The 1% Move Report

Timely commentary on market performance whenever the S&P 500 changes more than 1% in a day.

 

 

 

 

 

Wealth Management — February 2, 2023

Source: Bloomberg and Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Global Investment Office as of 2/2/2023.

What Happened in the Markets?

  • The S&P 500 gained 1.5% Thursday to close at 4,179.76. The index is now up 8.9% year-to-date.
  • Seven of the 11 S&P 500 sectors rose on the day. Communication Services (+6.7%) and Consumer Discretionary (+3.1%) outperformed while Consumer Staples (-0.9%) and Energy (-2.5%) lagged the index.
  • Equities rose a day after Fed Chair Powell's less hawkish announcement of the Federal Open Market Committee's 25-basis-point rate increase. While the committee continues to "anticipate that ongoing increases will be appropriate" and emphasize that there is more work to be done to reach the FOMC's 2% goal for inflation, investors are encouraged by the lower prices within the goods sector and Fed Chair Powell's hope for lower pricing pressures to soon be felt in the services sector. Meanwhile, in additional efforts to tame inflation, the European Central Bank increased its interest rate by 50 basis points, and the Bank of England rose its rate by 50 basis points as well. 
  • Fourth quarter earnings season continued with companies reporting higher 4Q22 sales y/y, but lower earnings y/y. The management team from a mega-cap Communication Services company emphasized future benefits of its cost-reduction efforts as it guided the Street in its improved outlook.
  • After the 4 pm equity market close, WTI oil fell 0.8% to $75.79 per barrel and the 10-year Treasury yield declined to 3.39%.

Looking Ahead

S&P 500 Price vs 50, 100, 200 Daily Moving Averages

Source: Bloomberg and Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Global Investment Office. Data as of February 2, 2023.
  • 4Q22 Earnings: As of market close, 231 S&P 500 companies reported fourth quarter results with 70% of them beating earnings expectations. In aggregate, for the companies that reported, earnings surprised by 2.3% while sales surprised by 1.1%, according to Bloomberg. For the S&P 500, bottom-up, blended 4Q22 earnings growth is anticipated to be -2.9% y/y even as earnings from Energy and Industrials companies are growing 59.6% and 39.3% y/y, respectively, according to Refinitiv. Excluding Energy, fourth quarter earnings are expected to be down 7.1% y/y. During company 4Q22 earnings calls, investors will be monitoring the effect of inflation and the slowing economy on fourth quarter revenues and earnings, as well as on forward guidance. We believe investors have not yet priced in softening corporate earnings. 
 

The Global Investment Committee’s Outlook

Source: Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Global Investment Office as of December 8, 2022.

With the Fed responding to 40-year highs in inflation through both rate hikes and balance sheet run-off in 2022, the GIC’s call for continued caution remains intact. Corporate earnings revisions moved lower over the course of 2022, suggesting downside to forward earnings growth. We recommend investors focus on risk management through quality cash flows, defensiveness, and attention to stock-specific valuations. We suggest rebalancing portfolios and tax-loss harvesting during bear market rallies. In fixed income, the challenge is two-fold: generating sufficient income, while also preserving capital, given the potential for higher yields amid ongoing inflation. This requires diversified and active exposure, with our preference for core investment grade fixed income and dividend-paying stocks. Consider revisiting positioning in long-duration/growth equities, where there may not be adequate compensation for the risks of higher real rates, falling operating leverage and the strong US dollar. 

For US equities, the MS & Co. US Equity Strategy team sees the potential for further equity downside in the early part of 2023, given their base-case expectations of $195 for 2023E earnings, well below current consensus levels. Their 2023E S&P 500 base case provides a target of 3,900, based on 2024E earnings of $241. This scenario assumes that nominal top-line growth slows to the low single digits and that margins contract. Their 2023E bear case of 3,500 considers a severe earnings recession, margin pressure and a contraction of EPS growth. Their 2023E bull case of 4,200 corresponds to a mid-single-digit top-line growth rate and limited margin compression. This bull case forecast embeds an estimate of 16.7x MS & Co.'s forward 2024E earnings of $251.

Market data provided by Bloomberg.

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA): A price-weighted average of 30 blue-chip stocks that are generally the leaders in their industry.

NASDAQ Composite Index: A broad-based capitalization-weighted index of stocks in all three NASDAQ tiers: Global Select, Global Market and Capital Market.

S&P 500 Index: The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 Index tracks the performance of 500 widely held, large-capitalization US stocks.

US Trade-Weighted Dollar Index: A weighted average of the foreign exchange value of the 17US dollar against a subset of the broad index currencies that circulate widely outside the US.

Review Your Morgan Stanley Account

Log In Now

Related Articles

Disclosures

Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is the trade name of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, a registered broker-dealer in the United States. This material has been prepared for informational purposes only and is not an offer to buy or sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy or sell any security or other financial instrument or to participate in any trading strategy.  Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance.

The material has been prepared for informational purposes only and is not an offer or recommendation to buy, hold or sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any security, sector or other financial instrument, or to participate in any trading strategy. It has been prepared without regard to the individual financial circumstances and objectives of individual investors. The appropriateness of a particular investment or strategy will depend on an investor's individual circumstances and objectives. This material is based on public information as of the specified date, and may be stale thereafter. We have no obligation to tell you when information herein may change. We and our third-party data providers make no representation or warranty with respect to the accuracy or completeness of this material. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. This material should not be viewed as advice or recommendations with respect to asset allocation or any particular investment. This information is not intended to, and should not, form a primary basis for any investment decisions that you may make. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is not acting as a fiduciary under either the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, as amended ("ERISA") or under section 4975 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as amended ("Code") in providing this material except as otherwise provided in writing by Morgan Stanley and/or as described at www.morganstanley.com/disclosures/dol.

Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, its affiliates and Morgan Stanley Financial Advisors do not provide legal or tax advice.  Each client should always consult his/her personal tax and/or legal advisor for information concerning his/her individual situation and to learn about any potential tax or other implications that may result from acting on a particular recommendation.

IRS rules stipulate that if a security is sold by an investor at a tax loss, the tax loss will not be currently usable if the investor has acquired (or has entered into a contract or option on) the same or substantially identical securities 30 days before or after the sale that generated the loss.  This so-called “wash sale” rule is applied with respect to all of the investor’s transactions across all accounts.

International investing entails greater risk, as well as greater potential rewards compared to U.S. investing. These risks include political and economic uncertainties of foreign countries as well as the risk of currency fluctuations. These risks are magnified in countries with emerging markets, since these countries may have relatively unstable governments and less established markets and economies. Investing in foreign emerging markets entails greater risks than those normally associated with domestic markets, such as political, currency, economic and market risks. Investing in currency involves additional special risks such as credit, interest rate fluctuations, derivative investment risk, and domestic and foreign inflation rates, which can be volatile and may be less liquid than other securities and more sensitive to the effect of varied economic conditions. The value of fixed income securities will fluctuate and, upon a sale, may be worth more or less than their original cost or maturity value. Bonds are subject to interest rate risk, call risk, reinvestment risk, liquidity risk, and credit risk of the issuer. High yield bonds are subject to additional risks such as increased risk of default and greater volatility because of the lower credit quality of the issues. Ultrashort-term fixed income asset class is comprised of fixed income securities with high quality, very short maturities. They are therefore subject to the risks associated with debt securities such as credit and interest rate risk.

Equity securities may fluctuate in response to news on companies, industries, market conditions and general economic environment.

Investing in smaller companies involves greater risks not associated with investing in more established companies, such as business risk, significant stock price fluctuations and illiquidity.

Stocks of medium-sized companies entail special risks, such as limited product lines, markets, and financial resources, and greater market volatility than securities of larger, more-established companies.

Value investing does not guarantee a profit or eliminate risk. Not all companies whose stocks are considered to be value stocks are able to turn their business around or successfully employ corrective strategies which would result in stock prices that do not rise as initially expected.

Growth investing does not guarantee a profit or eliminate risk. The stocks of these companies can have relatively high valuations. Because of these high valuations, an investment in a growth stock can be more risky than an investment in a company with more modest growth expectations. 

Companies paying dividends can reduce or cut payouts at any time.

Investing in commodities entails significant risks. Commodity prices may be affected by a variety of factors at any time, including but not limited to, (i) changes in supply and demand relationships, (ii) governmental programs and policies, (iii) national and international political and economic events, war and terrorist events, (iv) changes in interest and exchange rates, (v) trading activities in commodities and related contracts, (vi) pestilence, technological change and weather, and (vii) the price volatility of a commodity.

Physical precious metals are non-regulated products. Precious metals are speculative investments, which may experience short-term and long term price volatility. The value of precious metals investments may fluctuate and may appreciate or decline, depending on market conditions. If sold in a declining market, the price you receive may be less than your original investment. Unlike bonds and stocks, precious metals do not make interest or dividend payments. Therefore, precious metals may not be appropriate for investors who require current income. Precious metals are commodities that should be safely stored, which may impose additional costs on the investor. The Securities Investor Protection Corporation (“SIPC”) provides certain protection for customers’ cash and securities in the event of a brokerage firm’s bankruptcy, other financial difficulties, or if customers’ assets are missing. SIPC insurance does not apply to precious metals or other commodities.

REITs investing risks are similar to those associated with direct investments in real estate: property value fluctuations, lack of liquidity, limited diversification and sensitivity to economic factors such as interest rate changes and market recessions.

Alternative investments may be either traditional alternative investment vehicles, such as hedge funds, fund of hedge funds, private equity, private real estate and managed futures or, non-traditional products such as mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that also seek alternative-like exposure but have significant differences from traditional alternative investments. The risks of traditional alternative investments may include: can be highly illiquid, speculative and not appropriate for all investors, loss of all or a substantial portion of the investment due to leveraging, short-selling, or other speculative practices, volatility of returns, restrictions on transferring interests in a fund, potential lack of diversification and resulting higher risk due to concentration of trading authority when a single advisor is utilized, absence of information regarding valuations and pricing, complex tax structures and delays in tax reporting, less regulation and higher fees than open-end mutual funds, and risks associated with the operations, personnel and processes of the manager. Non-traditional alternative strategy products may employ various investment strategies and techniques for both hedging and more speculative purposes such as short-selling, leverage, derivatives and options, which can increase volatility and the risk of investment loss. These investments are subject to the risks normally associated with debt instruments and also carry substantial additional risks. Investors could lose all or a substantial amount of their investment. These investments typically have higher fees or expenses than traditional investments.

Individual Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) are publicly traded partnerships that have unique risks related to their structure. These include, but are not limited to, their reliance on the capital markets to fund growth, adverse ruling on the current tax treatment of distributions (typically mostly tax deferred), and commodity volume risk. The potential tax benefits from investing in MLPs depend on their being treated as partnerships for federal income tax purposes and, if the MLP is deemed to be a corporation, then its income would be subject to federal taxation at the entity level, reducing the amount of cash available for distribution to the fund which could result in a reduction of the fund’s value. MLPs carry interest rate risk and may underperform in a rising interest rate environment.

Because of their narrow focus, sector investments tend to be more volatile than investments that diversify across many sectors and companies. Technology stocks may be especially volatile. Risks applicable to companies in the energy and natural resources sectors include commodity pricing risk, supply and demand risk, depletion risk and exploration risk. Health care sector stocks are subject to government regulation, as well as government approval of products and services, which can significantly impact price and availability, and which can also be significantly affected by rapid obsolescence and patent expirations.

The returns on a portfolio consisting primarily of environmental, social, and governance-aware investments (ESG) may be lower or higher than a portfolio that is more diversified or where decisions are based solely on investment considerations. Because ESG criteria exclude some investments, investors may not be able to take advantage of the same opportunities or market trends as investors that do not use such criteria. The companies identified and investment examples are for illustrative purposes only and should not be deemed a recommendation to purchase, hold or sell any securities or investment products. They are intended to demonstrate the approaches taken by managers who focus on ESG criteria in their investment strategy. There can be no guarantee that a client's account will be managed as described herein.

Asset allocation and diversification do not assure a profit or protect against loss in declining financial markets. 

Rebalancing does not protect against a loss in declining financial markets.  There may be a potential tax implication with a rebalancing strategy.  Investors should consult with their tax advisor before implementing such a strategy.

The indices are unmanaged. An investor cannot invest directly in an index.  They are shown for illustrative purposes only and do not represent the performance of any specific investment.

This material is disseminated in the United States of America by Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC.

This material, or any portion thereof, may not be reprinted, sold or redistributed without the written consent of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC.

© 2023 Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. Member SIPC.

RSI1675374079705 02/2023

View disclosures