Register For Our Mailing List

Register to receive our free weekly newsletter including editorials.

Home / 466

Beware the headlines as averages don’t tell the whole story

Historical patterns can provide a useful roadmap for the future but can sometimes lead to mistaken assumptions. People tend to look to the past to make sense of the present and the future. During bear markets, a wildly overused, and I believe, dangerous, frame of reference is historical drawdowns (losses) and their implied assumptions about future market returns.

For example, a widely-used formula goes like this: Recessions last an average of w number of days, and equities fall an average of x% followed by a recovery of y% in z days. Market commentators use formulas such as these to ease clients’ mental anguish and imply that better days are ahead. Better days are ahead. However, they can take longer than experts expect to materialise and may be accompanied by significant financial pain.

The problem with averages

Averages tell us the central or typical value in a data series but provide no window into variation. For example, two cities may share an average annual temperature of 70°F, but if one is in a temperate climate where the temperature is quite steady and the other experiences significant seasonality, the average doesn’t tell you much. More data are needed to decide when to visit one city and when to visit the other.

Apart from the problem with simple averages, every market drawdown, financial crisis and recession is different. Even if historical market drawdown averages were accompanied with pages of data, would that help? I don’t think so.

Recessions wring out excesses

Economic and market cycles don’t die of old age. They end when excesses are corrected due to a financial crisis or a recession. These, often painfully, wring out overinvestment in both the real economy and financial markets. The length of the business cycle is irrelevant. What matters is the level of excess and the magnitude of the needed rebalancing process. That determines how much further we may still have to fall.

To get a sense of where past excesses lay, look no further than to whomever was Wall Street’s favourite client at the time. For example, in the 1990s it was the dot-com companies. The Street’s favourite (and most profitable) clients were companies with a concept leveraged to the internet, seeking capital. In the 2000s, the preferred clientele was financial institutions looking for enhanced yield without excess risk. The Street sold them mortgage-backed securities consisting of repackaged loans made to American homeowners who were unable (or unwilling) to fulfill their obligations. That led to the GFC.

The time required to heal following the internet bubble and housing crisis is unrelated to the next recession. Different imbalances require different corrective processes. The level of the drawdown in the S&P 500 or MSCI EAFE back then is no longer the issue.

What matters today is whether the real economy and financial markets have cleared the excesses built up since the last recession.

Where are today’s excesses?

The policy response to low growth and deflation risks during the 2010s was quantitative easing. Central bankers expected it to lead to capital creation and corporate borrowing to fund productive activities. It didn’t, because money-debasing signaled weak growth prospects to producers. Borrowed money instead went to pay dividends and repurchase stock. Quantitative easing turned out to be the problem masquerading as the solution.

Wall Street’s favourite clients in the post-GFC era were non-bank companies. Financial leverage among that group reached new heights before the pandemic and exceeded those highs once central banks turned the lending spigot back on in April 2020, unlocking credit markets.

As I wrote back in April, despite the weakest economic cycle in over a century, corporate profit margins reached all-time highs in 2018, only to be surpassed in 2022 due to the lagged effects of an over-stimulated world economy. How? Debt is a pull-forward of future capacity, and companies pulled forward an unsustainable amount of margin and profit.

We don't believe corporate margins will be sustained

Margins and profits ultimately drive stock and credit prices. The headline “S&P 500 on track for the worst start of the year since 1970,” is dramatic but misses the point. What will drive future returns is profits.

Currently, many companies are telling investors they can sustain all-time-high post-stimulus margins despite rising fears of recession and a step-function jump in costs (explaining why earnings expectations remain elevated in the face of obvious revenue and input cost pressures), but we don’t believe them.

Risk is usually hidden in plain sight. What do your eyes tell you?

 

Robert M. Almeida is a Global Investment Strategist and Portfolio Manager at MFS Investment Management. This article is for general informational purposes only and should not be considered investment advice or a recommendation to invest in any security or to adopt any investment strategy. Comments, opinions and analysis are rendered as of the date given and may change without notice due to market conditions and other factors. This article is issued in Australia by MFS International Australia Pty Ltd (ABN 68 607 579 537, AFSL 485343), a sponsor of Firstlinks.

For more articles and papers from MFS, please click here.

Unless otherwise indicated, logos and product and service names are trademarks of MFS® and its affiliates and may be registered in certain countries.

 

RELATED ARTICLES

Why stock prices are a distraction

The early signals for August company earnings

Is ResMed a trap or an opportunity?

banner

Most viewed in recent weeks

What to expect from the Australian property market in 2025

The housing market was subdued in 2024, and pessimism abounds as we start the new year. 2025 is likely to be a tale of two halves, with interest rate cuts fuelling a resurgence in buyer demand in the second half of the year.

The perfect portfolio for the next decade

This examines the performance of key asset classes and sub-sectors in 2024 and over longer timeframes, and the lessons that can be drawn for constructing an investment portfolio for the next decade.

Howard Marks warns of market froth

The renowned investor has penned his first investor letter for 2025 and it’s a ripper. He runs through what bubbles are, which ones he’s experienced, and whether today’s markets qualify as the third major bubble of this century.

2025: Another bullish year ahead for equities?

2024 was a banner year for equities, with a run-up in US tech stocks broadening into a global market rally, and the big question now is whether the good times can continue? History suggests optimism is warranted.

9 lessons from 2024

Key lessons include expensive stocks can always get more expensive, Bitcoin is our tulip mania, follow the smart money, the young are coming with pitchforks on housing, and the importance of staying invested.

The 20 most popular articles of 2024

Check out the most-read Firstlinks articles from 2024. From '16 ASX stocks to buy and hold forever', to 'The best strategy to build income for life', and 'Where baby boomer wealth will end up', there's something for all.

Latest Updates

Shares

The challenges with building a dividend portfolio

Getting regular, growing income from stocks is tougher with the dividend yield on the ASX nearing 25-year lows. Here are some conventional and not-so-conventional ideas for investors wanting to build a dividend portfolio.

Retirement

How much do you need to retire?

Australians are used to hearing dire warnings that they don't have enough saved for a comfortable retirement. Yet most people need to save a lot less than you might think — as long as they meet an important condition.

Economics

Why a deflationary shock is near

Strategist Russell Napier says central banks have lifted interest rates too far and a deflationary shock is coming. He believes Governments will react radically and investors should avoid bonds and US stocks, and own more gold.

Economy

Federal budget forecast errors need greater scrutiny

The discrepancies that are appearing between Treasury budget forecasts and actual outcomes need closer examination. The inaccurate forecasts are impacting economic projections and investment decisions.

Investment strategies

A reluctant investor’s guide to understanding bitcoin

As every aspect of our lives has been transformed by digitisation, the changing nature of money and currencies should come as no surprise. But while bitcoin is here to stay, many investors still lack a clear grasp of what it is. 

Investment strategies

Unearthing small and mid-cap gems

Small and mid-cap companies aligned with long-term trends like security, climate and digital media can offer compelling growth opportunities. Here are three US stocks that are set to take off in 2025.  

Shares

Decoding the DNA of exceptional companies

Successful companies depend on management decisions, with bold choices, long-term vision, and calculated risks driving growth. Luxury brand, Hermès, exemplifies this, resulting in it creating immense shareholder wealth. 

Sponsors

Alliances

© 2025 Morningstar, Inc. All rights reserved.

Disclaimer
The data, research and opinions provided here are for information purposes; are not an offer to buy or sell a security; and are not warranted to be correct, complete or accurate. Morningstar, its affiliates, and third-party content providers are not responsible for any investment decisions, damages or losses resulting from, or related to, the data and analyses or their use. To the extent any content is general advice, it has been prepared for clients of Morningstar Australasia Pty Ltd (ABN: 95 090 665 544, AFSL: 240892), without reference to your financial objectives, situation or needs. For more information refer to our Financial Services Guide. You should consider the advice in light of these matters and if applicable, the relevant Product Disclosure Statement before making any decision to invest. Past performance does not necessarily indicate a financial product’s future performance. To obtain advice tailored to your situation, contact a professional financial adviser. Articles are current as at date of publication.
This website contains information and opinions provided by third parties. Inclusion of this information does not necessarily represent Morningstar’s positions, strategies or opinions and should not be considered an endorsement by Morningstar.