Cross-Asset Strategist & Quantitative Analyst, Pennock Idea Hub

Cam Hui

Cross-Asset Strategist & Quantitative Analyst

Pennock Idea Hub

We are creators of independent equity research. The Pennock Idea Hub team are veterans of the investment industry. Much of our team has spent their careers at Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, RBC Capital Markets and Wood Gundy. We have taken every aspect of research back to the studs and returned to first principles. The Pennock Idea Hub marries the interests of the sell and buy side. 

We offer the best research for institutional investors by:

-Only publishing research from veteran analysts
-Eliminate the inherent conflicts of the traditional sell and buy side relationship
-Ensure our team is always accessible; collaboration with clients nurtures our collective success

Cross-Asset & Quantitative Research

Cross Asset Strategy

It’s time for another periodic review of sector leadership. Our latest RRG chart shows growth sectors (technology, communication services) and selected defensive sectors (consumer staples, healthcare, REITs) in the top half of the chart, indicating leadership positions. Value and cyclical sectors are the laggards in the bottom half.We interpret these conditions as neither bullish nor bearish, but a story of balanced leadership. The high beta components of the S&amp;P 500, growth and value, have been undergoing an internal rotation. As the economy shifted from an early-cycle recovery to a mid-cycle expansion (see <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/how-to-navigate-the-mid-cycle-expansion" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How to Navigate the Mid-Cycle Expansion</a>), market jitters over stalling global growth have risen. As a consequence, investors have rotated from the cyclical and reflation trade back into growth as growth stocks become more valuable when economic growth is scarce. At the same time, the stock market has also been supported by defensive sectors such as healthcare and real estate. Currently, value is showing some signs of early strength, but a turn in the value/growth relationship hasn’t been confirmed.Our base-case scenario calls for a choppy range-bound market until the cyclical and reflation trade theme retakes market leadership. If the stock market were to definitively turn upward, leadership may have to come from high-beta small-cap stocks.

It’s time for another periodic review of sector leadership. Our latest RRG chart shows growth sectors (technology, communication services) and selected defensive sectors (consumer staples, healthcare, REITs) in the top half of the chart, indicating leadership positions. Value and cyclical sectors are the laggards in the bottom half.We interpret these conditions as neither bullish nor bearish, but a story of balanced leadership. The high beta components of the S&amp;P 500, growth and value, have been undergoing an internal rotation. As the economy shifted from an early-cycle recovery to a mid-cycle expansion (see How to Navigate the Mid-Cycle Expansion), market jitters over stalling global growth have risen. As a consequence, investors have rotated from the cyclical and reflation trade back into growth as growth stocks become more valuable when economic growth is scarce. At the same time, the stock market has also been supported by defensive sectors such as healthcare and real estate. Currently, value is showing some signs of early strength, but a turn in the value/growth relationship hasn’t been confirmed.Our base-case scenario calls for a choppy range-bound market until the cyclical and reflation trade theme retakes market leadership. If the stock market were to definitively turn upward, leadership may have to come from high-beta small-cap stocks.

Sector Review: Balanced Leadership and Rotation

Technical Analyst, Vermilion Research

Joe Jasper

Technical Analyst

Technical and Quantitative Research

Vermilion Research

Vermilion’s objective is to deliver timely, actionable, and unique technical research to professional investors through the application of our various technical indicators.

Our research strategists seek to highlight securities which we believe are at major inflection points, based on our various technical and quantitative indicators, and offer asymmetric risk/return profiles. Our unique research methodology, centered on relative strength, enables our strategists to deliver superior investment recommendations.

Our process begins by organizing the universe of actively traded stocks into discrete sectors, then into industry groups. We then apply our technical and quantitative tools to identify developing price trends. Once attractive trends are identified within a selected sector or group, we screen for individual stocks which we believe offer the best risk/reward profile. We provide a historical perspective that often reveals, through our long-term charts, how price patterns often repeat themselves over time.

Technical Analysis

US Treasury (10 Yr Generic) / Technical Analysis

Market dynamics remain largely bullish and we continue to see signs of improving risk appetites. As a result, we are on the verge of shifting to an outright bullish stance. High yield spreads hit new 2021 narrows on Friday as they moved to 14-year lows. Additionally, defensive areas including Staples (XLP), Utilities (XLU), and Gold (GLD) are breaking to new 2021 RS lows.

Market dynamics remain largely bullish and we continue to see signs of improving risk appetites. As a result, we are on the verge of shifting to an outright bullish stance. High yield spreads hit new 2021 narrows on Friday as they moved to 14-year lows. Additionally, defensive areas including Staples (XLP), Utilities (XLU), and Gold (GLD) are breaking to new 2021 RS lows.

U.S. Equity Strategy: Downgrading Consumer Staples To Underweight; Watching 10-Year Yield Closely

Managing Director

Elan Gore

TMI Data Science

TMI Data Science utilizes Natural Language Processing to build custom leading indicators using unstructured data sourced from the global financial, trade & traditional media.  Our proprietary software, TMI Machine, is a text-mining platform designed with the buy-side & capital markets professional in mind, text-mining the global media to discern and quantify nuanced qualitative shifts in press coverage as they apply to macroeconomics, equity indexes/ETFs, commodities, currencies, fixed income & individual equities.  TMI provides custom leading indicators and systematic trading strategies, operating at the nexus of linguistics & statistics drawing on vast experience in investment banking and hedge fund settings in senior quantitative and fundamental roles.  

TMI Data Science was founded by Elan Gore, an award-winning Senior Global Basic Materials Equity Analyst & China Economist with 15 years of experience in North American hedge funds & institutional managers; and Alessandro Porrino, Ph.D., an Algorithmic Trading Analyst and Programmer with 10 years of front-office experience ranging from complex FX option pricing to auto-hedging strategies at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Standard Chartered.  Mr. Gore holds an MBA in Finance from New York University Stern School of Business, and Mr. Porrino holds a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from Brunel University London.

<ul>
<li>We text mine the global financial media to quantify short-term dynamics in sector sentiment looking for expressions referring to specific GICS sectors (i.e. energy, materials, industrials, consumer discretionary, consumer staples, health care, financials, tech, utilities) via sentiment analysis of associated articles</li>
<li>Of the cyclical sectors, the relative surge in sentiment (vs. tech) has been most dramatic in Financials and Materials, and more measured in Energy and Industrials</li>
<li>We find that relative sentiment on cyclicals previously surged after the June and September VIX spikes; current relative sentiment readings for industrials, materials and energy are still below levels seen in the June and September episodes</li>
<li>On an absolute basis, Tech sector sentiment has corrected from +2.2x STDEVs to neutral in the past 2 weeks</li>
<li>Similarly, we recently saw declines in Health Care, Utilities and Staples sentiment to neutral/negative readings, though less dramatic than the move seen in Tech</li>
<li>Financials appear to be the only sector where sentiment has surged more than +2x STDEVs in recent weeks</li>
<li>Importantly, the most recent short-term reversal in cyclical sector sentiment clearly began in the final week of October, well ahead of the elections and Pfizer news</li>
</ul>


We text mine the global financial media to quantify short-term dynamics in sector sentiment looking for expressions referring to specific GICS sectors (i.e. energy, materials, industrials, consumer discretionary, consumer staples, health care, financials, tech, utilities) via sentiment analysis of associated articles
Of the cyclical sectors, the relative surge in sentiment (vs. tech) has been most dramatic in Financials and Materials, and more measured in Energy and Industrials
We find that relative sentiment on cyclicals previously surged after the June and September VIX spikes; current relative sentiment readings for industrials, materials and energy are still below levels seen in the June and September episodes
On an absolute basis, Tech sector sentiment has corrected from +2.2x STDEVs to neutral in the past 2 weeks
Similarly, we recently saw declines in Health Care, Utilities and Staples sentiment to neutral/negative readings, though less dramatic than the move seen in Tech
Financials appear to be the only sector where sentiment has surged more than +2x STDEVs in recent weeks
Importantly, the most recent short-term reversal in cyclical sector sentiment clearly began in the final week of October, well ahead of the elections and Pfizer news


TMI Snapshots: Quantifying Relative Sector Sentiment in the Recent Rotation Via Text Mining

<ul>
<li>As the street warms up to a potential Biden victory, arguments for improving equity breadth and cyclical rotation are starting to emerge again</li>
<li>Financial media references to a cyclical rotation saw a multi-STDEV spike in June, which coincided with a significant and notably enduring lift in the ratios of US industrials-to-staples and transports-to-staples </li>
<li>Our testing highlights the US transports-to-staples ratio as the most correlated with the cyclical rotation theme, but we see similar action in the copper/gold ratio and EM currencies</li>
<li>In the past 10 days, our text-mined data shows an incipient pro-cyclical move, but its momentum has yet to fully turn net-positive</li>
<li>Calls for a cyclical rotation softened through the September correction, COVID-19 second wave fears and more recent fiscal stimulus uncertainty; but the cyclical/defensive sector ratios endured as the structural reframing of a Biden presidency as an inflation-positive outcome went mainstream</li>
<li>While historically "cyclical rotation" and "value rotation" were strongly correlated, we have seen a decoupling in these themes due to the heavy burden of the COVID-19 crisis on financials and energy</li>
<li>Economists have pointed to the increased likelihood of a vaccine in H1 as a driver of recent bullishness and inflationary optimism, but observations from text mining and from the Superforecaster survey (Good Judgement Project) do not suggest new positives here</li>
<li>Predictably, at this stage of post-pandemic recovery the focus of cyclical rotation is on industrials and materials (particularly mining &amp; construction materials), with a Biden win implying elevated infrastructure spend</li>
</ul><div class="content-highlight">TMI Data Science utilizes Natural Language Processing to build custom leading indicators using unstructured data sourced from the global financial, trade &amp; traditional media. Our proprietary software text-mines the global media to discern and quantify nuanced qualitative shifts in press coverage as they apply to macroeconomics, equity indexes/ETFs, commodities, currencies, fixed income &amp; individual equities. </div>


As the street warms up to a potential Biden victory, arguments for improving equity breadth and cyclical rotation are starting to emerge again
Financial media references to a cyclical rotation saw a multi-STDEV spike in June, which coincided with a significant and notably enduring lift in the ratios of US industrials-to-staples and transports-to-staples 
Our testing highlights the US transports-to-staples ratio as the most correlated with the cyclical rotation theme, but we see similar action in the copper/gold ratio and EM currencies
In the past 10 days, our text-mined data shows an incipient pro-cyclical move, but its momentum has yet to fully turn net-positive
Calls for a cyclical rotation softened through the September correction, COVID-19 second wave fears and more recent fiscal stimulus uncertainty; but the cyclical/defensive sector ratios endured as the structural reframing of a Biden presidency as an inflation-positive outcome went mainstream
While historically "cyclical rotation" and "value rotation" were strongly correlated, we have seen a decoupling in these themes due to the heavy burden of the COVID-19 crisis on financials and energy
Economists have pointed to the increased likelihood of a vaccine in H1 as a driver of recent bullishness and inflationary optimism, but observations from text mining and from the Superforecaster survey (Good Judgement Project) do not suggest new positives here
Predictably, at this stage of post-pandemic recovery the focus of cyclical rotation is on industrials and materials (particularly mining &amp; construction materials), with a Biden win implying elevated infrastructure spend
TMI Data Science utilizes Natural Language Processing to build custom leading indicators using unstructured data sourced from the global financial, trade &amp; traditional media. Our proprietary software text-mines the global media to discern and quantify nuanced qualitative shifts in press coverage as they apply to macroeconomics, equity indexes/ETFs, commodities, currencies, fixed income &amp; individual equities. 

TMI Thematics: Cyclical Rotation Through The Lens of Text Mining

Our view remains bullish as long as the S&amp;P 500 is above the 2940-2980 support zone and we suggest buying any dips. Additionally, 3076 is a short-term support level to watch on the S&amp;P 500; if 3076 holds it would be further confirmation that the bulls are still in charge. In today’s report we highlight attractive Groups and stocks within Technology: Semiconductors, Mid-Cap, Semiconductor Equip., Large/Mid-Cap, Software, Data Analysis &amp; Solutions, Software, E-Commerce.

Our view remains bullish as long as the S&amp;P 500 is above the 2940-2980 support zone and we suggest buying any dips. Additionally, 3076 is a short-term support level to watch on the S&amp;P 500; if 3076 holds it would be further confirmation that the bulls are still in charge. In today’s report we highlight attractive Groups and stocks within Technology: Semiconductors, Mid-Cap, Semiconductor Equip., Large/Mid-Cap, Software, Data Analysis &amp; Solutions, Software, E-Commerce.

U.S. Equity Strategy: S&P 500 A Coiled Spring

United States

Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund is an exchange-traded fund incorporated in the USA. The ETF tracks The Consumer Staples Select Sector Index. The ETF holds large cap consumer staples stocks. Its holdings include cosmetic and personal care, pharmaceuticals, soft drinks, tobacco and food products. The ETF weights the holdings using a market capitalization methodology

Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP US)

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Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP US)

Sector Review: Balanced Leadership and Rotation

Our base-case scenario calls for a choppy range-bound market until the cyclical and reflation trade theme retakes market leadership.

Cam Hui

U.S. Equity Strategy: Downgrading Consumer Staples To Underweight; Watching 10-Year Yield Closely

Market dynamics remain largely bullish and we continue to see signs of improving risk appetites. As a result, we are on the verge of shifting to an...

Vermilion Research

TMI Snapshots: Quantifying Relative Sector Sentiment in the Recent Rotation Via Text Mining

We quantify recent sector sentiment dynamics through the lens of text mining. The current cyclical rotation is in its early innings, as relative...

Elan Gore

TMI Thematics: Cyclical Rotation Through The Lens of Text Mining

As the equity melt-up sees renewed "cyclical rotation" calls, we text-mine the global financial media to find early signs of recovery in the theme...

Elan Gore

U.S. Equity Strategy: S&P 500 A Coiled Spring

Our view remains bullish as long as the S&P 500 is above the 2940-2980 support zone and we suggest buying any dips. Additionally, 3076 is a...

Vermilion Research

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52-week Range

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