JHML News and Press, John Hancock Multifactor Large Cap From 03/02/22

At the moment, some variables are beginning to align that might be a sign of a recession on the horizon. Up until the Russian invasion into Ukraine, the market was nearly unanimous in thinking the Federal Reserve would increase the Fed Funds Rate by at least .25%, if not .50%. The...

Larger companies have the advantage of scale, pricing power, greater ability to pass on higher costs to consumers, and stronger negotiating power with suppliers to name a few. Net profit will be an area looked at closely given the potential for multiple Fed rate hikes which will incre...

Forecasting macro activity and managing expectations have become substantially more difficult. As the West imposes sanctions on Russia, the potential for a severe supply shock lurks – particularly for oil and natural gas. Macroeconomic risk will rise, perhaps leading to a n...

The inflation story has peaked. Our concern has moved on to recession fears. The bond market is telling us that. Bonds are a bit oversold and could be due for a bounce, but the more esoteric areas of the bond market are calling for a recession, with rate cuts to follow probably in 202...

The latest leading economic data indicate that the US expansion is intact. There are signs that the pace of economic activity will slow markedly during the first half of this year. Money-supply trends warn that a boom-to-bust transition could begin as soon as the first half of thi...

The stimulus payments led to a short-term boost in PCE, corresponding with increased economic growth. However, stimulus-fueled activity has a dark side. Economic stagnation arrives as expected as the sugar rush of liquidity continues to fade from the system. When it comes to the s...

Canada sheds 200,000 jobs in January amid omicron wave. U.S. consumer prices rise at fastest rate in 40 years. Are brighter days ahead for U.S. small cap stocks? For further details see: Red-Hot: U.S. Inflation Surges At Blistering Pace

While US large caps have also struggled lately, they’ve fared far better than their smaller counterparts. Over the past year, much of the Russell 1000’s outperformance is attributable to its bigger exposures to technology and consumer discretionary industries. The sm...

There’s an important disconnect between stocks and bonds today. Specially, I am looking at two fundamental indicators for evaluating long-term interest rates. The first is the performance of small cap stocks relative to large caps. Typically, this ratio has moved in concert wit...

Conventional wisdom holds that the U.S. economy is overheating. The jury is still out, but the latest reading on the Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow real-time growth measure is pretty grim. Economic spirits might change dramatically in the next few months, with corresponding changes i...