Market strategists split on ‘buying opportunity’ after post-Thanksgiving selloff

The Dow Jones Industrial Average’s (^DJI) worst daily plunge of the year sparked a split among market strategists on whether Friday was a good buying opportunity. 

The index closed down more than 900 points, while the broader S&P 500 (^GSPC) average declined 2.27{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}.

Energy, financials and industrial stocks led the markets lower amid concerns of a new COVID variant first detected in southern Africa. 

“To the extent this is not as big as Delta was ultimately, then I think maybe it’s a little bit of a buying opportunity,” Simeon Hyman, ProShares Global Investment Strategist told Yahoo Finance Live on Friday. “All the economic data of the last month or so was really, really strong—I mean, an all-time high ISM Services… Manufacturing was also high. And retail sales was up 1.7{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}.”

The Down Jones Industrial Index year-to-date. Friday's selloff was they year's largest single-day drop despite a holiday-shortened session. (Yahoo Finance)

The Down Jones Industrial Index year-to-date. Friday’s selloff was they year’s largest single-day drop despite a holiday-shortened session. (Yahoo Finance)

Other strategists are sounding off warning signs of trouble ahead. 

“I don’t see it as a buying opportunity. I see this as the first leg of a multistep downward move in the S&P “, Ed Budowsky, a Chapwood Investments managing partner, told Yahoo Finance Live (video above). “This new variant is an excuse to sell off the market, because the market is so overpriced.”

Chapwood added that the market “has been 31{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} overvalued for a number of months. It’s definitely going to be a downward move going into 2022. … You just can not support and justify for a long period of time, this kind of valuation.” said the strategist.

The Dow Jones Industrial average declined more than 1,000 points at one point during Friday’s shortened trading session.

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - NOVEMBER 25: Actor Rubén Cerda as 'Santa Claus', and Grinch behind performing during lighting of the Christmas tree in Xochimilco, on November 25, 2021 in Xochimilco, Mexico. (Photo by Medios y Media/Getty Images)

Actor Rubén Cerda as ‘Santa Claus’, and Grinch behind performing during lighting of the Christmas tree in Xochimilco, on November 25, 2021 in Xochimilco, Mexico. (Photo by Medios y Media/Getty Images)

Travel-related stocks were among the sectors that slid on Friday over concerns of renewed lockdowns and tighter restrictions. Stay-at-home trades, meanwhile, rebounded: Video calling software-maker Zoom (ZM) was up more than 7{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}. At-home-fitness company Peloton Interactive (PTON) gained more than 5{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996} during the shortened trading session. 

“I think it’s a reaction to the uncertainty,” BNP Paribas Asset Management Chief Market Strategist and Co-Head Investment Insights Centre Daniel Morris said on Yahoo Finance Live, later adding: “We clearly are going into the winter and it does seem, at this point, anticipating the potential problems as opposed to waiting to see if they’re confirmed.”

Vaccine maker Pfizer (PFE) hit an all-time-high on Friday after a Citi analyst highlighted the company is capable of producing a variant shot in 100 days.

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U.S. Treasurys market is ‘not well’ as ‘signs of illiquidity abound,’ B. of A. rates strategists say

Indicators of trouble are cropping up in the world’s premier, most liquid governing administration-securities marketplace, B. of A. rates strategists say.

Big moves on really very low volumes of Treasury inflation-guarded securities, or Suggestions, breakevens, a gauge of U.S. inflation expectations, are among the the indications that the prices industry is unsettled, the strategists say. “Collapsed” depth in the deal buy e-book for 2-yr Treasury futures and a 30-12 months auction past week, which Jefferies analysts described as “disastrous,” also are currently being cited as evidence of emerging troubles.

“While each and every of these in isolation might be simple to ignore, when merged it reveals a Treasury current market that is challenging to regulate chance even near peak Fed liquidity,” BofA strategists Mark Cabana, Ralph Axel and Meghan Swiber wrote in a be aware Monday. They mentioned the sector “is not well” and that “signs of illiquidity abound.”

“The Treasury industry is unlikely to be a very well-operating market without the need of ongoing formal sector support” for the duration of the interval that the Federal Reserve is tapering bond purchases and even outside of, they mentioned. “The Fed seems to be informed of this now.”

Treasurys are the cornerstone to U.S. economic marketplaces, employed to finance government functions, deal with interest-rate hazard, and supply a chance-free benchmark for pricing other financial devices. As a result, liquidity, or the means to acquire or offer an asset with simplicity, is very important to a balanced operating current market.

Anxieties about the persistency of U.S. inflation — along with the probable for an economic slowdown, specially if the Fed is pressured to hike its coverage charge target — have led to a time period of volatility in yields. On Friday, the 2-12 months generate
TMUBMUSD02Y,
.523{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996},
or marketplace-based amount most closely associated with the Fed’s near-expression plan route, experienced its largest one-7 days get since October 2019. Meanwhile, the 10-
TMUBMUSD10Y,
1.618{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}
and 30-12 months fees
TMUBMUSD30Y,
2.000{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}
posted their largest weekly advances since Oct. 8.

On Monday, yields turned blended in early early morning trade as traders remained focused on inflation, even though stocks pared previously gains on the working day. Dow Jones Industrial Typical
DJIA,
+.11{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}
and the S&P 500
SPX,
+.01{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}
nevertheless traded better, even though the Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
-.20{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}
was reduce.

Two of the 24 indicators that JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s
JPM,
+.26{21df340e03e388cc75c411746d1a214f72c176b221768b7ada42b4d751988996}
U.S. fixed-cash flow strategists use to measure liquidity pressure had been flashing “red” warning signs, though six had been characterized as remaining “amber,” centered on a modern report.

Should illiquidity in the Treasury sector lead to a sharp increase in prices, “a material tightening of economic conditions is probable,” the B. of A. strategists wrote. There is also a possibility that related markets like credit rating or home loans “ could grow to be illiquid and aggravate any unforeseen market place shock.”