Whoopty Doo, Market Corrections 2022

February 17, 2022 RomanoJohnBlog

“Whoopty Doo. But what does it all mean…”– Austin Powers (2)

I will get to this famous Austin Powers quote later in the newsletter. But if you remember my January newsletter, I emphasized how I expected a rockier market in 2022. Well, guess what? That’s what we have gotten so far. The market is currently in a correction, I believe it started about the second week of January.

Corrections are normal

In fact, there have been 26 market corrections since WWII but with an average decline of 13.7%. The average recovery time in a correction is about three months.

The market is resetting itself for the future, interest rate hikes are coming, and the Fed is going to be shrinking its balance sheet. In English, this means the Fed is no longer going to be pumping trillions of dollars into the system while the government is handing out trillions of dollars of free money.

In 2021, with all this money flowing through the system and people spending it, it provided a tailwind for the economy. Think back, a lot of the people have been locked down for a year or two, and they were itching to get out and spend their money. People were bidding up the prices of homes as well as the prices of cars.

Unfortunately, now the party’s over with.

Inflation is running hot, and I mean it is sizzling.

As a sidebar, if you discuss inflation was somebody under the age of 45 or so you might receive a blank stare because we have not had high inflation since the late ’70s. Well, for Millennials and Generation Z, school is in session. What is inflation? In a nutshell, inflation is when you’re driving to work in the morning and you have half a tank of gas, but you feel like you need to fill up now because gas prices will be up later in the day.

“If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck”. – Albert Einstein.

Yes, I know Albert Einstein did not say this, but I may be going out on a limb here but some of the indicators are flashing recession in 2023.

Indicators:

Billionaire bond investor Jeffrey Gundlach said, “Consumer Sentiment plunged on Friday to a fresh decade low, and that’s been a reliable leading indicator as to where the economy is headed in the future.” (1)

Normally when people have a bad feeling about the economy, they tend to not spend as much money.

James Ballard of the Federal Reserve said on Valentine’s Day, “I do think we need to front-load more of our

planned removal of accommodation than we would have previously…”(3) He supports raising interest rates by a full percentage point by the start of July and it appears he also wants to have 3-5 others this year.

Bullard’s plan involves spreading the increases over three meetings, shrinking the Fed’s balance sheet starting in the second quarter, and then deciding on the path of rates in the second half based on updated data. (3)
No more free government money will be passed out this year.
The 10-year Treasury yield from January went from 1.5 to over 2% in one month.

The reason I see a recession in 2023 is because the Fed is going to be raising rates very aggressively. It has been my experience over the years that it takes eight or nine rate rises to really shut off demand. For example, do you think many homeowners today that are sitting in a house paying a 3% mortgage would move across town if the new mortgage rate was 6%?

Whoopty Doo, what does it all mean…?

If you were an Austin Powers movies fan, whenever he got a lot of data points, he would blurt out of

frustration, “Whoopty Doo, what does it all mean…? (2) Well, basically it means we’re in a rising interest rate environment, probably headed in a recession in around two years.

The bad news

Interest rates are heading up.
Some stock market sectors are going to underperform. And indeed, some companies with business models predicated on low-interest rates probably won’t be around here in a couple of years.

The good news

You will probably see a little better rates on your savings/checking accounts.
Prices will come down and so will inflation. Some stock market sectors are going to not only do well but flourish in this environment.
Companies that have reasonable business models with products that people will need will move to the forefront – think energy, transportation, consumer staples, banks, agriculture, commodities, and utilities.

The proper way to deal with not only this correction but more importantly, the economy, is to consistently rotate into the sectors that outperform in that kind of environment. My job is to find those sectors and rotate in. But this is exactly how I’ve been managing my clients’ accounts for years.

Sincerely, John Romano, CFP®

Office Phone Number: 352-753-8590

Email: [email protected]

John Romano, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™, has over 30 years’ experience in the financial field. John is a Registered Representative with Securities America, Inc. (a member of the FINRA and SIPC), and an Investment Advisor Representative with Securities America Advisors. He has prepared hundreds of reports for retirees to assist in their retirement income planning needs. He is dedicated to providing portfolio analysis, dividend and income information, and investment management services to retirees (and those preparing to retire) in The Villages, Florida, and throughout the United States.

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