RBC's Markets in Motion

The big things you need to know: First, we’ve just completed our quarterly survey of RBC’s equity analysts around the globe and found that optimism on performance persists for most sectors and coverage regions, despite the challenges associated with higher interest rates. Second, with a fresh set of survey results in hand we are making three changes to our sector recommendations. Within the US (and S&P 500 specifically) we are upgrading Materials to overweight, downgrading Health Care to market weight, and downgrading REITs to underweight.

The big things you need to know: First, investor sentiment has taken a bit of a hit, but it’s too early to say the pullback is over. Second, while we continue to expect the pullback to bottom out in the 5-10% range vs. recent highs, we’ve taken a look at S&P 500 performance around recent wars to gauge potential downside risks if we are wrong in that assumption. Third, it’s been a rough start to 1Q reporting season as companies beating consensus EPS forecasts have been underperforming significantly in terms of immediate price performance. Fourth, we’ve been surprised to see Large Cap Growth underperforming given the recent move up in 10-year yields, and run through the reasons (besides crowding and overvaluation) that we think this is happening.

The big things you need to know: First, geopolitical concerns are spiking at a time when stocks already seemed due for a pullback. Second, the rotation trade has just gotten a lot more complicated. Third, companies have been keeping expectations low on earnings. Fourth, our valuation modeling suggests some modest downside risk to the stock market if we don’t get cuts, and a more significant hit if we get more hikes. Fifth, Small Caps may be stuck in a holding pattern for a while. Sixth, Biden has closed the gap with Trump in betting markets. Seventh, US equity flows have fizzled.

Two big things you need to know: First, the Energy sector still looks attractive to us, even after its big move in March, and we remain overweight. Second, Trump has lost some momentum in swing state polling, challenging a key assumption of many non-US investors.

Three big things you need to know today: First, we lift our YE 2024 S&P 500 price target to 5,300 (from 5,150). The most constructive model in our tool kit indicates upside to ~5,400, which represents our bull case if our base case is too conservative. Second, we continue to see some conflicting cross currents for stocks. Among the five models that we use, our economic, valuation, and cross-asset work are sending the most constructive signals, while our sentiment and politics work are less enthusiastic. Third, we lift our 2024 S&P 500 EPS forecast to $237 (from $234), which remains slightly below the bottom-up consensus.

Two big things you need to know today: First, our work on the R2000 relative to the S&P 600 (sparked by Small Cap PM concerns about low quality) adds to our belief that the US came close to recession in 2022. Second, CFTC buyside positioning in US equity futures rebounded last week ahead of the Fed, highlighting increased risk of a melt-up in the broader US equity market.

Three big things you need to know: First, Energy has been a top S&P 500 sector since January. We like its attractive valuations, improving funds flows, and role as an inflation hedge in our overweights. Second, Large Caps are starting to look a little better than Small Caps on a few of the earnings-related metrics that we track, suggesting to us that Small Caps’ sluggish performance of late isn’t all about Fed and inflation fears. Third, sentiment continued to slip on one of our main sentiment models from elevated levels.

Three big things you need to know: First, one of our key sentiment indicators has started to retreat after hitting extreme levels, which has coincided with a stealth rotation in leadership. Second, we’re starting to see a more broad-based improvement in US GDP expectations, which we see as supportive of continued rotation in stock market leadership. Third, Biden put out his wish list in Thursday’s State of the Union, giving equity investors a taste of his goals in a potential 2nd term.

RBC’s Markets in Motion is the weekly podcast from Lori Calvasina, Head of US Equity Strategy at RBC Capital Markets, highlighting her latest views on the US equity market. This week, we are excited to have Chris Louney, Commodity Strategist on RBC’s Global Commodity Strategy and MENA Research team, guest hosting this week’s episode while Lori is on vacation. Three big things you need to know: First, in our most recent analysis of global commodity investor flows, we have observed that total commodity investor AUM has started off the year on a weak note. Commodity-linked exchange traded products have continued to decline, led by gold, and commodity index AUM also weakened last month. This has set 2024 up for quite the balancing act, but we remain hopeful. Second, with gold playing such an outsized role in the weakness dominating commodity AUM, it may be surprising that gold prices have actually held up quite well. We have continued to call out gold’s price resilience, especially in the context of investors having remained on the sidelines. This compared to the gold-positive narrative of eventual rate cuts has left gold itself facing quite the balancing act. Third, a balancing act that has for the most part not played out in a commodity’s favor so far this year is US natural gas. It has touched lows recently amid weak weather-linked demand, buoyant supplies to date, and general bearish sentiment. We have described it as a commodity that has fallen a bit too far, seemingly waiting for a catalyst, but are recent headlines enough?

Three big things you need to know: First, 4Q23 reporting season stats are similar to what we’ve described over the past few weeks with fewer earnings beats than last quarter, muted stock price reactions following earnings prints, and further compression in the forecasted growth rate embedded in consensus earnings expectations for 2024. Second, in our review of last week’s S&P 500 earnings calls the tone was mixed on the macro, negative on China, and had a positive tilt on the consumer. Third, two of the charts in focus in our Europe/UK meetings last week included our chart showing how the earnings dominance of the top 7 names in the S&P 500 is fading (which may help spark leadership rotation down the road) and our chart showing how net bullishness on the AAII survey may be heading for a 2-standard deviation event (delaying the pullback we have been anticipating).

Three big things you need to know: First, with reporting season almost halfway done, bottom-up consensus expectations for EPS growth in 2024 have shrunk to 9% from 11% – a combination of better-than-expected results for 2023 and a modest dampening of enthusiasm for 2024’s outlook. Second, a murky macro backdrop, elevated costs, and China challenges have been in focus in recent earnings calls along with a better monetary policy outlook. Third, in our high frequency indicators, things that caught our attention included the worsening in the sentiment backdrop for stocks last week and mostly positive data regarding the health of the economy and labor market.

Three big things you need to know: First, we’d describe 4Q23 reporting season as a mixed bag so far. Second, in our transcript review we were struck by the wide range of views on the macro backdrop and outlook as well as the continued emphasis on the challenges associated with inflation and higher costs. Third, things that jumped out in our high frequency indicators last week included some modest improvements on some of our sentiment and valuation models. Plus, one bonus thought on the US Presidential Election.

Three big things you need to know: First, EPS growth in the top 7 names in the S&P 500 is expected to continue outpacing the rest of the index in 2024 and 2025, but to a lesser degree than we saw in 2023. Second, companies have tried to strike an optimistic tone in the first batch of 4Q23 earnings calls, with consumer resilience, macro risks, and the theme of normalization emphasized. Third, the thing that jumped out to us the most in our high frequency indicators last week was the strong reading in University of Michigan consumer sentiment, which stock market performance has been closely correlated with post COVID.

Last week, ahead of earnings, we updated our thoughts on sectors for 2024 for both the US as well as other geographical regions under RBC’s coverage, Europe, Canada, and Australia. The work was based on our own top-down quantitative analysis on earnings revisions, valuations, and macro fundamentals, as well as the results of a survey that we conducted of RBC’s industry analysts in late December and early January. Three big things you need to know: First, across the globe most of our analysts are optimistic on performance in the year ahead, with favorable views on the impact of potentially lower interest rates and, to a lesser degree, favorable views on valuations. Second, in the US, the only region where we do formal strategy sector recommendations, we remain overweight Financials, Energy, and Health Care. We downgraded Tech to market weight, upgraded Consumer Discretionary to market weight, and upgraded Utilities to overweight. Third, in Europe, Canada, and Australia our analysts’ top sectors according to the survey varied, but Utilities was among the top sectors in the eyes of our analysts in each.

We've updated our thoughts on the 2024 outlook for the US equity market, focusing on the top 10 things we’re thinking about as the new year gets underway. The biggest things you need to know: First, in December we became concerned about the possibility of a near-term pullback in the US equity market given deterioration in our sentiment work, and that remains the case today. Second, despite these near-term concerns, we remain constructive on the S&P 500 for the full year and recently revised up our YE 2024 S&P 500 price target to 5,150 from 5,000. Third, we see a mix of tailwinds and headwinds for US equities in the year ahead. Tailwinds include valuations that can stay higher than many investors realize. Headwinds include highly bullish sentiment, expectations for a sluggish economy, and uncertainty around the 2024 Presidential election. Fourth, we continue to see a number of problems for the Large Cap Growth trade and we give an edge to Value and Small Caps in the year ahead. But for a rotation into Value and Small Caps to be sustainable, US economic expectations need to improve.

Today in the podcast, our last of 2023, two big things you need to know: First, with just a few trading days left to go in 2023, the S&P 500 is close to a level that our valuation model has been suggesting is a reasonable one. Second, while we remain constructive on the year ahead, several charts that we track regularly are starting to suggest that the rally in the S&P 500 is due for a pause.

Today in the podcast, three big things you need to know: First, similar to the S&P 500, R2000 returns tend to be positive but modest in Presidential election years. Second, the valuation appeal of Small Caps runs deep and exists within both Growth and Value using both equal weighted and market cap weighted P/E’s. But Small Caps’ valuation appeal has only recently emerged on equal weighted P/E’s, helping explain why Small Caps have had a difficult 2023. Third, investor sentiment is on the cusp of looking overly enthusiastic again on the weekly AAII survey, restraining our enthusiasm for the US equity market in the near-term.

Today in the podcast, our initial 2024 outlook. Our year-end 2024 S&P 500 price target is 5,000, for a 10% gain. Today the podcast will work a little bit differently, as we’re running through the top 10 things we’re thinking about in US equities as the new year comes into view. Most of these focus on the math that gets us to 5,000.

Three big things you need to know today: First, Growth sectors are typically the biggest beneficiaries of declining 10-year Treasury yields. This analysis was in focus in our meetings last week where investors were keen to explore what to own if yields have peaked. Second, Small Caps, where balance sheet concerns have overshadowed attractive valuations, were also in focus in our meetings last week. Friday’s unemployment report also provided another reason to be taking a look at Small Caps now. Third, there were a lot of interesting updates in our high-frequency indicators last week, with the most important one being that the deterioration in US equity investor sentiment finally has started to look too extreme. The stock market has had a strong start to November, and the move seems deserved in light of what we’re seeing in most, though admittedly not all, of our sentiment indicators.

Today in the podcast, we take a deep dive into the stats and commentary for 3Q23 reporting season, as of late last week with 45% of S&P 500 results in. Three big things you need to know: First, the S&P 500 stats simply aren’t strong enough to get the US equity market out of its recent malaise. Second, Small Cap trends are pretty similar to those in Large Cap, which is good for Small Caps because Large Caps no longer have an EPS advantage. Third, in our transcript reading the overarching theme so far is one of bending, not breaking, but the pessimistic tone is striking.