Risk Consolidates, PMIs in focus

Risk began on a solid footing in the Asia trade but has since faltered as attention turns to weaker PMIs in Australia and Japan and the raft of PMIs to be released later today as well as the high stakes EUCO meeting. Aussie stocks again lagging Asian counterparts, at the time of writing Nikkei +1.36%, KOSPI +0.83%, Hang Seng +0.39%, ASX200 -0.46%.

Weakness presenting in higher beta Aussie stocks that have bounced back strongly, ahead of reporting season. The price action in oil markets this week, a market with true price discovery that has not been altered by the “unlimited” liquidity from Central Banks, warning the rapid rebound in risk assets has perhaps run its course against the real economy backdrop. The ongoing sharp contraction in both the real economy and corporate earnings leaves little margin for error at current above average valuations, which are based on likely overstated earnings estimates. As it becomes more apparent that the road to recovery and widespread testing/vaccination is long and winding, the pipedream of a mean reverting snapback in activity in the 2H becomes more distant. This calls into question the sustainability of the bounce and continues to cap sentiment. The Aussie banks continue to weigh on the index, another headwind holding back the ASX200. As we wrote earlier this week, as the outlook for the banks and their traditionally juicy dividend payments becomes cloudier, the opportunity cost of these holdings grows. Headwinds include rising consumer credit defaults and bad debts across residential mortgage books and higher impairment charges denting profits. The share prices have already corrected significantly, but there is capacity for ongoing pressure particularly as we expect dividends will likely be deferred to 0 for the first half of 2020. The panic deleveraging of Q1 may be past, but dividend cuts remain a prompt for retail selling, particularly for pensioners reliant on dividends for income. Until this uncertainty is resolved when the big four (CBA, WBC, ANZ, NAB) update the market in May, it will be hard for Aussie stocks to push much higher from these levels.