The growth style has helped U.S. markets and stock exchange traded funds rebound toward record highs, leaving behind value plays.
Year-to-date, the iShares S&P 500 Value ETF (NYSEArca: IVE) declined 12.2%, compared to the 13.7% return for the iShares S&P 500 Growth ETF (NYSEArca: IVW) and the 1.7% gain for the broader iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSEArca: IVV).
Over the past decade, growth and momentum have stood out, outperforming the value investment style. Looking at the recent market rebound, the Russell 1000 growth index jumped 53% from the March 23 low, compared to the 37% rally in the Russell 1000 value index, Reuters reports.
Value stocks typically to better as an economy rebounds from a recession. While market observers are still waiting on this sharp economic recovery, expectations are becoming tempered as more look to a prolonged recovery process with lockdowns being reinstated to combat a resurgence in coronavirus infections.
Recent economic data revealed gross domestic product suffered its worst contraction on record over the second quarter, and policy statement out of the Federal Reserve also painted a dimmer economic picture.
“It is virtually impossible for value to start to get sponsorship unless and until we have a better answer on economic growth,” Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities, told Reuters. “So you are never going to see a value sector, value company, value investor shine unless the projection for economic growth significantly improves and we don’t really have that necessarily this year.”
The Commerce Department revealed that gross domestic product plunged at a 32.9% annualized rate, its steepest decline in output since the government began keeping records in 1947. Furthermore, weekly initial jobless claims rose to 1.434 million. After its latest policy meeting, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the recent increase in Covid-19 cases is also negatively affecting economic activity.
“You can’t dial up a worse situation for value stocks than the biggest collapse ever in a quarter in the post-war history of the United States. That’s got to be the worst possible environment for value stocks,” Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at The Leuthold Group, told Reuters.
For more information on the markets, visit our current affairs category.