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A bleak decade ahead for US equities

Some analysis has recently emerged pointing to a bleak decade for equities, and US equities in particular. Mark Hulbert highlighted a model outlined in the Philosophical Economics blog, entitled "the single greatest predictor of future stock market returns". The model is based on US household allocation to equities and uses the levels as a contrarian indicator.
Notice that the household equity allocation is the flip side of the coin from household cash — sometimes referred to as sideline cash. Higher cash levels are therefore bullish and, sure enough, household cash allocations have risen markedly as equity allocations have fallen. But backtesting has shown that household equity allocation is the better predictor. In fact, according to Ned Davis Research, it is able to explain 77% of the variation in the stock market’s return in all 10-year periods since 1951. I am aware of no other indicator that does as well.

Hulbert continued:
Consider a simple econometric model I constructed from quarterly household equity allocation data since 1951 and the stock market’s subsequent inflation-adjusted total return at each step along the way. Based on the year-end 2019 allocation level, that model projected a 10-year inflation-adjusted return of negative 1.3% annualized.That -1.3% expected real return was based on year-end 2019 data. Q1 2020 figures are in, and we all know what happened in March, namely the COVID Crash. According to Hulbert, projected annualized real returns improved to a positive 2.3% based on March 31 levels. Fast forward to today, the market has recovered most of its losses, and expected inflation-adjusted returns are undoubtedly negative again.

The news is even worse than that. The projected returns are calculated before fees. If an investor were to create a balanced portfolio consisting of some stocks and bonds. Add in some trading costs and management fees, diversification and frictional costs could easily subtract another 1%-2% from overall returns.

The full post can be found here.

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