. JPMorgan’s Earnings Were Surprisingly Strong. It’s a Positive Sign for Other Banks. (Barron’s)
  3. Coronavirus Spending Pushes U.S. Budget Deficit to $3 Trillion for 12 Months Through June (Wall Street Journal)
  4. Ford Reveals New Bronco After 24 Years Off the Market (Wall Street Journal)
  5. Hospitals Stock Up on Covid-19 Drugs to Prepare for Second Wave in Fall (Wall Street Journal)
  6. 12 Stocks That Could Take Off—If You’re Willing to Bet Everyone Else Is Wrong (Barron’s)
  7. U.S. Consumer Prices Climb by Most Since 2012 on Higher Gasoline (Bloomberg)
  8. BofA Clients Keep Tight Grip on Cash Amid Ebullient Stock Rally (Bloomberg)
  9. JPMorgan’s Record Trading Helps Ease the Pandemic’s Toll (Bloomberg)
  10. OPEC+ Risks Triggering Another Oil Price Slump (Bloomberg)
  11. Wells Fargo reports $2.4 billion loss for the quarter, cutting dividend (CNBC)
  12. Citigroup shares rise after bank reports better-than-expected earnings (CNBC)
  13. Robert Shiller warns that urban home prices could decline (CNBC)
  14. Opinion: The No. 1 market-timer of the 1980s and 1990s has this message for today’s buy-and-hold investors (MarketWatch)
  15. Boeing awarded nearly $23B Air Force contract for F-15EX fighter jet program (Fox Business)

July Bank of America Global Fund Manager Survey Results (Summary)

Data Source: Bank of America

210 Managers overseeing $570B AUM responded to this month’s BofA survey.

OUTLOOK:

•72% expect stronger global growth. This is up 11 percentage points from last month (highest level since January 2014).
•36% – the highest figure recorded – expect the global economy to get “a lot stronger” and profits to improve in the next 12 months.
•Conviction in the recovery is low, just 14% saying it will be ‘V’ shaped, 30% say ‘W’ Shaped – up from 21% last month.  44% expect a “U” shaped recovery.
•37% of respondents see higher global consumer price inflation in the next 12 months, but only 5% said inflation will be a lot higher.
•71% still think that the stock market is overvalued (down from 80%).
•The percentage of investors expecting the euro to appreciate also rose in July.
•Wall Street’s $24 trillion rally yet to elicit “greed.”
•54% say the Federal Reserve will not inplement yield curve control in September.

SENTIMENT: 

POSITIONING:

•Cash up to 4.9% from 4.7%. This is down from April/May, but still on the high side. (10-year average is 4.7%)
•Allocation to commodities was the highest in July since 2011 at Net 12% of respondents.
•Big jump was seen in European equity exposure driven by the European Union’s fiscal policies. Currently 16% net overweight allocation to Euro equities (up 9%).
•Allocation to U.S. equities declined 1 percentage point to net 21% overweight; the U.S. remains the survey’s most popular region

MOST CROWDED TRADE:

•74% say long US tech stocks are the most “crowded trade” – the most in the survey’s history.

BIGGEST TAIL RISKS:

1. 2nd wave of COVID infections as a top tail risk (52% of respondents).
2. US Elections – Blue Wave.  Despite this risk, 34% plan to take no action ahead of the election. 31% are reducing risk, 15% are buying volatility and 13% are selling the U.S. dollar.

Be in the know. 12 key reads for Monday…

  1. Warren Buffett may have bought back more than $5 billion in Berkshire Hathaway stock in recent weeks (Business Insider)
  2. Barron’s Daily: Merger Monday Is Back (Barron’s)
  3. Stocks are resilient because investors have been braced for much worse COVID-19 news, says strategist (MarketWatch)
  4. Pfizer, BioNTech stocks surge after COVID-19 vaccine candidates get Fast Track designation (MarketWatch)
  5. Income rates: How much you need to make to be in the top 1% in every state (USA Today)
  6. Blank-Check Boom Gets Boost From Coronavirus (Wall Street Journal)
  7. Wall Street’s Earnings Forecast: Cloudy With a Chance of Turbulence (Wall Street Journal)
  8. Are Banks Afraid of Covid-19? Watch How Much They Set Aside for Loan Losses This Week (Wall Street Journal)
  9. Bank Earnings: Main Street Blues vs. Wall Street Boom (Wall Street Journal)
  10. Fed’s Support for Corporate Debt Has Been a Wall Street Bonanza (Bloomberg)
  11. These ignored stocks may be poised to rebound (Yahoo! Finance)
  12. Alibaba’s Jack Ma sells $9.6B worth of shares, stake dips to 4.8% (Fox Business)

Be in the know. 15 key reads for Sunday…

  1. Bill Miller on the Classical Value Portfolio (Podcast) (Bloomberg)
  2. Connecticut Bet Big on the Suburbs. That Might Finally Pay Off. (Wall Street Journal)
  3. Fed, Treasury Disagreements Slowed Start of Main Street Lending Program (Wall Street Journal)
  4. People complain that going to the shore is a careless act during a pandemic, but the science so far suggests otherwise. (The Atlantic)
  5. Should Value Investors Buy General Dynamics (GD) Stock? (Insider Monkey)
  6. Kanye West’s Plans for Wyoming Mansion Approved (Architectural Digest)
  7. Kanye West is not running for President…yet (Fortune)
  8. President Trump to introduce executive order on immigration reform (OAN)
  9. This Aston Martin DB5 Comes With a Rear Smoke Screen and Twin Front ‘Machine Guns’ (Maxim)
  10. Mansory Unleashes Carbon Fiber-Bodied 710 HP Ford GT (Maxim)
  11. 2021 Ford Bronco Finally Leaks Ahead of Its Big TV Debut on Monday Night (TheDrive)
  12. Flying Taxis Are Coming. Inside the Scramble to Find Them a Place to Land. (Robb Report)
  13. Welcome to the Czech Republic – Incredible Culture and Stunning Beauty (thelifeofluxury)
  14. How To Build a Treehouse (Popular Mechanics)
  15. Investment banking activity witnessed robust quarter: Thomas B. Michaud (Fox Business)

Be in the know. 20 key reads for Saturday…

  1. Lichtenstein Nude Leads Christie’s $421 Million Live-Stream Auction (Bloomberg)
  2. Wall Street Forges a New Relationship to Data in Coronavirus Age (Bloomberg)
  3. What to expect as banks report earnings: more loan pain but plenty of fee income (MarketWatch)
  4. Hedge Fund Tips Podcast/VideoCast: Cyclicals, The Election and Buffett (ZeroHedge)
  5. Gilead Says New Analysis Suggests Remdesivir Reduces Covid-19 Deaths (Barron’s)
  6. 37 Stocks to Buy for the Second Half of 2020, According to Barron’s Roundtable Experts (Barron’s)
  7. How Barron’s Roundtable Panelists’ 2020 Stock Picks Have Performed So Far This Year (Barron’s)
  8. The Tanger Outlets CEO Thinks Online Shopping Is Overrated. Now He’s Betting on It. (Wall Street Journal)
  9. How to Visit the National Parks Safely in the Summer of Covid-19 (Wall Street Journal)
  10. German Biotech Sees Its Coronavirus Vaccine Ready for Approval by December (Wall Street Journal)
  11. Jair Bolsonaro: The rightwing leader may emerge politically stronger from the pandemic (Financial Times)
  12. Disney World to Reopen as Coronavirus Cases Surge in Florida (Bloomberg)
  13. Goodbye, extra $600: Unemployment benefits won’t exceed former wages in next stimulus bill, Treasury’s Mnuchin says (MarketWatch)
  14. Here’s what Trump’s back-to-work bonus could look like (Fox Business)
  15. Hedge Funds Would Get to Keep Lots of Trades Secret in SEC Plan (Bloomberg)
  16. The latest Corvette is great, but wait until you see what comes next (CNN Business)
  17. Warren Buffett bets big with $10 billion Dominion Energy deal—What it means (CNBC)
  18. Emerging Markets Rally as Economies Reopen in the Second Quarter (Advisor Perspectives)
  19. A contrarian take on recovery prospects (Andreessen Horowitz)
  20. Bill Miller: The Economy, What The Pandemic Has & Has Not Changed (YouTube)