CWS Market Review – August 13, 2024

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The Stock Market Continues to Rebound

Last week, the stock market fell for the fourth week in a row. Over the course of 14 trading days (July 16 to August 5), the S&P 500 lost 8.5%.

While that’s certainly unpleasant to live through, drops like that are pretty routine for the market. In fact, it’s probably on the light side. Investors should expect to see a 10% drawdown once every two years, give or take.

The shrewd investor keeps his or her head during a market downturn. After all, that’s where the bargains are. Two years ago, at the height of the inflation scare, shares of Moody’s (MCO), one of our Buy List favorites, were trading for $230 per share. Since then, inflation has faded, and shares of Moody’s have doubled.

Thanks to today’s rally, the market has now closed higher for four days in a row. The S&P 500 is currently 4.8% above its closing low from last week. We’re not at a new high yet, but we’ve gained back just over half of what we lost.

Is our summer selloff over? I can’t say, but I wouldn’t mind seeing more of my favorite stocks go for a discount. There are still a lot of threats out there. The Federal Reserve looks ready to cut rates by 0.25% in five weeks. More than a few observers think the Fed will go for a 0.5% cut.

The next test for the market will come tomorrow morning when the government releases the CPI report for July. The consensus on Wall Street is to expect a 0.2% increase for both the headline rate and the core rate. Today’s PPI report increased by 0.1%, which was less than expected.

The last CPI report showed that prices actually fell by 0.1% during June. That had not happened in four years. The drop was largely due to a big slide in energy prices.

The core rate of inflation, which excludes food and energy, increased by only 0.1%. in June. Wall Street had been expecting an increase of 0.2%. The annual increase for the core rate is at its slowest since April 2021.

I should add that one of the key inputs in the CPI is shelter costs, and those tend to lag other costs. As a result, shelter costs are probably helping to weigh down the overall CPI. We’ll get more details tomorrow.

One of the problems of this recent bout with inflation is that more visible prices are increasing. For example, since 2022, electricity costs are up more than 10%. Car insurance is up significantly. As the WSJ points out, shoppers can easily trade down with some items like food, but you really can’t do that with your water bill. Inflation is up 6% since the rate of inflation peaked.

While these numbers are moving in the right direction, the job is not quite done. If tomorrow’s numbers come in hot, that could throw a wet blanket on the Fed’s rate-cutting plans, and traders would not be pleased.

Older investors will recall just how devastating inflation can be to the stock market. Yesterday was the 42nd anniversary of the 1982 low. The Dow closed at 776.92 which is lower than it had been 18 years before; meanwhile, inflation tripled. The 10-year Treasury was going for 13.5%. For context, “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” opened the next day.

With the help of some time passing, we can see that last Monday’s panic was extreme. The carry trade fizzled, Japanese stocks plunged, and the Volatility Index soared to some of its highest levels ever recorded. Still, the hectic times didn’t last very long.

We can also see that the big drop happened a few weeks after the stock market’s peak. That’s also fairly common. Stocks don’t often crash at the peak. Instead, a gradual drop slowly turns into a mad dash for the exits. I call this the “Wile E. Coyote Effect” where the market dashes off the cliff and will hang in mid-air before realizing it’s too late.

When the Bank of Japan decided to raise rates, it was by a puny amount, but that was enough to spook investors. A positive loop can easily become a negative one. No one wants to be last, so they sell, and that causes more folks to sell.

This also raises an uncomfortable question which is, how much money is tied up in the carry trade? The answer is, we don’t know. There are estimates. Some say it’s over $1 trillion, but that’s just a guess. JPMorgan Chase said that three-fourths of the carry trades have already been busted.

The yen carry trade still lives, but it’s not quite the layup it used to be. Last year, being short the yen and long the peso was easy money. The yen will probably continue to rally from here.

Starbucks Jumps 25%

Shares of Starbucks (SBUX) soared 25% in today’s trading. I wish I could say the reason for the move is that the coffee giant is selling lots more coffee. Instead, it’s that they fired their CEO.

I have to admit that if I were CEO of a company and it gained $21 billion on the news of my firing, I’d take it personally. This looks to be SBUX’s best day since its IPO in 1992.

Starbucks has appointed Brian Niccol, the current top banana at Chipotle (CMG) to take over the reins at Starbucks. He will replace Laxman Narasimhan who’s been in charge for the last 16 months. Niccol officially takes over on September 9. Shares of CMG closed lower by 7.5% today.

This is a bold move. To be honest, things were not going well at Starbucks. In April, the coffee people cut their guidance for the second time this year. The problem Starbucks faces is tougher competition in China.

Howard Schultz, the founder and guiding light of Starbucks, was publicly critical of Narasimhan. According to the WSJ, since Narasimhan took over, shares of SBUX are down 22% while the S&P 500 is up more than 36%.

Not surprisingly, activist investors had been pushing Starbucks to make some big changes. These are firms that take a position in a struggling business and urge it to change course. In its last report, Starbucks said that same-store sales are down 3%.

Niccol has been at Chipotle since 2018 and, going by the share price, he’s done a very good job. In March 2018, the stock was going for about $6.50 per share. Yesterday, Chipotle closed at $55.87 per share.

While a lot of restaurants have been feeling the squeeze, Chipotle has prospered. About Niccol, Howard Schultz said, “I believe he is the leader Starbucks needs at a pivotal moment in its history. He has my respect and full support.”

One of the mistakes of investment analysis is to give a CEO too much credit. It’s not that there aren’t better and worse CEOs – there certainly are. However, what you often see is a successful CEO at the right place and right time. Perhaps the business climate turned in their favor or a competitor has made some major mistake. It’s only natural that investors will see that as the magic of the CEO.

The great baseball manager Casey Stengel won seven World Series with the Yankees and had some of the worst records in the modern era with the Mets. Why? Well, the Yankees were a lot better than the Mets. Stengel wasn’t responsible for all of that.

In fact, the successful CEO is often the one who realizes that a big opportunity has come along. I’d love to own Starbucks – it’s a great business – but I want to see proof of a turnaround before I see it as a buy.

That’s all for now. I’ll have more for you in the next issue of CWS Market Review.

– Eddy

Posted by on August 13th, 2024 at 5:14 pm


The information in this blog post represents my own opinions and does not contain a recommendation for any particular security or investment. I or my affiliates may hold positions or other interests in securities mentioned in the Blog, please see my Disclaimer page for my full disclaimer.