Research Review | 16 July 2021 | Forecasting

Forecasting the Long-Term Equity Premium for Asset Allocation
Athanasios Sakkas (U. of Nottingham) and Nikolaos Tessaromatis (EDHEC)
July 12, 2021
Long-term country equity premium forecasts based on a cross-sectional global factor model (CS-GFM), where factors represent compensation for risks proxied by valuation and financial variables, are superior, statistically and economically, from forecasts based on time-series prediction models commonly used in academia and practice. CS-GFM equity premium forecasts produce significant utility gains compared to long-term asset allocation strategies based on eighteen commonly used prediction models, consistently across the US and ten developed equity markets.

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Macro Briefing: 16 July 2021

* Catastrophic flooding in Germany has killed at least 93 people
* US set to warn companies about Hong Kong’s ‘deteriorating’ situation, Biden says
* Treasury Sec. Yellen expects ‘several more months of rapid inflation’
* Yields are low despite high inflation due to liquidity, says bond manager
* Corporate debt ratings upgraded at brisk pace as economy recovers
* US industrial output rose in June but mfg component slipped
* US import prices post another strong gain in June
* The auto market is hot as shortage of computer chips limit supply
* NY Fed Mfg Index surges to record high in July
* US jobless claims fell to a new pandemic low last week:

Modeling US Stock Market Expected Returns, Part I

In recent posts I reviewed several basic applications for generating fair-value estimates for the 10-year Treasury yield, which can be used as a proxy for projecting return. Let’s expand this effort by forecasting performance for the US equity market over a 10-year window. The goal is developing a baseline outlook for a 60/40 US stock/bond portfolio over a 10-year horizon.

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Macro Briefing: 15 July 2021

* Fed Chairman Powell still expects US inflation surge to ease
* China GDP rose less than forecast in Q2 but still strong at +7.9%
* Covid infections rising sharply again in US and Latin America
* US Senate passes bill to ban import of products from China’s Xinjiang region
* Delta Airlines reports first profit since pandemic began
* Low and falling yields haven’t slowed the junk bond market this year
* US factory gate prices surged in June, beating expectations:

Macro Briefing: 14 July 2021

* Senate Democrats propose $3.5 trillion infrastructure plan
* US Covid-19 cases rising again after months of decline
* Death toll mounts from protests in parts of South Africa
* Global holdings of Chinese stocks and bonds continues to surge
* US oil demand rebounds to pre-pandemic levels
* Europe set to propose plan to sharply cut use of fossil fuels
* US small business sentiment rose to eight-month high in June
* Inflation in UK picks up to 3-year high
* US consumer inflation continued to accelerate in June:

Macro Briefing: 13 July 2021

* Most areas of the country seeing new surge in Covid-19 cases due to variants
* Biden supports Cuban protesters, says Havana should “hear their people”
* More Florida links found in assassination of Haiti’s president
* Pandemic lifts global government debt to highest level since World War II
* Oil markets will remain volatile after breakdown in OPEC talks, IEA predicts
* Microsoft announces that it’s buying cybersecurity firm RiskIQ
* ByteDance put IPO on hold indefinitely after pressure from China regulators
* Benchmark providers consider developing an index of everything
* Baltic Dry Index, a proxy for shipping rates, remains near an 11-year high: