Takeaways from the Fed Chair Speech
CBOT: Micro E-Mini Dow Futures (
MYM1!)
The Fed’s 2022 Rate Decisions
While we reflect on 2022, an eventful year full of “the unexpected”, rate hikes have undoubtedly dominated the headlines. In eight rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings, the US central bank hiked the Fed Funds rate seven times, taking it up from 0.25% to 4.50%.
The US Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 7.0% in December 2021. After a quick runup to 9.1% in the first half of the year, it came back down to 7.1% in November 2022. If the trend continues, we may end the year with an inflation below our starting point.
However, current level is well above the 2% policy target. While the Fed emphasizes the need for on-going tightening, it expects inflation to be above 3% at year-end 2023. The Fed is on the right track, but there might be more to do.
How did the Dow Jones Industrial Index React to Fed rate hikes?
The Dow (DJIA) reached all-time high of 36,952.65 on January 5th. It pulled back 22% to 28,852 by September 30th on the back of three consecutive 75-bp rate hikes. DJIA closed at 32,920.46 on December 16th, down 10.9% year-to-date (YTD). The Dow’s Price/Earnings (P/E) was 20.49 on last Friday, down 6.9% from 22.01 year-over-year (YOY), according to Birinyi Associates/Dow Jones Market Data.
For a comparison, S&P 500 hit 4,766 at year-end 2021 and closed at 3,852 last Friday, down 19.2% YTD. The P/E ratio for S&P was 18.91 now, down 35.1% YOY (28.69).
Nasdaq 100 closed at 15,645 at year-end 2021 and settled at 11,244 last Friday, down 28.1% YTD. The P/E ratio for Nasdaq was 23.52 now, down 32.2% YOY (34.71).
What do the datasets tell us? The Dow experienced a smaller correction (-10.9%) this year, compared to the S&P (-19.2%) and the Nasdaq (-28.1%). Its valuation, as measured by P/E ratio, is in line with the S&P and Nasdaq, all in the range of 19-24. However, the Dow’s P/E declined less than 7% from its top, vs. over -30% drop for both the S&P and the Nasdaq.
Any trading opportunities?
On December 14th, DJIA opened flat at 9:30AM. It began to fall after the Fed released its rate decision at 2:00PM. The index nosedived when Fed Chair Powell delivered his speech at 2:30PM Eastern Time. By the end of the following trade day, as investors fully digested the Fed’s policy, DJIA lost 884 points, or -2.6%.
I put together a cheat-sheet to decode how DJIA anticipated and reacted to Fed Chair speeches throughout 2022. I denote T as FOMC date and T+1 the next trade date; Market Open at 9:30am, Market Close at 4:00pm; Rate decision release at 2:00pm, and Fed Chair Speech starts at 2:30pm; all the above in eastern time zone. Market reactions are represented by Up and Down.
From Market Open (T) to Market Close (T+1), the changes in DJIA value were January -342, March +829, May -174, June -643, July +665, September -743, November -575, and December -884. All market data on DJIA is from Yahoo! Finance.
Market anticipation and reaction were mixed in the early stage of this rate hike cycle. However, more recently, investors tended to have a rosy picture going into the FOMC, trading on the assumption of Fed Pivot. Each time, the Fed Chair speech brought them back to the reality of continued monetary tightening.
DJIA declined six out of eight times. Average two-day change for DJIA during the last three FOMC meetings is -734 points. If we were to place a Short Futures order for Micro Dow Futures (MYM) for two days, we would have made a very nice Christmas bonus.
MYM contract notional value is $0.50 per index point. Initial margin is $750 per contract. Hypothetically, if we captured 400 points, our 2-day payoff would be $200, or +27%.
What’s the takeaway?
Trading opportunities exist because the market is not aligned with the Fed. While Chair Powell made the point of fighting inflation forcefully over and over, investors did not take him seriously and kept dreaming of reasons for the Fed to end monetary tightening.
While the Fed moderates rate hike to 50 bp, Chair Powell states that 4.25-4.50% Fed Funds is not restrictive enough. He emphasizes the “on-going” need for tightening. Policy target for inflation is 2% and there was never a discussion to raise it. It’s very clear that the Fed’s overarching goal is to bring inflation down to 2%. Pausing is premature.
Next Fed meeting is on Jan. 31st - Feb. 1st. If DJIA repeats itself and moves up ahead of the rate decision, we may explore day-trading opportunities.
In addition to the DJIA futures, similar strategies can be applied to Micro S&P 500 Futures (MES). MYM traded 285,803 lots with an open interest of 48,564 last Friday. Micro S&P is even more liquid, with daily trade volume exceeding 2 million lots.
An alternative to the futures strategy is Options on futures. Put options on the March MES contract is currently quoted at $24.00. Options have bigger upside potentials if your market forecast is correct.
Happy Trading.
Disclaimers
*Trade ideas cited above are for illustration only, as an integral part of a case study to demonstrate the fundamental concepts in risk management under the market scenarios being discussed. They shall not be construed as investment recommendations or advice. Nor are they used to promote any specific products, or services.
CME Real-time Market Data help identify trade set-ups and express my market views. If you have futures in your trading portfolio, check out on CME Group data plans in TradingView that suit your trading needs tradingview.com/gopro/
MYM1!)The Fed’s 2022 Rate Decisions
While we reflect on 2022, an eventful year full of “the unexpected”, rate hikes have undoubtedly dominated the headlines. In eight rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meetings, the US central bank hiked the Fed Funds rate seven times, taking it up from 0.25% to 4.50%.
The US Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 7.0% in December 2021. After a quick runup to 9.1% in the first half of the year, it came back down to 7.1% in November 2022. If the trend continues, we may end the year with an inflation below our starting point.
However, current level is well above the 2% policy target. While the Fed emphasizes the need for on-going tightening, it expects inflation to be above 3% at year-end 2023. The Fed is on the right track, but there might be more to do.
How did the Dow Jones Industrial Index React to Fed rate hikes?
The Dow (DJIA) reached all-time high of 36,952.65 on January 5th. It pulled back 22% to 28,852 by September 30th on the back of three consecutive 75-bp rate hikes. DJIA closed at 32,920.46 on December 16th, down 10.9% year-to-date (YTD). The Dow’s Price/Earnings (P/E) was 20.49 on last Friday, down 6.9% from 22.01 year-over-year (YOY), according to Birinyi Associates/Dow Jones Market Data.
For a comparison, S&P 500 hit 4,766 at year-end 2021 and closed at 3,852 last Friday, down 19.2% YTD. The P/E ratio for S&P was 18.91 now, down 35.1% YOY (28.69).
Nasdaq 100 closed at 15,645 at year-end 2021 and settled at 11,244 last Friday, down 28.1% YTD. The P/E ratio for Nasdaq was 23.52 now, down 32.2% YOY (34.71).
What do the datasets tell us? The Dow experienced a smaller correction (-10.9%) this year, compared to the S&P (-19.2%) and the Nasdaq (-28.1%). Its valuation, as measured by P/E ratio, is in line with the S&P and Nasdaq, all in the range of 19-24. However, the Dow’s P/E declined less than 7% from its top, vs. over -30% drop for both the S&P and the Nasdaq.
Any trading opportunities?
On December 14th, DJIA opened flat at 9:30AM. It began to fall after the Fed released its rate decision at 2:00PM. The index nosedived when Fed Chair Powell delivered his speech at 2:30PM Eastern Time. By the end of the following trade day, as investors fully digested the Fed’s policy, DJIA lost 884 points, or -2.6%.
I put together a cheat-sheet to decode how DJIA anticipated and reacted to Fed Chair speeches throughout 2022. I denote T as FOMC date and T+1 the next trade date; Market Open at 9:30am, Market Close at 4:00pm; Rate decision release at 2:00pm, and Fed Chair Speech starts at 2:30pm; all the above in eastern time zone. Market reactions are represented by Up and Down.
From Market Open (T) to Market Close (T+1), the changes in DJIA value were January -342, March +829, May -174, June -643, July +665, September -743, November -575, and December -884. All market data on DJIA is from Yahoo! Finance.
Market anticipation and reaction were mixed in the early stage of this rate hike cycle. However, more recently, investors tended to have a rosy picture going into the FOMC, trading on the assumption of Fed Pivot. Each time, the Fed Chair speech brought them back to the reality of continued monetary tightening.
DJIA declined six out of eight times. Average two-day change for DJIA during the last three FOMC meetings is -734 points. If we were to place a Short Futures order for Micro Dow Futures (MYM) for two days, we would have made a very nice Christmas bonus.
MYM contract notional value is $0.50 per index point. Initial margin is $750 per contract. Hypothetically, if we captured 400 points, our 2-day payoff would be $200, or +27%.
What’s the takeaway?
Trading opportunities exist because the market is not aligned with the Fed. While Chair Powell made the point of fighting inflation forcefully over and over, investors did not take him seriously and kept dreaming of reasons for the Fed to end monetary tightening.
While the Fed moderates rate hike to 50 bp, Chair Powell states that 4.25-4.50% Fed Funds is not restrictive enough. He emphasizes the “on-going” need for tightening. Policy target for inflation is 2% and there was never a discussion to raise it. It’s very clear that the Fed’s overarching goal is to bring inflation down to 2%. Pausing is premature.
Next Fed meeting is on Jan. 31st - Feb. 1st. If DJIA repeats itself and moves up ahead of the rate decision, we may explore day-trading opportunities.
In addition to the DJIA futures, similar strategies can be applied to Micro S&P 500 Futures (MES). MYM traded 285,803 lots with an open interest of 48,564 last Friday. Micro S&P is even more liquid, with daily trade volume exceeding 2 million lots.
An alternative to the futures strategy is Options on futures. Put options on the March MES contract is currently quoted at $24.00. Options have bigger upside potentials if your market forecast is correct.
Happy Trading.
Disclaimers
*Trade ideas cited above are for illustration only, as an integral part of a case study to demonstrate the fundamental concepts in risk management under the market scenarios being discussed. They shall not be construed as investment recommendations or advice. Nor are they used to promote any specific products, or services.
CME Real-time Market Data help identify trade set-ups and express my market views. If you have futures in your trading portfolio, check out on CME Group data plans in TradingView that suit your trading needs tradingview.com/gopro/
Jim W. Huang, CFA
jimwenhuang@gmail.com
jimwenhuang@gmail.com
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