Monthly Market Update

Jobs Soar, Easing Recession Fears

• Gross Domestic Product ⁽¹⁾⁽²⁾ (3Q24): The GDPNow model estimate for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the third quarter of 2024 is 2.5% on October 1, down from 3.1% on September 27.
• Employment ⁽³⁾⁽⁵⁾ (September): Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 254,000 in September, and the unemployment rate changed little at 4.1%, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. The labor force participation rate was 62.7% for the third consecutive month. Employment continued to trend up in food services and drinking places, health care, government, social assistance, and construction.
• Inflation ⁽⁴⁾ (August): The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis, the same increase as in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Over the last 12 months, the all items index increased 2.5% before seasonal adjustment. The index for all items less food and energy rose 0.3% in August, after rising 0.2% the preceding month. The all items less food and energy index rose 3.2% over the last 12 months.
• The Producer Price Index (PPI) (August): The Producer Price Index for final demand increased 0.2% in August, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. On an unadjusted basis, the index for final demand advanced 1.7% for the 12 months ended in August.
• Retail and Food Services Sales ⁽⁶⁾ (August): Advance estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales for August 2024, adjusted for seasonal variation and holiday and trading-day differences, but not for price changes, were $710.8 billion, an increase of 0.1% (±0.5%) from the previous month, and up 2.1% (±0.5%) from August 2023.
• Personal Income and PCE ⁽⁹⁾ (August): Personal income increased $50.5 billion (0.2% at a monthly rate) in August, according to estimates released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. From the preceding month, the PCE price index for August increased 0.1%. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.1%. From the same month one year ago, the PCE price index for August increased 2.2%. Food prices increased 1.1% and energy prices decreased 5.0%. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 2.7% from one year ago.

Fed Cuts Rates by Half Point at September Meeting

The last FOMC meeting took place on September 18^th, 2024. The Committee decided to cut federal funds rates for the first time since March 2020 to the target range of 4.75% to 5.00%. As of this writing, markets are pricing in at over a 63% of a 25-bps cut and over 36% of a 50-bps cut at the November 7^th, 2024, meeting. ⁽⁷⁾⁽⁸⁾

Highlights of Press Conference:

• First Rate Cut in 4 Years: “the Federal Open Market Committee decided to reduce the degree of policy restraint by lowering our policy interest rate by ½ percentage point. This decision reflects our growing confidence that with an appropriate recalibration of our policy stance, strength in the labor market can be maintained in a context of moderate growth and inflation moving sustainably down to 2%”.
• Chair Powell Sees No Possibility of a Downturn: “I don’t see that. You see growth at a solid rate, you see inflation coming down, and you see a labor market that’s, that’s still at very solid levels. So, I don’t really see that, no”.
• Not Going Back to Ultra-Low Rates:” Intuitively, most—many, many people anyway, would say we’re probably not going back to that era where there were trillions of dollars of sovereign bonds trading at negative rates—long-term bonds trading at negative rates. And it looked like the neutral rate was—might even be negative, so—and it was—people were issuing debt at negative rates. It seems that’s so far away now. My own sense is that we’re not going back to that”.
• Achieving Price Stability: “We’re trying to achieve a situation where we restore price stability without the kind of painful increase in unemployment that has come sometimes with disinflation. That’s what we’re trying to do. And I think you can take today’s action as a sign of our strong commitment to achieve that goal.

Monthly and YTD returns

Source: Morningstar asset class screening total return 1 month USD and total return YTD as of October 1^st, 2024¹⁰

This content is being published by Amerant Investments, Inc (Amerant Investments) a dually registered broker-dealer and investment adviser registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission and member of FINRA/SIPC. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill, endorsement, or approval. Amerant Investments is an affiliate of Amerant Bank

Definitions:

• ⁽¹⁾ Gross Domestic Product (GDP): A comprehensive measure of U.S. economic activity. GDP is the value of the goods and services produced in the United States. The growth rate of GDP is the most popular indicator of the nation’s overall economic health. Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
• ⁽²⁾ GDPNow is not an official forecast of the Atlanta Fed. Rather, it is best viewed as a running estimate of real GDP growth based on available economic data for the current measured quarter. There are no subjective adjustments made to GDPNow—the estimate is based solely on the mathematical results of the model. In particular, it does not capture the impact of COVID-19 and social mobility beyond their impact on GDP source data and relevant economic reports that have already been released. It does not anticipate their impact on forthcoming economic reports beyond the standard internal dynamics of the model.
• ⁽³⁾ The Current Employment Statistics (CES) program produces detailed industry estimates of nonfarm employment, hours, and earningsof workers on payrolls. CES National Estimates produces data for the nation, and CES State and Metro Area produces estimates for all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and about 450 metropolitan areas and divisions. Each month, CES surveys approximately 142,000 businesses and government agencies, representing approximately 689,000 individual worksites. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
• Initial Claims: An initial claim is a claim filed by an unemployed individual after a separation from an employer. The claimant requests a determination of basic eligibility for the UI program. When an initial claim is filed with a state, certain programmatic activities take place and these result in activity counts including the count of initial claims. The count of U.S. initial claims for unemployment insurance is a leading economic indicator because it is an indication of emerging labor market conditions in the country. However, these are weekly administrative data which are difficult to seasonally adjust, making the series subject to some volatility. Source: US Department of Labor (DOL).
• ⁽⁴⁾ The Consumer Price Index (CPI):Is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. Indexes are available for the U.S. and various geographic areas. Average price data for select utility, automotive fuel, and food items are also available. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
• ⁽⁵⁾ The national unemployment rate: Perhaps the most widely known labor market indicator, this statistic reflects the number of unemployed people as a percentage of the labor force. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
• The number of people in the labor force. This measure is the sum of the employed and the unemployed. In other words, the labor force level is the number of people who are either working or actively seeking work. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
• ⁽⁶⁾ Advance Monthly Sales for Retail and Food Services:Estimated monthly sales for retail and food services, adjusted and unadjusted for seasonal variations. Source: United States Census Bureau.
• ⁽⁷⁾ Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC): Responsible for implementing Open market Operations (OMOs)–the purchase and sale of securities in the open market by a central bank—which are a key tool used by the US Federal Reserve in the implementation of monetary policy. Source: Federal Reserve.
• ⁽⁸⁾ The Federal Funds Rate: Is the interest rate at which depository institutions trade federal funds (balances held at Federal Reserve Banks) with each other overnight. When a depository institution has surplus balances in its reserve account, it lends to other banks in need of larger balances. In simpler terms, a bank with excess cash, which is often referred to as liquidity, will lend to another bank that needs to quickly raise liquidity. Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
• ⁽⁹⁾ The “core” PCE price index: Is defined as personal consumption expenditures (PCE) prices excluding food and energy prices. The core PCE price index measures the prices paid by consumers for goods and services without the volatility caused by movements in food and energy prices to reveal underlying inflation trends. Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Federal Reserve, Federal Reserve Economic Database (FRED), Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, U.S. Census Bureau, Department of Housing and Human Development (HUD), U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), U..S Department of the Treasury, Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), U.S. Department of Commerce, data.gov, investor.gov, usa.gov, congress.gov, whitehouse.gov, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Morningstar, The International Monetary Funds (IMF), The World Bank (WB), European Central bank (ECB), Bank of Japan (BOJ), European Parliament, Eurostats, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), National Bureau of Statistics of the People’s Republic of China, Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), World health organization (WHO).

⁽¹⁰⁾ Financial Markets – Monthly and YTD returns (Table): Asset class performance is in USD and refers to the following indices: Equities: US Large Caps (S&P 500), Emerging Markets (MSCI EM), Europe (MSCI Europe), Japan (MSCI Japan). Fixed Income: 10-Yr. US Treasuries (BofAML US Treasury Current 10-Yr.), Emerging Markets Sovereign (USD) (JPM EMBI Global), US High Yield (BofAML US HY Master II), US Investment Grade (BarCap US Aggregate Bond), and Developed Markets Sovereign (excl. US) (JPM GBI Global Ex US). Source: Morningstar.

Important Disclosures:

The views contained herein are not to be taken as advice or a recommendation to buy or sell any investment in any jurisdiction, nor is it a commitment from Amerant Investments, Inc. or any of its affiliates to participate in any of the transactions mentioned herein. Any forecasts, figures, opinions or investment techniques and strategies set out are for information purposes only, based on certain assumptions and current market conditions and are subject to change without prior notice. All information presented herein is considered to be accurate at the time of production. This material does not contain sufficient information to support an investment decision and it should not be relied upon by you in evaluating the merits of investing in any securities or products. In addition, users should make an independent assessment of the legal, regulatory, tax, credit and accounting implications and determine, together with their own professional advisers, if any investment mentioned herein is believed to be suitable to their personal goals. Investors should ensure that they obtain all available relevant information before making any investment. It should be noted that investment involves risks, the value of investments and the income from them may fluctuate in accordance with market conditions and taxation agreements and investors may not get back the full amount invested. Both past performance and yields are not reliable indicators of current and future results.

Not FDIC Insured | Not Bank Guaranteed | May Lose Value | Not Insured By Governmental Agencies | Member FINRA/SIPC, Registered Investment Advisor