November 2012 – Market Review

Markets in early November were mostly distracted from the positive economic news in the U.S. by poor earnings reports, election jitters, and Hurricane Sandy...

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November: The US Cannot Remain Immune From the Rest of the World Forever

Markets in October and early November were mostly distracted from the positive economic news in the U.S. by poor earnings reports, election jitters, and Hurricane Sandy. The earnings reports have not been pretty, with negative news from slowing emerging markets, a weak Europe (and, to a lesser degree, China), and large currency swings. Although the U.S. won’t remain immune to the rest of the world forever, and our fiscal situation remains in disarray, there still are a few factors that will help the domestic economy. These include Boeing’s ongoing ramp-up, a nicely improved and stable auto industry, increased oil production, a relatively stabilized banking industry, and a lumbering housing industry that has finally begun to recover.

GDP: Consumers, the Housing Market, and Government Spending Aid Rising GDP

Third-quarter real GDP grew by 2%, ahead of the second quarter’s 1.3% rate. Much of this improvement was due to a very strong consumer, an improved housing market, and strong government spending. Consumption, which represents about 70% of GDP, is always the most important factor, because if consumers continue to spend, businesses will have to invest in plant and equipment, inventory, and most importantly, employees.

Employment: Jobs Increase but the Recovery is Not Consistent Across Sectors

In October, 171,000 jobs were added, sharply exceeding expectations. While this was great news, Morningstar economists believe that at the current pace of job growth, an additional 23 months is still required to recover pre-recession jobs. Employment recovery across sectors has not been consistent. The overall service sector is nearly back to pre-recession levels, while good-producing sectors (mining, manufacturing, and construction) have only recovered 15% of the jobs lost. Furthermore, massive efficiency gains in manufacturing have moved industrial production levels to near pre-recession levels, even as manufacturing has regained a measly 25% or less of the jobs lost. The unemployment rate inched upward to 7.9%.

Housing: Narrowing Gap Between Pending & Closing Sales May Point to an Improving Housing Market

Despite the arrival of fall, which typically brings a drop in real estate activities, home prices, new home sales, and pending home sales all showed improvement. On a year-over-year basis, the August Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Home Price Index was up 4.6%, with all nine regions in the U.S. showing positive growth. While almost always moving in the same direction, pending sales (contract executed but not closed) have exceeded closed sales by a large margin for many months, as below-market appraisals and mortgage denials caused many contracts to not close. Recently, the gap between growth in pending and closing sales has narrowed to about 2% from as much as 6%, which Morningstar economists believe points toward an improving housing market.

Manufacturing: Have we Hit a Bottom?

October’s manufacturing data showed gains in new orders and an increase in employment, which suggested that the manufacturing sector in the U.S. may have bottomed and is now recovering. Auto sales in October were better than a year ago, but slumped from 14.9 million units in September to 14.2 million units in October. Hurricane Sandy was most likely the cause of this shortfall, as a large portion of auto sales occur on the last few days of the month, and the area hit by the storm accounted for 20%-25% of all auto sales. Outside of the U.S., China showed meaningful improvement between September and October as the Chinese construction market continued to show signs of bottoming. Europe’s manufacturing, on the other hand, continued to contract and is currently at its lowest level in 40 months.

Election results: The Results are in – Now What?

With President Barack Obama narrowly beating out Republican challenger Mitt Romney to win a second term in office. All attention has now turned to global woes and the looming fiscal cliff. If nothing is resolved by the end of 2012, massive spending cuts and across-the-board tax increases may occur. Markets reacted negatively on Wednesday November 7th, falling by as much as 2.73%, with energy and banking sectors among the hardest hit.

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