Markets

5 Lessons About Volatility to Learn From the History of Markets

Published

1 year ago

February 12, 2019

In 2018, the re-emergence of volatility took many market participants by surprise.

After all, aside from a few smaller, intermittent spikes over the course of the current bull market, volatility has largely been in a long-term downtrend since the aftermath of the 2008 Financial Crisis.

Whether there is more volatility lurking ahead this year or whether the markets continue to calm, it’s worth looking at the last century of market history to put these recent bouts of volatility into context.

Learning From the History of Markets

Today’s infographic comes to us from New York Life Investments and it goes back in time to show us that the volatility experienced in 2018 was neither exceptional or unusual.

Here are five important lessons to learn from it all:

5 Lessons About Volatility to Learn From the History of Markets

With volatility back on the table again, investors are re-learning what it’s like to cope with a sometimes tumultuous market.

Higher volatility can be a source of uncertainty for even the most seasoned investors, but a look at historical data over the last century helps to ease these concerns.

5 Lessons About Volatility

Here are five lessons about volatility that we can learn from the history of markets:

Lesson #1: Volatility isn’t new
Volatility isn’t a new phenomenon – and it’s actually as old as the stock market itself. In fact, if you look at historical swings in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, you’ll see that many of the biggest ones were more than 80 years ago.

Lesson #2: Volatility is actually the status quo
In the last century, volatility has been ever-present in the markets, and between 1935 and 2018 the S&P 500 has seen:

4,563 total days with +/- 1% price movements
1,094 total days with +/- 2% price movements

That works out roughly to a 1% price swing every trading week – and a 2% price swing every month. Yet, over this lengthy time period, and after all of that volatility, the S&P 500 has grown by 25,290%.

Lesson #3: Any short-term volatility disappears with a long-term view
Daily price swings can feel like a roller coaster. But if you take a step back and look at the big picture, this volatility is just a blip on the radar.

For example, if you look at a chart of the S&P 500 from August 1990 to February of 1991, you’ll see that daily volatility was rampant. But zoom out to a 10-year chart, and these daily or weekly swings are barely noticeable.

Lesson #4: Volatility can be easily weathered with a resilient portfolio
Given that volatility has been around forever and that it’s extremely common, that makes it fairly unavoidable. Therefore, to weather periods of volatility, it is imperative to build a resilient portfolio by diversifying between different asset classes.

Certain assets are better at weathering periods of volatility than others. Here are some traits to look for:

(a) Low correlation with the market
These assets can zig when others zag, making them a valuable hedge (Examples: Gold, alternative assets, municipal bonds)

(b) Generates cash flow
When times are uncertain, the market puts extra value on assets that are generating real cash flow (Examples: Stocks that pay dividends, or bonds that pay interest)

(c) Defensive or non-cyclical
During uncertain times, there are still companies with stocks that will thrive. They are usually bigger companies with conservative balance sheets and durable competitive advantages. (Examples: Quality stocks in healthcare, consumer staples, telecoms, REITs, and utilities sectors)

Lesson #5: Volatility reminds us that there is no reward without risk

Investing in stocks comes with risks, but it also comes with the best returns over time:

Asset Type	Annualized real return, 1925-2014
U.S. Equities	6.7%
Government Bonds	2.6%
Cash	0.5%

If stocks offer the best long run gains – and volatility is an unavoidable aspect of investing in stocks – then we must learn to accept volatility for what it is.

Even better, we must learn to build resilient portfolios that can weather any storm, while minimizing these effects.

Related Topics:investing markets s&p 500 volatility

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Chart of the Week

Visualizing the Countries Most Reliant on Tourism

With international travel grinding to a halt, here are the economies that have the most to lose from a lack of tourism.

Published

3 days ago

May 22, 2020

Dorothy Neufeld

Visualizing the Countries Most Reliant on Tourism

Without a steady influx of tourism revenue, many countries could face severe economic damage.

As the global travel and tourism industry stalls, the spillover effects to global employment are wide-reaching. A total of 330 million jobs are supported by this industry around the world, and it contributes 10%, or $8.9 trillion to global GDP each year.

Today’s infographic uses data from the World Travel & Tourism Council, and it highlights the countries that depend the most on the travel and tourism industry according to employment—quantifying the scale that the industry contributes to the health of the global economy.

Ground Control

Worldwide, 44 countries rely on the travel and tourism industry for more than 15% of their total share of employment. Unsurprisingly, many of the countries suffering the most economic damage are island nations.

At the same time, data reveals the extent to which certain larger nations rely on tourism. In New Zealand, for example, 479,000 jobs are generated by the travel and tourism industry, while in Cambodia tourism contributes to 2.4 million jobs.

Rank	Country	T&T Share of Jobs (2019)	T&T Jobs (2019)	Population
1	Antigua & Barbuda	91%	33,800	97,900
2	Aruba	84%	35,000	106,800
3	St. Lucia	78%	62,900	183,600
4	US Virgin Islands	69%	28,800	104,400
5	Macau	66%	253,700	649,300
6	Maldives	60%	155,600	540,500
7	St. Kitts & Nevis	59%	14,100	53,200
8	British Virgin Islands	54%	5,500	30,200
9	Bahamas	52%	103,900	393,200
10	Anguilla	51%	3,800	15,000
11	St. Vincent & the Grenadines	45%	19,900	110,900
12	Seychelles	44%	20,600	98,300
13	Grenada	43%	24,300	112,500
14	Former Netherlands Antilles	41%	25,700	26,200
15	Belize	39%	64,800	397,600
16	Cape Verde	39%	98,300	556,000
17	Dominica	39%	13,600	72,000
18	Vanuatu	36%	29,000	307,100
19	Barbados	33%	44,900	287,400
20	Cayman Islands	33%	12,300	65,700
21	Jamaica	33%	406,100	2,961,000
22	Montenegro	33%	66,900	628,100
23	Georgia	28%	488,200	3,989,000
24	Cambodia	26%	2,371,100	16,719,000
25	Fiji	26%	90,700	896,400
26	Croatia	25%	383,400	4,105,000
27	Philippines	24%	10,237,700	109,600,000
28	Sao Tome and Principe	23%	14,500	219,200
29	Bermuda	23%	7,800	62,300
30	Albania	22%	254,300	2,880,000
31	Iceland	22%	44,100	341,200
32	Greece	22%	846,200	10,420,000
33	Thailand	21%	8,054,600	69,800,000
34	Malta	21%	52,800	441,500
35	New Zealand	20%	479,400	4,822,000
36	Lebanon	19%	434,200	6,825,000
37	Mauritius	19%	104,200	1,272,000
38	Portugal	19%	902,400	10,197,000
39	Kiribati	18%	6,600	119,000
40	Gambia	18%	129,600	2,417,000
41	Jordan	18%	254,700	10,200,000
42	Dominican Republic	17%	810,800	10,848,000
43	Uruguay	16%	262,500	3,474,000
44	Namibia	15%	114,600	2,541,000

Croatia, another tourist hotspot, is hoping to reopen in time for peak season—the country generated tourism revenues of $13B in 2019. With a population of over 4 million, travel and tourism contributes to 25% of its workforce.

How the 20 Largest Economies Stack Up

Tourist-centric countries remain the hardest hit from global travel bans, but the world’s biggest economies are also feeling the impact.

In Spain, tourism ranks as the third highest contributor to its economy. If lockdowns remain in place until September, it is projected to lose $68 billion (€62 billion) in revenues.

Rank	Country	Travel and Tourism, Contribution to GDP
1	Mexico	15.5%
2	Spain	14.3%
3	Italy	13.0%
4	Turkey	11.3%
5	China	11.3%
6	Australia	10.8%
7	Saudi Arabia	9.5%
8	Germany	9.1%
9	United Kingdom	9.0%
10	U.S.	8.6%
11	France	8.5%
12	Brazil	7.7%
13	Switzerland	7.6%
14	Japan	7.0%
15	India	6.8%
16	Canada	6.3%
17	Netherlands	5.7%
18	Indonesia	5.7%
19	Russia	5.0%
20	South Korea	2.8%

On the other hand, South Korea is impacted the least: just 2.8% of its GDP is reliant on tourism.

Travel, Interrupted

Which countries earn the most from the travel and tourism industry in absolute dollar terms?

Topping the list was the U.S., with tourism contributing over $1.8 trillion to its economy, or 8.6% of its GDP in 2019. The U.S. remains a global epicenter for COVID-19 cases, and details remain unconfirmed if the country will reopen to visitors before summer.

Travel and tourism contribution to GDP in absolute terms

Meanwhile, the contribution of travel and tourism to China’s economy has more than doubled over the last decade, approaching $1.6 trillion. To help bolster economic activity, China and South Korea have eased restrictions by establishing a travel corridor.

As countries slowly reopen, other travel bubbles are beginning to make headway. For example, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have eased travel restrictions by creating an established travel zone. Australia and New Zealand have a similar arrangement on the horizon. These travel bubbles allow citizens from each country to travel within a given zone.

Of course, COVID-19 will have a lasting impact on employment and global economic activity with inconceivable outcomes. When the dust finally settles, could global tourism face a reckoning?

COVID-19

How U.S. Consumers are Spending Differently During COVID-19

How has COVID-19 transformed consumer spending trends so far? We look at credit and debit card spending of 5 million U.S. consumers across 18 categories.

Published

4 days ago

May 21, 2020

Iman Ghosh

In 2019, nearly 70% of U.S. GDP was driven by personal consumption.

However, in the first quarter of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has initiated a transformation of consumer spending trends as we know them.

Consumer Spending in Charts

By leveraging new data from analytics platform 1010Data, today’s infographic dives into the credit and debit card spending of five million U.S. consumers over the past few months.

Let’s see how their spending habits have evolved over that short timeframe:

How U.S. Consumers are Spending Differently During COVID-19

The above data on consumer spending, which comes from 1010Data and powered by AI platform Exabel, is broken into 18 different categories:

General Merchandise & Grocery: Big Box, Pharmacy, Wholesale Club, Grocery
Retail: Apparel, Office Supplies, Pet Supplies
Restaurant: Casual dining, Fast casual, Fast food, Fine dining
Food Delivery: Food delivery, Grocery Delivery, Meal/Snack kit
Travel: Airline, Car rental, Cruise, Hotel

It’s no surprise that COVID-19 has consumers cutting back on most of their purchases, but that doesn’t mean that specific categories don’t benefit from changes in consumer habits.

Consumer Spending Changes By Category

The onset of changing consumer behavior can be observed from February 25, 2020, when compared year-over-year (YoY).

As of May 12, 2020, combined spending in all categories dropped by almost 30% YoY. Here’s how that shakes out across the different categories, across two months.

General Merchandise & Grocery

This segment saw a sharp spike in initial spending, as Americans scrambled to stockpile on non-perishable food, hand sanitizer, and toilet paper from Big Box stores like Walmart, or Wholesale Clubs like Costco.

In particular, spending on groceries reached a YoY increase of 97.1% on March 18, 2020. However, these sudden panic-buying urges leveled out by the start of April.

	Feb 25, 2020 YoY Spending	May 5, 2020 YoY Spending	Overall Change
Big Box	+14.2%	-1.5%	-15.7%
Grocery	+1.0%	+9.4%	+8.4%
Pharmacy	-3.6%	-23.8%	-20.2%
Wholesale Club	+13.0%	+2.6%	-10.4%

Pharmaceutical purchases dropped the most in this segment, possibly as individuals cut back on their healthcare expenditures during this time. In fact, in an April 2020 McKinsey survey of physicians, 80% reported a decline in patient volumes.

Retail

With less foot traffic in malls and entire stores forced to close, sales of apparel plummeted both in physical locations and over e-commerce platforms.

	Feb 25, 2020 YoY Spending	May 5, 2020 YoY Spending	Overall Change
Apparel	-5.6%	-51.9%	-46.3%
Office Supplies	-8.9%	-2.8%	+6.1%
Pet Supplies	+2.7%	-18.5%	-21.2%

Interestingly, sales of office supplies rose as many pivoted to working from home. Many parents also likely required more of these resources to home-school their children.

Restaurant

The food and beverage industry has been hard-hit by COVID-19. While many businesses turned to delivery services to stay afloat, those in fine dining were less able to rely on such a shift, and spiraled by 88.2% by May 5, 2020, year-over-year.

	Feb 25, 2020 YoY Spending	May 5, 2020 YoY Change	Overall Change
Casual Dining	-2.7%	-64.9%	-62.2%
Fast Casual	4.2%	-29.6%	-33.8%
Fast Food	2.0%	-20.9%	-22.9%
Fine Dining	-18.6%	-88.2%	-69.6%

Applebees or Olive Garden exemplify casual dining, while Panera or Chipotle characterize fast casual.

Food Delivery

Meanwhile, many consumers also shifted from eating out to home cooking. As a result, grocery delivery services jumped by over five-fold—with consumers spending a whopping 558.4% more at its April 19, 2020 peak compared to last year.

	Feb. 25, 2020 YoY Spending	May 5, 2020 YoY Spending	Overall Change
Food Delivery	+18.8%	+67.1%	+48.3%
Grocery Delivery	+23.0%	+419.7%	+396.7%
Meal/ Snack Kit	+7.0%	-5.9%	-12.9%

Food delivery services are also in high demand, with Doordash seeing the highest growth in U.S. users than any other food delivery app in April.

Travel

While all travel categories experienced an immense decline, cruises suffered the worst blow by far, down by 87.0% in YoY spending since near the start of the pandemic.

	Feb 25, 2020 YoY Spending	May 5, 2020 YoY Spending	Overall Change
Airline	-7.7%	-99.1%	-91.4%
Car Rental	-6.3%	-86.0%	-79.7%
Cruise	-18.7%	-105.7%	-87.0%
Hotel	-7.0%	-85.9%	-78.9%

Airlines have also come to a halt, nosediving by 91.4% in a 10-week span. In fact, governments worldwide have pooled together nearly $85 billion in an attempt to bail the industry out.

Hope on the Horizon?

Consumer spending offers a pulse of the economy’s health. These sharp drops in consumer spending fall in line with the steep decline in consumer confidence.

In fact, consumer confidence has eroded even more intensely than the stock market’s performance this quarter, as observed when the Index of Consumer Sentiment (ICS) is compared to the S&P 500 Index.

Consumer Sentiment Index

Many investors dumped their stocks as the coronavirus hit, but consumers tightened their purse strings even more. Yet, as the chart also shows, both the stock market and consumer sentiment are slowly but surely on the mend since April.

As the stay-at-home curtain cautiously begins to lift in the U.S., there may yet be hope for economic recovery on the horizon.