While not quite as damning as its 2018 credit forecast, Morgan Stanley's chief equity strategist Michael Wilson released his 2018 equity outlook this morning, and unlike his last full year forecast which in retrospect was surprisingly accurate, is far more contained, if not outright pessimistic. Wilson himself is quick to remark on just how much conditions have changed over the past 11 months:
Authored by Chris Whalen via The Institutional Risk Analyst,
The term “Greenspan Put” was coined after the stock market crash of 1987 and the subsequent bailout of Long Term Capital Management in 1998. The Fed under Chairman Alan Greenspan lowered interest rates following the fabled event of default and life continued.
While many have repeatedly warned over the past year that the record gains in credit are simply too good to stay - especially in Europe where yields and spreads have collapsed largely thanks to the ECB's relentless purchases of corporate debt, with the central bank announcing on Monday it held a record €127.7bn in bonds under its CSPP program - few are as bearish on credit as Morgan Stanley, which today issued ots 2018 US Credit Outlook which is, in a word, "dire."
It's a busy week as traders return from the long Thanksgiving holiday, with inflation releases in the Eurozone and Japan. We'll also get the second estimate of US GDP, housing data and ISM manufacturing, UK monetary aggregates and PMIs in China. Finally, the Russia-OPEC meeting takes place in Vienna on November 30, while the Senate hearing of Fed chair nominee Powell and Yellen's testimony before Congress will be closely watched. The Senate tax vote, tentatively expected on Thursday, will be the week's key event.
The traditionally illiquid post-Thanksgiving week has started with a series of whipsaws across stocks and bonds, as European stocks turned positive after starting the day on the back foot, initially mirroring a slide in Chinese stocks and price action in U.S. equity futures as investors look to a possible - and absolutely critical - tax-plan vote in the Senate this week.