Looking through the Dust Storm
Merry Christmas! Santa has come
ringing bells for oil importing countries much before X-Mas with gift of almost
50% fall in crude oil prices. However,
the pace of fall in crude prices should ring alarm bells for 'stability' in the
short term. And yes, it did so for Bank
of Russia! On 16th December - just four days after the scheduled policy meeting
when Bank of Russia raised the policy rates by 100bps - the central bankers
hurried for an early morning (1a.m.) emergency meeting and further raised the
policy rate by a whopping 650bps to 17.25%. The event reminds us of Black Swan
which, once rare, have started frequenting more often now-a-days. Alas! Whether
it's a Black Swan, we will come to know only post-facto. One thing for sure,
after much of a calm for the whole of 2014, the world has suddenly been covered
under cloud of uncertainty and volatility. In this note we have attempted to
see through this dust storm and find that, there is no immediate cliff but a short road ahead (my guess is the world will borrow 12-18 months) and that's it is!
Oil at $60! What does it mean to the World and India?
The decline in crude prices is a
major boon for oil importing countries on many fronts - lower cost of living,
improved consumer sentiments, easing inflation, lower cost of capital, stronger
currency and last but not the least, lower current and fiscal deficit for these
countries. Clearly, India is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the falling
commodity prices. On the other hand, lower oil prices pose major challenges for
oil exporting countries from Middle East, Russia and Venezuela the exact
opposite would hold true - depreciating currencies, dwindling budget deficit,
soaring inflation and higher cost of living. Collectively, these oil exporters
account for less than 9% of world GDP (excluding Canada and Mexico as energy
sector contribution is not significant to their GDP) and hence mathematically
should not derail the world growth story. The cascading effect, however, could
lead to some nasty outcomes. The
construction boom in Middle East and global Oil & Gas Capex would be the
direct casualties while banks with heavy exposure to these sectors/regions
could be the indirect casualties (SocGen's exposure to CIS stands at a
staggering Eur24bn or ~60% of its equity). We believe that global economy and
financial system is much stronger today and will successful tide over these
challenges. The bigger problem is brewing elsewhere.
Welcome to the World of Deflation
|
CPI Inflation
|
Core Inflation*
|
|
CPI Inflation
|
Core Inflation*
|
US
|
0.3%
|
0.1%
|
Europe
|
0.3%
|
0.7%
|
UK
|
1.0%
|
1.2%
|
- Germany
|
0.6%
|
1.1%
|
Japan
|
2.1%
|
2.2%
|
- France
|
0.3%
|
- 0.2%
|
Canada
|
2.4%
|
2.2%
|
- Italy
|
0.2%
|
0.5%
|
China
|
1.4%
|
1.3%
|
- Spain
|
- 0.4%
|
-0.3%
|
Australia**
|
2.3%
|
2.1%
|
- Sweden
|
- 0.3%
|
0.6%
|
*Core Inflation excludes
Food and Energy **as of Sep’14
If we have to simplify the things,
with Crude Oil & CRB index as guideposts, there is clearly enough evidence
that the animal called inflation seems to be dead, at least for a foreseeable
future. Whether the crude will settle at $55, $60 or $70, is anybody's guess.
One thing is reasonably sure that it won’t be back to $100 any time soon. CRB
index (global commodities’ indicator) is closer to 2008 lows in a world which
has moved ahead 6 years. US 10-yr Treasury yields have declined by 30%+ in a
year when Fed had wound up QE and experts are discussing timing of first rate
hike. The current inflation in most of the countries which would drive global
monetary policies is in the range of 1-2% (see Table above) and unless there is
dramatic price rise across the asset classes, inflation will continue to slow
down gradually to negative zone. And that’s a problem.
Why does Inflation matter?
Price Stability is one of the
most important mandates for policy makers world over. Bank of England defines
price stability as Government’s inflation target of 2%. European Central Bank
states that the primary objective of ECB’s monetary policy is to maintain price
stability and target inflation rates of below, but close to 2%. US Fed as well
as BoJ also maintain same 2% inflation target. This struggle and desire to maintain
a LOW and STABLE inflation environment is for the fact that manageable low
inflation is critical for the steady growth of global economy. Inflations at
manageable level is also critical for equity investors as it is a key source of
corporate pricing power. The economy, as measured by GDP, is mainly composed of
wages, indirect taxes and corporate earnings*. In general, wages are linked to
inflation benchmarks while corporate earnings are driven by consumption demand. Falling prices lead to both, lower wages and
lower corporate profits and can push economy in a depressive spiral. A question
one should ask is, if inflation is manifestation of growth (demand > supply)
then isn’t a falling inflation concealing a slowing world ahead? It is!
Inflation matters because lack of it can derail the global growth story. Worst,
there are not many bankers out there or for that matter Corporates, who have much
of prior experience or a clue as to how to respond to a deflationary
environment. Deflationary impact on investment and debt are even crippling.
(*Resource Cost Income Approach Equation:
GDP= wages + rents + corporate profits + interest + Indirect taxes +
Depre + Net Income of Foreigners. As a thumb rule wages and corporate profits
account for 80-85% of GDP)
In a low inflation and faltering growth will continue to keep interest
rate low and fuel market rally
Managing (strong and stable)
growth, inflation and currency are the key tasks of a Central Bank. Unfortunately,
these are interlinked in such a way that not all of three can be achieved at
the same time. Depending upon which one of these three is at a greater risk,
goal post for a Central Banker keeps changing. Given the complexity of equation, most of the
market participants fail to keep up with the changing dynamics and therefore fail
to see consistency in actions of policy makers. RBI Governor, back home, has
refused to drop the interest rates despite inflation falling in the comfort
zone. Apart from the fact that he wants more time to conform the fall in
inflation is more permanent than temporary, I fear, the Governor, is worried
about Fed action on interest rate, in
near term – any hint of or actual rate hike by Fed will send US Dollar in a
sharp upward spiral and emerging market currencies could be the biggest
casualties. Basically, his goal post could then shift from reigning Inflation
to defending Rupee and if things go bad on that front, he won’t cut the rates.
Let’s look at the world of
Central Bankers on these three parameters.
Country
|
GDP Growth
|
Inflation
|
Fx
|
Goalpost
|
Policy Action
|
US
|
Strong - Ahead of expectation, not a cause of
worry for Fed
|
Dangerously poised to derail recovery in economy
|
Strengthening – not a cause of concern on its own
but for inflation
|
Inflation
– up it to targeted 2%
|
Continue with current low interest rates and
don’t let USD appreciate much
|
European Union
|
Faltering – if not addressed urgently could lead
economy back to recession
|
Way below target
|
Depreciating aga USD
|
Growth
– Steer economy away from danger of deflation
|
Keep interest rates low Plus add stimulus
|
Japan
|
GDP decline in Q3 has put economy back in
recession
|
Successfully
upped to 2%+
|
Depreciating sharply – architected by policy
initiatives
|
Currency
– Continue JPY devaluation to up growth & inflation
|
Continue with Abenomics – increased bond
purchases and stimulus
|
China
|
Growth below target @ 7% and softening further
|
Not a problem
|
Appreciating against competing nations
|
Growth – Add
stimulus and defend Fx competitiveness
|
Lower the interest rates to support growth and
RMB
|
US is the only country which has
stood out over the past 1 year in terms of any signs of sustainable improvement
– GDP has bounced back to 3% plus and unemployment down to . However, in an
increasingly interwoven world US rates will continue to be guided by competing
interest rates, Europe in particular. The table above aptly bring out that lower
interest rates would continue in the world and so the support to equity markets,
in terms of both – higher valuations due to lower discounting factor (lower
capital cost) and higher fund flows due to relative attractiveness compared to
other asset classes.
Risks for the world economy going into 2015 will be lower than expected
growth rate. If the same gets translated into lower earnings then it could be a
dangerous as the onus could shift entirely on lower discounting rate and
further stimulus by Central banks to support the market rally. It not only
difficult but actually hazardous to peak into the future but still we would do
it as a roadmap is necessary to guide through to the destination. If there be
storms on the way better be prepared just to improve the chances for survival. That
said, to conclude, expect growth to be lower, markets to get support for a
while from lower rates/stimulus but then eventually fade away by late 2015 or early
2016. Hopefully India will survive this dust storm and will eventually realize its
potential.
Back home, Indian economy still in a cyclical recovery phase & Modi
holds the Key
Back home, Indian economy is
still not out of woods and consumption continues to be weak. On the other hand,
Investments from private sector won’t pick up till current capacity
underutilization normalizes and infrastructure sector policy reforms are well
addressed by the Government. So ball is now clearly in Prime Minister, Mr. Modi’s
court. The good part, India is perhaps the biggest winner in the current oil
turmoil. With inflation under control, the government along with RBI can now
turn full attention to growth and reforms. Given the lack of majority in Rajya
Sabha, timing of these reforms could be tricky and there could be delays but
the direction of the change is clear. One aspect however seems to have gone
unnoticed. Last week, we visited one of the nearby Government offices and were
stunned to see the stark difference around the office premises – the usually
dusty premises were neat and clean, dumped old furniture and old files had
vanished; there was a certain sense of pride, purpose and professionalism in
the air boosting the productivity. We believe, the behavioral change which Modi
is driving is far difficult to achieve and has a far reaching consequences, the
most important being improvement in productivity and reduction in wastage of
valuable resources.
Near-term India equity market could be choppy
The recent equity correction is
welcome as it keeps market out of valuation risk-zones and offers better buying
opportunities for us. Still, at the current levels of 27400, BSE Sensex trades
at 15.9x FY16, which is not cheap. Our recent interaction with management of
portfolio companies and in general at investor conference leads us to believe
that Consumption continued to slowdown post festival period and has impacted
demand negatively across the category – credit growth to industry has slowed
down to 7.8% in October 2014 compared to 15.9% last year; credit to services
has slowed down to 8.9% compared to 21.7% last year. Though companies will
benefit from falling inflation, we believe, there is a risk of negative
surprise to Q3 earnings expectations.
Longer term India now clearly differentiated and on the verge of a
secular bull market
On 1st October 2003,
Dominic Wilson and Roopa Purushothaman at Goldman Sachs published their Global
Economics paper, ‘Dreaming with BRICS: Path to 2050’. The report moved the
global investment flows towards the potential of these four economies but with
little differentiation amongst each of them. However over a period these
markets have started getting differentiated as global investors’ learning curve
and confidence matured over the last one and half decade. The same has been
reflected in a more emphatic pricing of these markets. During 2014, there is stark dispersion in
performance* of BRIC markets - India is up 20%+ while Russia is down 48%; China
is flat while Brazil is down 18%. The
wide dispersion suggests a clear segregation of individual markets and we believe
this trend will continue to build upon.
Indian equity market undoubtedly
has far richer mix of better managed and profitable companies – IT, Financials,
Consumer Staples, Pharma and Auto companies with ROEs of (15%-30%) account for 2/3rd
of the market. The current weight of India in Emerging Markets Benchmarks is 6.5%
compared to 20.4% for China and 14.5% for South Korea. Like the domestic equity
participation (a meager 3-4% of savings), global investor allocation to India
both direct as well as indirect through higher weight for India in benchmarks
is also set to rise secularly. To sum
up, with a strong leadership and political stability at the center, accelerated
consumption from booming middle class and government effectively plugging in
the missing pieces of puzzle – manufacturing and infrastructure – the
foundation for multi-year bull market is well under formation. Stay put and add
more!
(*As of 19th Dece 2014,
MSCI Share price index in USD terms)