March 18, 2023 | Volatility of Stocks, Consumer Price Index, Producer Price Index, Gas Prices and Where You Should Put Your Cash

Volatility of Stocks
It amazes me how people believe that stocks are too risky and real estate is a much safer investment. Looking back nearly 50 years the truth is stocks have more volatility than real estate, but the returns on stocks far outperform real estate. Using a nationwide real estate Index versus the S&P 500 from 1975 to 2022, a $100 investment in US real estate would be up about nine times to $928, a pretty good return. $100 invested in the S&P 500 from 1975 to 2022 would have grown to $19,351. From 1990 to 2006 there is a period known as the great moderation where real estate outperformed the S&P 500. Looking back on history and realizing how much real estate has increased because of Covid I begin to wonder if we could be in for a long-term period of slowly increasing real estate and after inflation, perhaps a negative return. People tend to look at the recent history which can fool one into making poor investment decisions. People think just because something went up in the past it will continue to do the same going forward, but they do not realize that great advancements can lead to moderation for years to come. Why do people do so poorly in stocks? They confuse the volatility with risk and many times during a short-term decline in equities they will head for the exits and miss the great long-term returns that good solid equities can provide investors.

 

Consumer Price Index
Inflation in the month of February continued its downward trajectory as the CPI increased 6% compared to last year. This was right in line with expectations and comes in lower than January's 6.4% reading and the peak of 9% in June of last year. Many of the normal culprits remained elevated with transportation services up 14.6% (airfares were up 26.5%), energy services were up 13.3% (electricity was up 12.9% and utility gas service was up 14.3%), and food was up 9.5%. There were some positives as gasoline was down 2.5%, citrus fruits were down 1.2%, beef & veal were down 1.4%, bacon was down 5.9%, major appliances were down 5.9%, used cars were down 13.6%, and televisions were down 14.8%. It is nice to see there are more categories in these reports showing a decline. When looking at core inflation, which backs out food and energy, it came in at 5.5%. A heavy weight in the report was shelter as costs were up 8.1%, if we backed this out from the core inflation it would have been 4%. I remain very optimistic over the trajectory of inflation especially when we consider the shelter index. It's important to remember that the index lags real time data as it takes time for leases to roll over into a new contract. Landlords typically renew leases every 12 months, which means current price dynamics won’t be reflected in new contracts for a year. I still believe CPI could end 2023 around 4%.

 

Producer Price Index
The Producer Price Index (PPI) came in with a huge surprise, declining 0.1% in the month of February vs the expectation for a 0.3% increase. Compared to last February, the PPI grew just 4.6% which was down from January's annual gain of 5.7% and well off the peak level of 11.7% in March 2022. This was the lowest annual increase since March 2021 when it was 4.1%. Retail sales did show a 0.4% decline in the month, which could be good news considering it indicates a slowing economy. Year-over-year retail sales were up 5.4%. Food services and drinking places remained a big destination for consumers dollars as sales were up 15.3% compared to last February. Non-store retailers were also strong, up 8.5%, and grocery stores were up 5.8%, likely benefitting from higher food prices. Areas of weakness included electronics & appliance stores down 2.8%, motor vehicles & parts dealers down 0.2%, and gas stations were down 1.9%. I continue to believe that the data is showing a softening in the economy, which is providing relief to the high inflation levels we experienced last year. I continue to believe the Fed should hold rates where they are for the time being. With that said I still do not believe they should cut rates at all in 2023.

 

Gas Prices
You may not be able to tell by the price of gas at the pump here in California, but oil has dropped down to under $70/barrel this week. Remember last year, about nine months ago when crude prices hit $122/barrel? I’m glad those days are gone. The reason for the decline is with the bank failures and also a big selloff in the international bank Credit Suisse some are thinking the economy is slowing down and less oil will be used. It will take a little bit of time for the big reduction in the price per barrel to flow through to the pump at the gas station, but it may not last long. We have the reopening of China's economy which could increase demand for petroleum and remember all the oil that was taken out of the strategic petroleum reserves? Well, that must be replaced. The talk was they should be buying it back anywhere between $67/barrel to $72/barrel. Let’s see if the government follows through with their plan. If they do, that would be more upward pressure on the price of oil.

 

Harrison’s Topic: “Where should you put your cash?”