Over the past decade, outside of a handful of large technology companies, earnings per share (EPS) growth has, in part, been a function of financial engineering (by way of share buybacks). All this is made possible by low interest rates. As governments continue to pile on the debt and artificially keep interest rates low, this can continue, and will based on what central banks are telling us. Is it fundamentally bullish—NO WAY! Can stocks keep responding—YES THEY CAN! When we look at Europe (VGK) and Emerging Markets (EEM) EPS growth in the past decade, there isn’t any. I mean ZERO, NADA, DIE NULL. The markets are very sensitive to interest rates. More than ever before.

Normalized EPS Global Market Indexes (10yrs)

When we look for markets that have delivered EPS growth we see the NASDAQ as the standout. A huge percentage of that was share buybacks and tax cuts (2018+) in recent years. They are also less impressive when we look at GAAP earnings. When we strip out that concentrated earnings growth, earnings growth in the US, that has beaten the rest of the world, most of the market growth has come from multiple expansion (largely due to the low rate environment). This begs the question, with low rates in Japan and Europe, why have their markets not responded? It looks like they are starting to as the large cap technology stocks driving the US markets, are VERY expensive.

When we look at the yield that the typical 60:40 balanced portfolio offers (US data, Canada is a bit higher on equities and a bit lower on bonds). The median (dividend plus interest) return historically is over 4%. Today, it’s never been lower. The markets are extremely sensitive now to interest rates as that has been the primary driving factor over the past decade as central banks use their balance sheets to keep the economy going. I would ague, the moral hazard in markets has never been higher.

Don’t miss the current Berman’s Call virtual roadshow. If you missed one, you can see all of the replays here. Sign up for the series by clicking here. The series will run every Thursday at 7pm ET through December 3. There will be lots of opportunity to ask questions of markets and your favourite ETFs and stocks.

Subscribe to my new YouTube channel LarryBermanOfficial which is the new site for all our educational content and my new weekly market recap and ETF bull and bear picks of the week.

Follow Larry
—–
YouTube: LarryBermanOfficial
Twitter: @LarryBermanETF
Facebook: @LarryBermanETF
LinkedIn: LarryBerman

ETF Capital Management: www.etfcm.com