Trader’s Narrative

At the start of the week we contrasted the strange pessimism that has gripped the US retail investor to the levitation act of Wall Street. It is almost as if Wall Street threw a party and other than institutional investors, a few day traders and algo quant jocks jamming high frequency trades, no one else showed up. If you ask Paul Desmond, of Lowry Research, this is a real bull market that will last another 3 years.

With all due respect to Desmond, today I wanted to entertain some bearish counter arguments to temper that cheery outlook and delve a little deeper into the market condition both in the short and longer term.

While considering the same ICI fund flow data, it is conceivable to come to bearish conclusions. Take for instance the fact that domestic equity funds have attracted less than $8 billion of fresh capital since the lows in March. Had this rally provoked the same pattern of retail investor participation as previous ones, we should have seen $150 billion flow to equity mutual funds, according to TrimTabs.

Maxims ad Nauseum
While it has become an accepted maxim repeated ad nauseum that a bull market likes to climb a “wall of worry”, the historical evidence is otherwise. The stock market actually tends to float higher on gradually increasing levels of optimism - until that optimism reaches a crescendo and then the whole thing unwinds. And we start all over again. So generally speaking, the stock market performs better following periods where there are net inflows of funds.

Whether retail investors are acting intelligently by avoiding this rally or more accurately, by selling this rally, is something that only history can answer. It isn’t hard to imagine though, the possibility that they are reacting emotionally. Think of it. Having first experienced severe loss in their portfolios and watching Wall St. insiders ride on a cushion of bonuses, insult is added to injury when they have to fend for themselves in a new harsh economy.

What if we are seeing the rejection of the great “equity culture” and the almost religious belief in “buy and hold”? What if the record inflows to bond funds are being driven by a traumatized populace seeking the one shelter of income investing?

So far, this has been so relentless that it has pushed the fixed income share of US household wealth above 6% once again. But if you notice, the last time there was a similar increase happened during one of the strongest bull markets in equities:

However, what is undeniable is that if the US retail investor doesn’t return to equities eventually, what we could see is another lost decade; where markets flop around like a dead fish, but don’t really go anywhere. This is what happened before the great super-bull market was launched in 1982.

The completely stark scenario is one where retail investors continue to ratchet up their sales of equities and push the stock market lower as a cascade effect takes place where gloomy sentiment and fear feeds on itself. Think of it as the great unwinding; or the negative wealth effect.

Technical Weakness
Returning to more present and short term matters, the market came perilously close to the invisible 20% distance from its long term moving average. Yesterday I mentioned that stocks have little room to the upside and while I’m not surprised to see the weakness today, it by no means guarantees that we won’t see a final push to 1120.

On Monday 94% of the S&P 500 stocks closed above their 10 day moving average. That’s the highest since mid July. Since then this measure of breadth has backed off slightly but is still hovering above 90%. Other negative technical considerations are that prices are pressing against the downtrend line at 1100 - from the top of the bear market (in October 2007). And that other major market indexes like the Nasdaq, Russell 2000, the Philadelphia Banking Index (BKX) and the Semiconductors (SOX) are still below their previous swing highs. Finally, volume continues to be anemic as it has been for most of this whole trip.

While we all like to think of ourselves as rational beings, making decisions based on sound judgment, the truth of the matter is much more unsettling. We are, for the most part, rather peculiar creatures, prone to irrational and emotional biases. What makes this even more disturbing is that the edifice of our economic and financial system is built on the foundation of a rational, utility maximizing individual.

The most recent sentiment overview shows an amazing turn of events. Even as the stock market has gone on to rise almost 60% from its dark depth 8 months ago, a moderate correction was enough to plunge the majority of retail investors into a new state of capitulation.

Even more curious, instead of investing more as the stock market recovered, which is the norm, the US retail investor has completely given up on equities. Here is an updated chart which I originally shared two months ago (Equity Mutual Fund Outflows):

If anything, the exodus of US retail investors (mutual fund owners) has intensified. The data for the full month of September shows redemptions of almost $13 billion - the most since February, just before the spring rally started. And to make it even more bizarre, the frenzy of bond buying is getting even more frenetic with net purchases of $55 billion (in September).

The data for the latest data (3 weeks in October shown in darker colors) promises a continuation of the same trend, if not a new record. So far, October had net equity redemptions of $11.5 billion.

Almost the same can be seen from insiders trading activity. These more ‘in the know’ individuals have continued to sell shares of their company’s stock almost as fast as they could. While there are many reasons for an insider to sell (diversification, divorce, etc.) the fact that we aren’t seeing an uptick in purchases is telling.

So why is there so much pessimism around this latest stock market rally?

Loss Aversion
A concept from behavioural finance offers a possible explanation for the bizarre fund flows pattern, bearish investor sentiment and insider selling. “Loss aversion” is a concept from prospect theory which explains that people prefer to avoid losing, rather than take a proportional risk to receive a gain.

Think of it this way. Given an event which triggers either a loss or a gain of the same amount, for some strange reason, we prefer to avoid a loss, rather than receive a gain. In other words, we prefer to keep what we have (not lose some or all of it), rather than add to what we already have. For most people, losing is much more painful than gaining is pleasurable.
Continue reading ‘What If Wall St. Threw A Party, And Nobody Came?’

It is the end of the week and so we take a stroll through the sentiment meadows:

Investors Intelligence
This week the ChartCraft measure of stock newsletter editors sentiment was little changed from last week: 49.5% bullish and 23.1% bearish. That’s another week where twice as many are optimistic that the stock market will continue to rise. A remarkable long string of weeks but so far they have been correct.

AAII
The US retail investors meanwhile, as measured by the weekly AAII sentiment poll are slightly less confident. There was a 6% point fall to 41% bullish. And the opposing camp increased a smidgen to 36% bearish. All in all, this metric is slightly elevated towards too much optimism but still not enough to warrant our full attention.

Hulbert Stock Newsletter Sentiment
The Hulbert Stock Newsletter Sentiment Index (HSNSI) which measures a subset of newsletters which try to time the market continues to be muted. For the most part the HSNSI is showing skepticism in the face of the continuing rally. The HSNSI is about as bullish as it was back in April 2009 when the S&P 500 was trading at 800 - some 280 points lower. That is to say the average market exposure recommended by market timing newsletter is only 32.3% (long) - slightly lower (by 2.3% points) than what they were recommending 6 months ago. Such an unflappably consistent skepticism in the face of a gravity defying rally hardly gives the bears much ammunition.

Consumer Sentiment
The preliminary October results for the Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index fell to 69.4 (significantly lower than the consensus estimate at 73.4):

During economic contractions, the average Michigan consumer sentiment is 74. The average during economic expansions is 91. And on average when the S&P 500 has rallied 60% from a recessionary low, this consumer sentiment reading is 90.5. These historical patterns offer a remarkable contrast to where we are today - especially if we consider the often repeated mantra that we are in full blown recovery mode.

Option Traders
The 10 day simple average of the ISE sentiment index (equity only) call put ratio has an enviable track record - in the intermediate time frame. Almost every time it has reached 200, the stock market has meandered then stumbled. Not at all surprising since this implies that for the past 10 trading days, relative to puts, more than twice the number of calls have been purchased to open an options trade. Not once has the stock market been able to muster a significant rally when we’ve seen this metric reach such an extreme reading.

So it is important to sit up and take notice as this week the 10 day average for the equity only call put ratio floated up to 200 and on Thursday hit 202. During the relative short history for this sentiment metric, here are the few times where it has been above this mark:

The first was at the start of 2006 - the S&P 500 plateaued then fell into the summer. It wasn’t until September 2006 that it had reached a new high for the year.

The next instance was late in 2006. This was not the best signal since the market did manage to continue to climb momentarily. By March 2007 the S&P 500 was back at the same level.

Then it was May and October 2007 when the ISE’s 10 day average again touched 200. During that time frame the market did manage to push against the tide but over all it went nowhere. And we all know what happened after that.

CBOE Put Call Ratio
In contrast, the CBOE put call ratio (equity only) has recovered smartly from the call buying frenzy that we witnessed last week. Although we’re seeing the bulls reign in some of their enthusiasm for calls, it is important to note that from a long term perspective, we are still seeing a preponderance of hope and optimism rule the option pits:

Fund Flows
Last month we looked at the remarkable trend in fund flows for US retail mutual fund investors where even after a 60% rally in the S&P 500, the love affair with bonds continues at the expense of equity mutual funds.

Since then the same trend has more or less continued. Bond funds are still getting the majority of investors money but this week the ICI estimates they only got $8.80 billion (while last week it was almost double that at inflows of $15.21 billion). Equity outflows meanwhile have ameliorated with an estimated $3.39 billion being withdrawn for the week. This is down by about $1 billion from last week.

While a portion of this trend can be explained by the massive number of retail investors who are approaching retirement age, I can’t believe that that is the whole story. This bear market left a traumatic and indelible mark on those who lived through it, either as traders, investors, professionals or mere mortals. If this is true, then going forward, this means that we have to be very careful in how we calibrate our most trusted sentiment gauges.

If it is Friday then this is the week’s sentiment round up:

Sentiment Surveys
If you’ve been monitoring the mutual fund flow data, you wouldn’t be surprised to see the AAII continue to show the average US retail investor as decidedly unimpressed and cool about the rising stock market. This week the pessimist camp grew slightly to 41% while the bulls shrank by 9% points to 35%.

The latest Investors Intelligence bulls edged off the half way mark to 48.9% while the bears increased slightly to 24.4%. This is nothing really noteworthy by itself, except to mark the continued 2:1 bull to bear ratio we’ve been seeing for the nth week. So far, the market has not succumbed to this flashing red light and it is anyone’s guess when it will finally decide to do so.

I mentioned the NAAIM Survey of Manager Sentiment as a lesser known sentiment measure at the start of the year. And it is time we updated it to see what it can tell us about the mood of active investment managers in the US:

At the end of September the NAAIM was +86.41 and has since dropped slightly to 68. It is difficult to see in the chart above, but the last time this sentiment measure showed as much bullishness was back in - Yikes! - October 17th 2007 (when it was +86.93). And it was surprisingly, even higher earlier in that year when it reached +90 in January, February and May 2007.

The RBC Consumer Attitudes and Spending by Household (CASH) survey jumped 11.8 points to 51.8 in October - this, after falling to an all time low of 1.6 in February 2009. The monthly RBC Index measures consumer attitudes on the current and future state of local economies, personal finance situations, as well as their savings and confidence to make large investments.

Finally, Consensus which measures futures traders shows them to be 72% bullish. Once again, raising the hairs on your back, that’s the highest level since October 2007.

Option Traders
The puts and calls are flying furiously but there is a definite skew as option traders favor the bullish side of the derivatives. Both the ISE and the CBOE measures of option activity show a continuing crowding on the long side.

The ISE sentiment index (equity only) closed at 221 this Friday, implying that more than twice as many calls were purchased to open a trade as puts. Meanwhile, the CBOE (equity only) put call ratio fell to 0.47 on Tuesday - among the lowest single day ratios for the whole year… so far.

Rydex Traders
But the itchy trigger fingered Rydex traders have suddenly gotten cold feet. Even as the market has recovered smartly from its latest set back, the Rydex Nova/Ursa ratio has fallen as these short term market timers eschew the long side:

Conclusion.
Cross currents in sentiment are completely normal and something that any contrarian has to get used to. However, the current market’s sentiment conditions are especially confusing as it seems that one measure simply contradicts the one before it. When you don’t see an edge, don’t push your luck.

Here is the wrap up of this week’s sentiment data:

Sentiment Surveys
The weekly American Association of Individual Investors (AAII) stock sentiment survey shows a surprising increase in optimism. Of the respondents, 44% were bullish (a 5% increase from last week) and 35% were bearish (a 10% point drop from before). We aren’t near any sort of extreme level, however the direction of sentiment is puzzling since the stock market closed lower than it has for the past 18 days.

Investors Intelligence
The stock newsletter editors, as measured by ChartCraft’s Investors Intelligence, shows a similar increase in optimism. This week the II had 50.6% bulls (4% point increase from last week) and 23.6% bears (a 0.8% decrease). I’m not sure how helpful this is as the Investors Intelligence bull/bear ratio has been relentlessly hovering around 2:1 for the past few months.

In contrast to both of the above sentiment surveys, the Hulbert Stock Newsletter Sentiment index which measures a sub-set of market timing newsletters is showing a decline in bullishness. The HSNSI was at 45.2% when we hit an intra-day high of 1080 on the S&P 500 index. But now it stands at less than 29.1% a significant sentiment erosion in response to a small retreat in the index.

A recent survey of institutional investors by TheMarkets shows that an increasing number of them believe we have seen a definitive low. While in June 40% thought so, now 70% do. Furthermore, 90% of them expect the S&P 500 to climb to the 1200 level by the end of the year in 2011. Back in March only 50% were as optimistic about the S&P 500 reaching that goal.

Fund Flows
An estimated $29 billion was withdrawn from equity mutual funds (domestic) by US retail investors for the month of September. Meanwhile, they dove head first into fixed income funds by buying almost $46 billion worth of taxable and municipal bonds last month. This is a continuation of the trend which I highlighted before: Equity Mutual Funds Show Outflow Even After 60% Stock Market Rallly.

So if it isn’t Mom’n'Pop investors and it isn’t corporate insiders, who is buying? Leaving aside conspiracy theories of the Plunge Protection Team - because let’s face it, if they exist they are very bad at their job - we are left with opportunistic hedge funds. The usual suspects are either grey/black boxes or discretionary traders chasing a momentum market higher. Remove this remaining leg and the table get mighty wobbly.

Option Traders
The short term moving average for the ISEE sentiment index (equity only) fell slightly from last week’s high of 196. As you can see from the chart, these were gidy levels which we hadn’t seen since late 2007, just before the bear market began:

Zooming in on the week’s data, the ISE sentiment index hit a high of 204 on Tuesday but as the S&P 500 fell for the rest of the week, it actually registered a slightly more optimistic tone. I was watching to see if we would make it down to 100. But this small decline was not enough to rattle anyone in the ISE.

The CBOE put call ratio (equity only) reacted slighly more in response to the weakness in equities:

In contrast to the stubborn complacency shown in the ISE option data, the CBOE (equity only) put call ratio jumped to 0.84 on Friday - getting really close to the noteworthy 1 level. As well, the ratio increased every single day of the week, even on Monday when the S&P 500 closed higher.

Grey Beards
Checking in this week with a market guru who both literally and figuratively has earned the title of a ‘Grey Beard’. Steve Leuthold, the 71 year old money manager who is not afraid of going short, is very bullish right now.

Leuthold expects the S&P 500 to end the year at 1200 and even higher at 1350 next year. In keeping with that bullish view, he has 72 percent of his fund invested in equities.

“There’s pretty good momentum, and the market psychology is right. The markets turned up before the economy did. Now, the economy is improving. It might be a little better than most think. It ain’t wonderful, but it’s a lot better than it was.”

Meanwhile, Doug Kass and David Rosenberg as well as Bob Janjuah of RBS - all of whom I’ve mentioned before - remain decidedly bearish and unmoved.