Last year was 12 months of “insurrection, infections and inflation”, says Randall Forsyth in Barron’s. But you wouldn’t think it from looking at the markets. America’s S&P 500 index finished the year up nearly 27%. The rally has been a testament to the “power of money, conjured and created by central banks” – money that has funded government borrowing “on a scale never experienced in peacetime” and sent assets to record highs.
Time and again, investors “brushed off” news that would have “derailed” previous bull markets, say Anna-Louise Jackson and John Schmidt on Forbes. A contested US election, historically high inflation, broken supply chains and a “still-raging” pandemic all failed to upend stocks. The S&P 500 recorded “70 all-time highs in 2021”, the highest number since 1995. The frenzy spilled beyond Wall Street: the total market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies tripled last year. Bitcoin ended the year up 60%.
Volatility ahead
Global financial markets are entering “a new phase” in 2022, says Katie Martin in the Financial Times. The start of the pandemic in 2020 brought crisis and a short but brutal bear market. Then central banks “flooded the system with stimulus”, which has driven a 20-month period of “runaway returns”. Now we have “crunch time”. The Bank of England has already hiked interest rates, with others likely to follow. If 2021 was an unusually calm year in markets, we should expect that the next 12 months will bring much nervier trading.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Central banks hope to spend 2022 slowly weaning investors off easy money, avoiding big financial upsets along the way. That may not be easy. “The nightmare scenario is: the Fed tightens and it doesn’t help,” says Aaron Brown, a former trader and risk manager who now teaches at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences, in The New York Times. If policymakers can’t bring about a soft landing for the economy and inflation continues to rip, the Fed might be forced into “very aggressive action like a rate hike to 15 percent, or wage and price controls, like we tried in the 1970s”.
A long way down
Last year’s returns were powered by a strong earnings rebound, says Sam Goldfarb in The Wall Street Journal. US corporate earnings rose about 45.1% year-on-year in 2021. Growth is forecast to fall to 9.2% this year, according to data from FactSet. That would still be as good as 2017 (when the S&P 500 gained 19%), but highly valued US markets may now be more vulnerable to higher interest rates. “By some measures, stocks now trade at their highest prices relative to companies’ earnings since the late 1990s’ dotcom bubble.”
It doesn’t take “an investment genius” to see that stocks, “all puffed up by ultra-low interest rates”, are in for a rough ride as central banks normalise rates, says Jeremy Warner in The Daily Telegraph. Policymakers have been caught napping by inflation, which is running at 5.1% in the UK and 6.8% in America. It’s likely that they will “have to act much more robustly to tame the inflationary tiger”. That “would spell big trouble for stock prices”.
-
Rachel Reeves faces £23 billion capital gains tax “black hole” – will she be forced to look elsewhere?The fiscal watchdog has downgraded its forecast for capital gains tax revenues, leaving chancellor Rachel Reeves with £23 billion less than previously expected
-
Protests erupt in Turkey after the arrest of Erdogan's rivalTurkey's president has jailed his main political opponent, Ekrem Imamoglu
-
Large cap stocks start to struggle – is it time for investors to reassess their focus?Buying quality large caps worked very well last decade. A more volatile world will be a bigger challenge for these star stocks, says Cris Sholto Heaton
-
How to generate income with fixed-interest investmentsPublic debt is overvalued, but other fixed-interest investments now look like a bargain, says Max King
-
Three top-notch Taiwanese companies cashing in on the advent of AIOpinion Eric Chan, investment director and co-manager of the Aberdeen Asian Income Fund, highlights three potential Taiwanese winners in the technology industry
-
Weight-loss drugs could revolutionise the economy – the investments to buy nowThe new generation of weight-loss drugs are a boon for the overweight, but they also promise to change our relationship with food and revolutionise the economy
-
Find tomorrow’s Asian giants while they are still smaller companiesOpinion Nitin Bajaj, portfolio manager of the Fidelity Asian Values trust, picks three Asian companies to invest in.
-
AI will maintain Moody’s market lead, says Stephen ConnollyOpinion Veteran data provider Moody's has adapted well to the modern world, and is one of Warren Buffett’s longest-held investments
-
Is BlackRock World Mining gearing for a recovery?Opinion After a frustrating year, BlackRock World Mining is positioned for growth and to capitalise on the sector's recovery
-
Should you limit exposure to US tech stocks?An end to the AI boom would shake both US funds and global trackers. Here’s one way to trim exposure to US tech stocks
