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While the FT Wilshire 5000 adopted a risk off tone in February…
Having rallied in January on optimism that a recession would be avoided, the release of surprisingly strong labor market data forced the market to reappraise the trajectory of interest rates (dispelling any notion of them nudging lower later this year).This generated a cautious risk off tone that pushed the FT Wilshire 5000 -2.4% lower in February. However, the index is still up 4.4% YTD.
Exhibit 1: Risk aversion came to the fore in February driven by a rise in market interest rate forecasts
Source: Wilshire. Data as of February 28, 2023.
A key feature to the 2022 drawdown was the persistency of the decline in technology stocks. Interestingly, the February risk off move saw the technology sector outperform, delivering a positive sector weighted contribution to return (see Exhibit 2). In fact, year to date the technology and digital information and sectors have been the dominant positive contributions to aggregate returns. This is a mirror opposite to the 2022 dynamic.
Exhibit 2 : Sector weighted contributions to aggregate returns - YTD and February 2023
Source: Wilshire. Data as of February 28, 2023.
The positive inflection in the performance of the FT Wilshire Large Cap Growth index relative to Value that started in January persisted in February. This is a reversal of the 2022 dynamic (Exhibit 3). This rotation has occurred despite the rise in bond yields and real yields in February - these were key drags on highly valued Growth stocks in 2022.
Exhibit 3: Growth v Value style performance continues to inflect higher.
Source: Wilshire. Data as of February 28, 2023.
Exhibit 4 compares the performance of the top 10 stocks in the FT Wilshire 5000 to the performance of the median stock to gauge the degree of performance dispersion. 2022 saw the median stock outperform the top 10 stocks implying a widening of dispersion. However, 2022 year-to-date has seen the opposite occur with the top 10 stocks significantly outperforming the median stock. This narrowing of dispersion has marked the return to the dominance of the few that characterized the market prior to 2022.
Exhibit 4: Comparing the return generated by the top 10 stocks v the median stock
Source: Wilshire. Data as of February 28, 2023.
Exhibit 5 decomposes market returns drivers into the contribution from changes to dividends, changes to EPS forecasts and changes to valuation. In the case of the US market, over the last 12 months the negative return was mainly attributable to the significant decline in PE valuation (grey bar). In 2023 the opposite has occurred with the positive return been driven by the expansion in the PE multiple.
Exhibit 5: The decomposition of market returns - 12months and YTD
Source: Refinitiv. Data as of February 28, 2023.
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The FT Wilshire 5000 has appreciated 14.5% from the mid-October low
Anticipation of a pivot in the degree of Fed hawkishness was the catalyst behind the recovery in risk appetite that commenced in mid-October last year. This positive momentum continued in January producing a return of 6.9% for the FT Wilshire 5000 for the month. From the mid-October low, the FT Wilshire 5000 had appreciated 14.5% to the end of January.
Exhibit 1: The risk rally that started in mid-October last year continued into January
Source: Wilshire. Data as of January 31, 2023.
Exhibit 2 breaks the rally in the FT Wilshire 5000 since mid-October into two phases (October to December versus January). In the first phase, the rally was still defensive in nature represented by the marked outperformance of the Value style. By contrast, January saw a similar return for the market but this time it was driven by the outperformance of the Growth style.
Exhibit 2: A rotation to the Growth Style in January
Source: Wilshire. Data as of January 31, 2023.
Exhibit 3 shows relative performance of the FT Wilshire large Cap Growth versus Value and the US 10yr TIP real yield inverted. Style rotation responds to inflections in the real yield. The decline in the real yield in January has contributed to the Growth style outperforming the Value style by 5.7%
Exhibit 3: Growth style outperformed in January helped by falling real yields
Source: Wilshire, Refinitiv. Data as of January 31, 2023.
Exhibit 4 compares the sector weighted contributions to the returns for the Growth and Value style indexes in January. Growth benefitted significantly from the larger respective contributions generated by four sectors - Digital Information, Technology, Consumer Goods and Transportation. These tend to be seen as long duration growth sectors that respond positively to declining real yields.
Exhibit 4: Comparing the sector weighted contributions for Growth and Value
Source: Wilshire Data as of January 31, 2023.
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The FT Wilshire 5000 delivered the 4th largest annual drawdown since 1970
The almost 6% decline in December resulted in the FT Wilshire 5000 registering a decline of -19% for 2022. This constitutes the fourth largest annual drawdown since the inception of the index in 1970.
Markets and risk aversion responded to a perfect storm of war (Ukraine), inflation, real income and supply chain shocks and a rapid rotation to restrictive financial conditions just as economies were recovering from the COVID impact - all making 2022 an annus horribilis.
Exhibit 1: Largest Calendar year drawdowns for the FT Wilshire 5000
Source: Wilshire and Refinitiv. Data as of December 31. 2022
What made 2022 particularly difficult was the lack of diversification opportunities. For example, Exhibit 2 shows that 2022 was the first time in 40 years that both bonds and equities delivered simultaneous negative returns.
Exhibit 2: Simultaneous decline in US equity and bond returns
Source: Wilshire and Refinitiv. Data as of December 31. 2022
Exhibit 3 shows the ranked FT Wilshire 5000 sector-weighted performance contributions for 2022. Almost half of the aggregate decline in the FT Wilshire 5000 is accounted for by the scale of negative contributions delivered by the Digital Information and Technology sectors.
Exhibit 3: Sector weighted contributions for the FT Wilshire 5000 in 2022
Source: Wilshire. Data as of December 31, 2022
Exhibit 4 depicts the -25.1% underperformance of the Growth style relative to Value in 2022. This has effectively unwound the rotation to Growth that occurred during the immediate aftermath of the COVID pandemic.
An important driver of underperformance of the Growth style was the negative valuation impact of rising real yields in 2022.
Exhibit 4: Growth Style performance relative to Value Style
Source: Wilshire. Data as of December 31. 2022
Exhibit 5 examines the sector-weighted contributions for both the Growth and Value style indices. Value benefitted from a larger positive contribution from the energy sector compared to the Growth Style. It also benefitted from not incurring the scale of negative contributions in the digital information, technology, and consumer goods sectors.
Exhibit 5: Comparing the sector weighted contributions for the Growth and Value Style indices
Source: Wilshire. Data as of December 31. 2022
Comparing the performance of the top 10 stocks by market cap (equally weighted) to the performance of the median stock in the FT Wilshire 5000 index is a useful gauge of performance dispersion. Exhibit 6 shows the scale of reversal in dispersion from 2021 to 2022. In 2021, median stock performance significantly lagged the return delivered by the top 10 stocks (negative dispersion). 2022 saw the median stock outperform delivering an improvement in dispersion characteristics.
Exhibit 6: Comparing the performance of the top 10 stocks to the median stock
Source: Wilshire. Data as of December 31. 2022
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The FT Wilshire 5000 rallies 8.2% in October
Having fallen sharply over the prior four-week period the FT Wilshire 5000 started to inflect sharply higher from mid-October closing out the month with a +8.2% return. There were two principal catalysts behind the recovery in risk appetite. The first was the market registered as significantly oversold in mid -October, reaching levels that typically see a subsequent rebound. The second catalyst was speculation that the Federal Reserve was becoming increasingly concerned about tightening too aggressively given mounting recession headwinds.
Exhibit 1: A robust recovery in the latter half of October
Source: Wilshire. Data as of October 31, 2022.
A key attribute of the recovery in risk appetite was the notable preference for Value over Growth as measured by the FT Wilshire 5000 style indexes. In October the Large Cap Value style index delivered a return of 11.6% while the Large Cap Growth style index only appreciated 4.2%. This rotation has been a dominant theme through the course of 2022 with Value outperforming Growth by 21.3% year to date.
Exhibit 2: A continuation of the sustained preference of Value vs Growth in 2022
Source: Wilshire. Data as of October 31, 2022
Dissecting market returns using sector weighted contributions ( the combined impact of sector performance and sector weighting) October saw the largest positive contribution from Financials followed by energy. Real estate and transportation sectors delivered the lowest contributions.
Exhibit 3: October performance driven by Financials and Energy
Source: Wilshire. Data as of October 31, 2022
The YTD drawdown of-24.9% as of 30th is now the sixth largest witnessed over the last 40 years as shown in Exhibit 3.
Exhibit 4: Putting the YTD drawdown into perspective
Source: Wilshire and Refinitiv. Data as of October 31, 2022
Bear markets are not linear – they typically witness numerous rallies
From January 3rd to the recent low on October 14, the the FT Wilshire 5000 had registered a drawdown of -25.9% the sixth largest since 1980. The key observation about bear markets is that they are not linear – in fact they often move in a sawtooth manner marked by numerous bear market rallies. This has been observable in the trajectory of the FT Wilshire 5000 returns this year (see chart below). Bear market rallies reward the ‘sell the bounce’ discipline, the antithesis of ‘buy the dip’.
Exhibit 1: Bear markets typically see numerous tradeable rallies
Source: Wilshire and Refinitiv. Data as of October 31, 2022
To reiterate the point that bear markets are not linear we have measured the trading pattern of bear markets (lasting more than three months) registered by the FT Wilshire 5000 since 1980. This shows that around 45% of the trading days witness upward moves. The bear market is driven by the compounding effect of the average daily move in a down day being -1.4% vs the average daily move on an up day being +1%.
Exhibit 2: The trading pattern of bear markets
Source: Wilshire and Refinitiv. Data as of October 31, 2022
If bear markets witness numerous bear market rallies, how can we identify when a rally is marking a nadir followed by a sustained positive move?
One answer to this is to wait for key technical signal confirmation. The ‘Golden Cross’ (the positive intersect of the 50-day moving average with the 200-day moving average where the latter has bottomed) is a useful tool aiding the identification of major market inflection points.
Exhibit 3: The ‘Golden Cross’ helps identify key inflection points
Source: Wilshire and Refinitiv. Data as of October 31, 2022
The rapid reversal in risk appetite in Q3 has produced a retest of the June lows
August witnessed a significant reversal in risk appetite mid-month in response to a succession of hawkish Fed guidance. This brought an end to the +18.6% two-month rally (and optimism) that started on June 16 and peaked on August 16. Since the mid-August peak, the FT Wilshire declined -16.7% over the remainder of the quarter to produce a -4.4% return for the three-month period. The strength of the rotation to risk aversion has now driven the index below the low point reached in mid-June.
Exhibit 1: A rapid reversal in returns over the last six weeks of Q3
Exhibit 2 puts the scale of the drawdown in US equities over the latter half of Q3 into perspective - showing that it is almost a three standard deviation event. Outside of the GFC and COVID sell offs, this is one of the largest six-week drawdowns since 2006.
Exhibit 2: Putting the six-week drawdown into perspective
The YTD drawdown of -24.9% as of Sept. 30 is now the sixth largest witnessed over the last 40 years as shown in exhibit 3.
Exhibit 3: Putting the YTD drawdown into perspective
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A key feature of 2022 has been the sustained strength of the US dollar
2022 has seen persistent strength in the US dollar aided by positive interest rate differentials, haven status and the perception the US is less exposed to the Ukraine invasion energy shock. Exhibit 1 shows the long-term performance of the DXY dollar index and the 16.8% YTD return has pushed the dollar back to levels not seen since the turn of the century.
Exhibit 1: The dollar is back to levels last seen over 20 years ago
FX swings can have a large impact on unhedged regional equity returns depending on the location of investors. Due to GBP, Euro and JPY weakness, investors in the UK, Europe and Japan have a very different perception of regional market returns based in GBP, Euro and JPY versus the returns seen by a US dollar-based investor over both Q3 and YTD periods. For instance, it can be seen in exhibit 2 that UK unhedged investors (courtesy of the 8.2% decline in the pound) saw a positive return from US equities in Q3.
Exhibit 2: Comparing UK and US (unhedged) equity return profiles for Q3
Most commodity prices are denominated in dollars. Consequently, when the dollar appreciates it offsets the impact of any fall in prices to non - US dollar-based participants (and vice versa). For instance, exhibit 3 shows that although the oil price declined 22% in Q3 in dollar terms, due to the depreciation of sterling, euro, and the yen against the dollar the oil price drop denominated in those currencies is more muted. The distortion of the move in the dollar on the regional oil price is even more extreme looking at two-year data.
Exhibit 3: The impact of the dollar on regional oil price moves
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Hawkish Fed guidance sends FT Wilshire 5000 into reverse gear in August
August witnessed a significant reversal in risk appetite mid-month in response to a succession of hawkish Fed guidance. This bought an end to the +18.6% two-month rally that started on June 16 and peaked on Aug. 16. Since the mid-month peak, the FT Wilshire has declined -8.1%, producing a -3.8% move for the month of August.
Exhibit 1: August brought an end to the two-month rally
The mid-August reversal also produced a rotation in style performance. The table below shows that most of the underperformance of large cap relative to small cap in August was attributable to the larger negative contributions from the financials, digital info and services, health care and technology sectors.
Exhibit 2: Four sector-weighted contributions account for small cap outperformance
Rising bond yields impacted the highly valued long duration growth stocks in August and this resulted in the growth style (with its large exposure to the technology and digital information sectors) losing momentum relative to value as the month progressed.
Exhibit 3: Two sector weighted contributions account for growth underperformance
Exhibit 4 puts the growth vs value rotation into a longer perspective. Despite the scale of value outperformance so far this year, the relative trade still has a long way to go in order for it to mean revert back to 2016/17 levels (parity levels).
Exhibit 4: The long term perspective on Growth v Value relative performance
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Equities are a long duration asset class and returns should be viewed via the prism of long-time horizons
Although recent volatility and inflation angst have produced negative nominal and real returns for the FT Wilshire 5000 over the last 12 months, it is worth remembering that equities are a long duration asset class and returns should be viewed via the prism of long-time horizons.
The chart and table below show the progression of FT Wilshire returns over the last 20 years. Real annualized returns have exceeded 7% over the five-,10- and 20-year periods.
Exhibit 1: The aggregate and annualized nominal and real total returns for the FT Wilshire 5000
In Exhibit 2, over a 20-year period small cap's annualized returns of 10.8% have exceeded the 9.8% delivered from large cap. However, small cap's annualized returns have lagged large cap returns over three-, five- and 10-year time frames.
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