Since the financial crisis financial markets have become more managed by policy makers and any slowdown has been fiercely fought by central banks. As a result, the previous three contractions in 2011, 2012 and 2015/16 all saw equities outperform bonds which is unusual measured against the period before the financial crisis of 2008. The current contraction phase that started in 2018 has so far also seen equities in general outperform bonds making it potentially the longest winning streak of equities outperforming bonds during contractions.
Our main scenario is that the global economy will slip into a recession and equities will see a typically 20-25% drawdown before the leading indicators turn. However, as our Saxo Business Cycle Map shows the best equity markets in the following recovery phase are cyclical developed markets such as Sweden, Netherlands, Australia and Hong Kong, and then pretty much all emerging markets.
Evidence that the Kitchen Sink phase has started has accelerated recently with big layoffs announced by HSBC, Deutsche Bank and Seven & I. In addition, profit warnings have accelerated with recently FedEx and today from Philips seeing its shares down 10%. The Dutch hospital equipment maker warned today of lower EBITDA margin in FY19 due to higher tariffs and issues in its Connected Care division.