Gov Sovereigns/Treasurys
Strong second quarter earnings suggest that the AI story is intact. Buoyed in part by this strength, tech stocks have recoupled with healthy fundamentals after a late-July swoon, posting solid August gains. We continue to see upside for the S&P 500, favoring the cyclical and AI exposure of tech, materials, and industrials. But rising bond yields remain the dominant headwind.
The US Treasury department’s attempts at yield suppression are doomed to fail unless the Federal Reserve gets involved.
Despite recent increases, long-maturity Treasury yields are roughly consistent with fundamental fair value. We see limited value in long duration plays.
An acute shortage of AI hardware will support tech stocks into year-end. However, AI companies may need to ultimately generate $10 trillion per year in revenue to justify their capex. Barring a massive increase in productivity growth, this will be very difficult to achieve. Despite today’s Treasury announcement of upsized buyback operations, bond yields are likely to remain elevated over the coming months. Rising crack spreads have reduced the demand for crude, which is not encouraging for global growth. On the FX front, recent intervention to support the yen will probably be insufficient, but there is significant long-term upside for the currency.
Despite today’s hold, the bar for a rate hike in September remains low and contingent on the next two core CPI reports.
As long as the AI boom keeps booming, all other investment considerations will remain on the back burner. However, if the AI trade fizzles, this would expose deep-seated problems within the global economy, which could very well lead to an economic downturn as early as next year.
