A reliable source for recession forecasting is the unemployment rate, which can provide signals for the beginnings and ends of recessions. The unemployment rate model (article link), updated with the December figure of 5.6%, does not signal a recession now.
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Blog Archives
The Unemployment Rate is Not Signaling a Recession: Update January 9, 2015
There is no reason why the Fed should increase the Federal Funds Rate any time soon.
In October 2014 the FED announced that QE has ended and that it is keeping record low interest rates for “a considerable time”. The question arises “When will the FED increase interest rates?” Some analysts are speculating for rate hikes in April or May this year. We believe that history may provide better guidance.
Is the Stock Market Overvalued? Estimating Returns to 2020 and Beyond
- Based on its historic trend, the stock market appears to be marginally overvalued.
- The historic trend suggests a probable real gain of about 20% over the next five years.
- Analysts’ long-term forecasts of stock returns made 3 years ago appear to have been unrealistically low.
- The Shiller Cyclically Adjusted Price to Earnings Ratio is relatively high (but not extremely high), and a market correction is possible.
Best8(S&P500 Min-Volatility) Large-Cap Portfolio Management System With S&P 500 Minimum Volatility Stocks
This model trades in highly liquid large-cap stocks selected from those considered to be minimum volatility stocks of the S&P 500 Index. It produced a simulated survivorship bias free average annual return of about 36% from Jan-2000 to end of Dec-2014.
Minimum volatility stocks should provide exposure to the stock market with potentially less risk, seeking to benefit from what is known as the low-volatility anomaly. Consequently, they should show reduced losses during declining markets, but should also show lower gains during rising markets. However, our backtests show that better returns than the broader market can be obtained under all market conditions by selecting 8 of the highest ranked stocks of a universe made up from minimum volatility stocks of the S&P 500.
Minimum Volatility Stocks: Out-Of-Sample Performance of iM’s Best12(USMV) Buy&Hold Models
The backtest reported in this article showed that ranking the holdings of USMV, the iShares MSCI USA Minimum Volatility ETF, and selecting a portfolio of the 12 top ranked stocks, provided higher returns for the buy&hold portfolio than for the underlying ETF. To test these findings out-of-sample we launched the Best12(USMV)-July-2014on Jun-30-2014 and the first sister model Best12(USMV)-Oct-2014 on Sep-29-2014. Holdings and performance have been published weekly on our website since then. So far to Dec-15-2014 these portfolios have gained 19.2% (6.8%) and 10.5% (5.3%), respectively. (USMV gains are in brackets.) The test will be expanded by the launch on Jan-5-2015 of the second of the three sister models quarterly displaced, the Best12(USMV)-Jan-2015, which again will consist of the 12 highest ranked stocks of the then point-in-time holdings of USMV.
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Revisiting “Backtesting the MAC-System – How Long is Long Enough?”
We have shown that higher retirement savings are possible with our iM(MAC-Vang) and iM(MAC-CREF) models that dynamically adjust bond/stock asset allocation using Vanguard or TIAA-CREF Funds respectively. We make use of the MAC-system to determine the allocation switch points depending on market trends. The backtest of the MAC-system stretches back almost 65 years. We are also proponents that market models should have a minimum number of variables to avoid over-optimization and possible future model breakdown. The MAC-system is such a minimized system and its robustness has been confirmed by an independent party.
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Trading the Dividend Growth Stocks of the Vanguard Dividend Growth Fund: Simulated Performance of iM’s Best10(VDIGX)
Ranking the holdings of the Vanguard Dividend Growth Fund VDIGX and selecting a portfolio of the highest ten ranked stocks provided much higher returns for the portfolio than for the underlying fund. A simulation over the time period (6/30/14 to 12/8/14) which selects periodically the 10 highest ranked stocks shows a 15.3% return while VDIGX gained 7.0%.
Getting the Most from TIAA-CREF’s Variable Annuity Accounts
A previous study found that a dynamic asset allocation strategy with Vanguard index funds produced better returns than models with static asset allocations. Changing asset allocation according to stock-market climate produced much higher returns with less risk. TIAA-CREF’s variable annuity accounts can similarly be used to improve returns for participants. Results for three models with dynamic asset allocation are provided whose performance and risk measurements are all better than those of the variable annuity accounts alone, or static combinations of those accounts.
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The Unemployment Rate: A Coincident Recession Indicator
For what is considered to be a lagging indicator of the economy, the unemployment rate provides surprisingly good signals for the beginnings and ends of recessions. We have developed a model that uses unemployment figures to produce these signals and to determine the probability of when a recession may start. We conclude, based on the historic evidence of our unemployment-derived indicators, that there will be no recession in the near future.
Minimum Volatility Stocks: iM’s Best12(USMV)-Trader
Since end of June 2014 we provided updates of our Best12(USMV) at iM, a tax efficient model which holds positions normally for at least one year. Concurrently we were testing the Best12(USMV)-Trader model. The only difference between the two models is that the Trader is not restricted to hold stocks for a 1-year minimum period and has an additional sell rule based on rank. We backtested the Trader for various periods and found its returns to be to be marginally higher than that of the tax efficient Best12(USMV) model. However, returns were more consistent.
With reference to Section 202(a)(11)(D) of the Investment Advisers Act:
We are Engineers and not Investment Advisers,
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