There was no single catalyst for the recent selloff, but an underlying investor concern is whether the slowdown in China and other emerging markets will drag the United States into a recession. While I haven’t been overly bullish on U.S. growth, I believe this fear is overblown.
1. The United States is a relatively closed economy
Most U.S. economic activity, nearly 70% of it, comes from domestic consumption. While the country isn’t immune to external shocks, there needs to be a transmission mechanism, such as a spike in oil prices, to impact the domestic economy.Though a strong dollar and weakness in China have had a negative impact on U.S. corporate earnings, neither has had a material impact on overall U.S. growth. In fact, some of the disruptions from overseas come with silver linings for U.S. consumption and growth: lower rates and cheaper oil.
2. Higher rates are unlikely to derail the recoveryRates are falling, supporting the housing market. Given low inflation and falling inflation expectations, the Federal Reserve (Fed) is likely, at most, to execute a single rate hike this year. This is in contrast to how most recessions start,
with the Fed moving too aggressively and rates rising too rapidly.
3. Cheaper oil is a positive for U.S. consumersThough the U.S. now has a large domestic energy industry that is feeling the pain from lower oil and
the U.S. consumer certainly faces many headwinds, cheaper gasoline should support U.S. consumption.
4. There is little statistical evidence that the U.S. economy is slowingPrior to the last recession there were several red flags signifying a recession ahead. According to Bloomberg data, leading indicators had been negative for nearly two years, new manufacturing orders slipped into contraction territory in January 2008 and the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI), my preferred metric for forecasting near-term activity, had been consistently in negative territory for most of 2007 and all of 2008.
This time around, lower rates and cheaper gasoline help explain why the numbers look very different, as Bloomberg data show. The CFNAI actually hit a 7-month high in July, leading indicators are up roughly 4 percent year-over-year, and despite the slowdown in China, the new orders component of the U.S. ISM survey is 56.5, consistent with solid if uninspiring growth.
My cautiously optimistic view comes with two caveats. First, in
today’s slow growth world, it won’t take much to knock the U.S. economy off of its trajectory. As we’ve seen in recent years, a cold winter is enough to cause
at least a temporary contraction.
Second, it’s possible to have a bear market without a recession, though I don’t expect this to occur. But if international market volatility becomes severe enough, it could drag down U.S. stocks, even as the U.S. economy continues to grow.
Russ Koesterich, CFA, is the Chief Investment Strategist for BlackRock. He is a regular contributor to The Blog.