Quiz!
What typically happens to stocks when interest rates & inflation rise? (There may be multiple answers.)
- Stocks go down.
- Stocks go up.
- Growth (high P/B) stocks go down.
- Growth (high P/B) stocks go up.
- Value (low P/B) stocks go down.
- Value (low P/B) stocks go up.
Look for the answer below and read this month’s article for a discussion.
What Happens When Interest Rates & Inflation Rise?
Optimism about the pandemic’s direction led to expectation for inflation along with rising interest rates in the past month. The direct impact of inflation and rising rates is damage to stocks & bonds. This is especially true for growth (high P/B) stocks that obtain much of their value from earnings far into the future – earnings that are less valuable, the higher the inflation.
Beyond the initial reaction, value and Emerging Markets (EM) investments tend to do very well from conditions like today. The closest example is the behavior of Extended-Term Component (ET) in 2003.
| Extended-Term Component (ET) Behavior with Expectation for Higher Interest Rates and Inflation | ||
| 6/9/2003 | 2/26/2021 | |
| ET P/B | 0.93 | 1.01 (lower equivalent given the profitability tilt since 2014) |
| Time since recent low | 8 months | 11 months |
| 10-year treasury rates | Increased fast (2% in 2 months) | Increased (1% in 7 months) |
| Federal rates went up starting | 1 year later (6/30/2004) | ? |
| Federal rates went up by | 4.25% in 2 years! | ? |
| Dollar | High and declining | High, and peaked recently |
| ET gained | An additional 449% in 4.5 years | ? |
Every case is different, and I don’t necessarily expect a repeat gain of 449% in 4.5 years. This information shows that rising rates have not been bad for your investments historically.
Note that in the example above, growth stocks also did very well, but their valuations were substantially lower than today. Between the positive forces of the economy and stimulus and the negative impact of extreme valuations, it is tough to predict gains or declines for growth stocks.
While I cannot predict future returns, there are a number of factors that would lead me to optimism for both EM and Value investments in upcoming years. Here is some logic:
- Interest rates reached record lows in recent months, and there are mounting forces for higher interest rates and inflation. This hurts growth stocks, making value stocks more attractive on a relative basis.
- During economic recoveries, cyclical value stocks tend to do especially well.
- The dollar is relatively high, and has plenty of room to go down, increasing the value of non-US investments.
- An economic recovery from the pandemic would lead to a benefit for stocks in general, especially ones that are not already priced high. The discount of value stocks relative to growth stocks is still at a real extreme.
- Beyond value vs. growth, EM Value stocks are priced extremely low relative to US Value stocks.
While the 2003 example above seems most relevant, a more recent situation of rising rates was 2016-2017, where ET enjoyed a 99% gain in about 2 years, within weeks after the Fed started raising rates. To emphasize, no specific result is guaranteed, but fear of rising rates hurting EM and Value stocks would not be rooted in past experience.
Quiz Answer:
What typically happens to stocks when interest rates & inflation rise? (There may be multiple answers.)
- Stocks go down.
- Stocks go up. [Correct Answer]
- Growth (high P/B) stocks go down.
- Growth (high P/B) stocks go up. [Correct Answer]
- Value (low P/B) stocks go down.
- Value (low P/B) stocks go up. [Correct Answer]
Explanations: In general, stocks tend to go up when interest rates & inflation go up, reflecting an expanding economy. Value stocks tend to outperform growth stocks, as the higher rates & inflation hurt the value of future earnings. Note that the valuations of growth stocks are extremely high at this point, so it is tough to project their future.
Disclosures Including Backtested Performance Data