Economic Indicators

Using quarterly data in their April 2013 paper entitled “Analyzing Federal Reserve Asset Purchases: From Whom Does the Fed Buy?” Seth Carpenter, Selva Demiralp, Jane Ihrig and Elizabeth Klee find that some categories of investors appear to sell U.S. Treasuries to the Federal Reserve and rebalance toward riskier assets (corporate bonds, commercial paper, and municipal debt). Are stocks, proxied by for SPDR S&P 500 (SPY), a part of this process? To investigate, we relate weekly, monthly and quarterly U.S. stock market returns to changes in the Federal Reserve’s System Open Market Account (SOMA) holdings, comprised of U.S. Treasury bills, U.S. Treasury notes and bonds, U.S. Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIP) and Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS). The Federal Reserve reports these holdings as of Wednesday, typically with a 1-day lag. Using weekly (Thursday close) dividend-adjusted prices for SPY and weekly total SOMA holdings during early July 2003 through January 2022, we find that:

Keep Reading

How do returns of different asset classes recently interact with uncertainty in government economic policy as quantified by the Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) Index? This index at the beginning of each month incorporates from the prior month:

1. Coverage of policy-related economic uncertainty by prominent newspapers (50% weight).
2. Number of temporary federal tax code provisions set to expire in future years (one sixth weight).
3. Level of disagreement in one-year forecasts among participants in the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s Survey of Professional Forecasters for both (a) the consumer price index (one sixth weight) and (b) purchasing of goods and services by federal, state and local governments (one sixth weight).

Because the historical EPU Index series includes substantial revisions to prior months, we focus on monthly percentage changes in EPU Index and look at lead-lag relationships between change in EPU Index and returns for each of the following 10 exchange-traded fund (ETF) asset class proxies:

• Equities:
  • SPDR S&P 500 (SPY)
  • iShares Russell 2000 Index (IWM)
  • iShares MSCI EAFE Index (EFA)
  • iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index (EEM)
• Bonds:
  • iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond (TLT)
  • iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond (LQD)
  • iShares JPMorgan Emerging Markets Bond Fund (EMB)
• Real assets:
  • Vanguard REIT ETF (VNQ)
  • SPDR Gold Shares (GLD)
  • Invesco DB Commodity Index Tracking (DBC)

Using monthly levels of the EPU Index and monthly dividend-adjusted prices for the 10 specified ETFs during December 2007 (limited by EMB) through December 2021, we find that: Keep Reading

How do returns of different asset classes recently interact with inflation as measured by monthly change in the not seasonally adjusted, all-commodities producer price index (PPI) from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics? To investigate, we look at lead-lag relationships between change in PPI and returns for each of the following 10 exchange-traded fund (ETF) asset class proxies:

• Equities:
  • SPDR S&P 500 (SPY)
  • iShares Russell 2000 Index (IWM)
  • iShares MSCI EAFE Index (EFA)
  • iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index (EEM)
• Bonds:
  • iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treasury Bond (TLT)
  • iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond (LQD)
  • iShares JPMorgan Emerging Markets Bond Fund (EMB)
• Real assets:
  • Vanguard REIT ETF (VNQ)
  • SPDR Gold Shares (GLD)
  • Invesco DB Commodity Index Tracking (DBC)

Using monthly total PPI values and monthly dividend-adjusted prices for the 10 specified ETFs during December 2007 (limited by EMB) through December 2021, we find that: Keep Reading

Does the labor force participation rate, measured monthly by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics along with employment and unemployment rate, predict U.S. stock market returns? An increasing (decreasing) participation rate may may indicate strong (weak) employment demand and therefore a strong (weak) economy. To investigate, we relate participation rate to performance of the S&P 500 Index as a proxy for the stock market. Using monthly participation rate and index level during January 1948 (limited by the former) through December 2021, we find that: Keep Reading

Do monthly business inventories data, released with a lag of about 1.5 months, reliably predict U.S. stock market behavior? To investigate, we relate monthly change in business inventories to monthly S&P 500 Index return. Using survey-based monthly seasonally adjusted business inventories and the S&P 500 Index during January 1992 (limited by business inventories data) through November 2021, we find that: Keep Reading

A subscriber asked about a strategy that rotates among equity sectors according to changes in interests rate as set by Federal Reserve Bank monetary policy. To investigate, we consider the following nine sector Standard & Poor’s Depository Receipts (SPDR) exchange-traded funds (ETF):

Materials Select Sector SPDR (XLB)
Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE)
Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF)
Industrial Select Sector SPDR (XLI)
Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK)
Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP)
Utilities Select Sector SPDR (XLU)
Health Care Select Sector SPDR (XLV)
Consumer Discretionary Select SPDR (XLY)

We use monthly effective federal funds rate (EFFR) as the interest rate. We consider two EFFR-based variables: (1) monthly change in EFFR; and, (2) 3-month slope of EFFR for signal smoothing. For each variable and each sector ETF, we consider two tests: (1) correlation of the variable with ETF return each of the next three months; and, (2) average next-month ETF returns across ranked fifths (quintiles) of the EFFR variable. The first test looks for linear relationships, and the second test looks for non-linear relationships. Measurements are at month ends, with a 1-day delay for ETF return calculations to ensure availability of EFFR data. Using monthly levels of EFFR since September 1998 and dividend-adjusted monthly levels of the above sector ETFs and of SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) since December 1998 (limited by sector ETFs), all through November 2021, we find that: Keep Reading

A subscriber asked about a strategy that rotates among equity sectors according to the Leading Economic Index (LEI), published monthly by the Conference Board (see “Leading Economic Index and the Stock Market”). To assess LEI usefulness for sector rotation, we consider the following nine sector Standard & Poor’s Depository Receipts (SPDR) exchange-traded funds (ETF):

Materials Select Sector SPDR (XLB)
Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE)
Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF)
Industrial Select Sector SPDR (XLI)
Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK)
Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP)
Utilities Select Sector SPDR (XLU)
Health Care Select Sector SPDR (XLV)
Consumer Discretionary Select SPDR (XLY)

We consider two LEI-based variables: (1) monthly change in LEI; and, (2) 3-month average change in LEI (average of current value, revised value for prior month and twice-revised value for two months ago) for signal smoothing. For each variable and each sector ETF, we consider two tests: (1) correlation of the variable with ETF return each of the next three months; and, (2) average next-month ETF returns across ranked fifths (quintiles) of the LEI variable. The first test looks for linear relationships, and the second test looks for non-linear relationships. Monthly measurements employ closes on LEI release dates, generally after the market open about three weeks after ends of calendar months reported. Using monthly changes in LEI from archived Conference Board press releases and contemporaneous dividend-adjusted daily levels of the above sector ETFs and of SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) from mid-July 2002 (limited by LEI press releases) through mid-November 2021 (233 monthly LEI observations), we find that: Keep Reading

Do U.S. non-farm job openings, a measurement from the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey run monthly by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, have implications for future U.S. stock market return? High (low) job openings rate may indicate a strong (weak) economy and/or may signal high (low) wage inflation. To investigate, we relate job openings to performance of SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) as a proxy for the stock market. Using monthly job openings (which has a release delay of about six weeks) during December 2000 through September 2021 and monthly dividend-adjusted returns for SPY during December 2000 through October 2021, we find that: Keep Reading

Since May 2006, the ADP National Employment Report has offered a monthly estimate of U.S. nonfarm private sector employment growth using actual payroll data. The report is designed “to predict private-sector employment prior to the release of the CES [Bureau of Labor Statistics’ monthly Current Employment Statistics survey] report.” Do the ADP estimates predict U.S. stock market returns on the release day or over the interval to the next report? To investigate, we use both as-released (from press releases) and as-revised ADP data (from the historical dataset), calculated as percentage changes relative to the prior-month private employment base in the latter. Using the specified monthly data and matched daily opening/closing and dividend-adjusted closing prices of SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) during April 2006 through October 2021, we find that: Keep Reading

The monthly Cass Freight Index is a “measure of North American freight volumes [shipments] and expenditures… Data within the Index includes all domestic freight modes and is derived from $28 billion in freight transactions processed by Cass annually on behalf of its client base of hundreds of large shippers. These companies represent a broad sampling of industries including consumer packaged goods, food, automotive, chemical, OEM, retail and heavy equipment… The diversity of shippers and aggregate volume provide a statistically valid representation of North American shipping activity. …Volumes represent the month in which transactions are processed by Cass, not necessarily the month when the corresponding shipments took place. The January 1990 base point is 1.00. …Each month’s volumes are adjusted to provide an average 21-day work month. Adjustments also are made to compensate for business additions/deletions to the volume figures.” Cass typically publishes the index level for a month about the middle of the following month. Does freight data usefully anticipate economic trend and thereby U.S. stock market returns? To investigate, we relate level of shipments and changes in shipments and expenditures to SPDR S&P 500 (SPY) returns. Using monthly Cass Freight Index levels and monthly dividend-adjusted SPY returns as available during January 1993 (limited by inception of SPY) through October 2021, we find that: Keep Reading