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U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

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Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#21

I understand that the economy and the market are different but I'm so confused. The S&P is up ~12% this month, despite massive unemployment, a shrinking economy, and serious long-term questions about the outlook. Is most of the 12% just market speculation that the virus issue will pass without a long-term earnings hit?

Fed is printing money and it needs to go somewhere. They are buying everyone’s distressed assets including dumping money into junk bond etfs.

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#22
NB this is for the first quarter of 2020, which had hardly any impact from Covid-19 - lockdowns mostly happened late March and the start of April.

So the second quarter will be a better reflection of the impact of shutdowns and changes in consumer behaviour/travel, but we won't see figures for that for a while.

Almost more worrying, 20% of the value of the S&P 500 is now concentrated in the top 5 tech stocks, which are vulnerable in these conditions (advertising spend is dropping dramatically and unemployment is rising).

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/13/five-biggest-stocks-dwarfing...

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#23

I understand that the economy and the market are different but I'm so confused. The S&P is up ~12% this month, despite massive unemployment, a shrinking economy, and serious long-term questions about the outlook. Is most of the 12% just market speculation that the virus issue will pass without a long-term earnings hit?

S&P only has only 500 companies indexed. Lots of SMBs are not even public, and they are simply getting wiped out by the current situation.

The 17 min documentary from Netflix might be interesting here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCFkWDdmXG8

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#24

I understand that the economy and the market are different but I'm so confused. The S&P is up ~12% this month, despite massive unemployment, a shrinking economy, and serious long-term questions about the outlook. Is most of the 12% just market speculation that the virus issue will pass without a long-term earnings hit?

?? What is the purpose in comparing metrics about our economy recessing based on production of goods vs a market for pieces of company ownership. They are not and never have been the same and there is no law they must follow the same trend

Sure, if you ignore that the companies are the ones producing and selling those goods. And that their well-being depends on how many they sell.

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#25

Thats 4.8% annualized. The real figure is 1.17% for 3 months. It's quite impressively small really, considering everyone is sitting at home, and many aren't working at all.

Skews towards the end of the quarter, probably. Much steeper drop in Q2 coming.

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#27

I understand that the economy and the market are different but I'm so confused. The S&P is up ~12% this month, despite massive unemployment, a shrinking economy, and serious long-term questions about the outlook. Is most of the 12% just market speculation that the virus issue will pass without a long-term earnings hit?

It is a bet on the continued support of the market by the Fed.

If you're interested in preserving purchasing power 15 years from now, would you rather hold dollars or things today?

As a value investor, all of my theses were blown out of the water by the unprecedented Fed intervention. It is an environment in which the fundamentals are uncertain. I'm standing pat and waiting for things to make sense before moving again.

The trailing (!) S&P P/E is greater than 20 right now. The Fed is supporting prices above their historical mean/median of 15. It makes zero sense, from a financial standpoint, unless the market is pricing in substantial inflation.

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#28

Thats 4.8% annualized. The real figure is 1.17% for 3 months. It's quite impressively small really, considering everyone is sitting at home, and many aren't working at all.

Not when you factor in that shutdowns didn't really start until the very end of the quarter. According to Wikipedia[1], earliest state stay-at-home order was March 19 in California and 19 states either waited until April or never issued a stay-at-home order.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._state_and_local_governmen...

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#29

I understand that the economy and the market are different but I'm so confused. The S&P is up ~12% this month, despite massive unemployment, a shrinking economy, and serious long-term questions about the outlook. Is most of the 12% just market speculation that the virus issue will pass without a long-term earnings hit?

The market is a Keynesian contest. Prices are not based on some imaginary formula of GDP or profits. It’s based on sentiment, and thinking what other ppl feel about the market.

You wouldn’t bet the economy will be normal by the end of the year but you might bet others think it might.

Re: U.S. Economy Shrinks at 4.8% Pace, Signaling Start of Recession

#30

I understand that the economy and the market are different but I'm so confused. The S&P is up ~12% this month, despite massive unemployment, a shrinking economy, and serious long-term questions about the outlook. Is most of the 12% just market speculation that the virus issue will pass without a long-term earnings hit?

The stock market is a reflection of rich people's opinions.

It's going up because poor people are being forced back to work.

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