Stocks

Crisis Investing: How 14 Different Asset Classes Performed in Times of Distress

Published

8 years ago

July 8, 2015

Jeff Desjardins

Crisis Investing: How 14 Different Asset Classes Performed in Times of Distress

Note: to see the bigger version of this infographic, click here.

History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes. This could not be truer for crisis investing.

Between China’s stock market and the debt troubles of Greece and Puerto Rico, it is clear that we could be entering a time of potential financial crisis.

Every situation is unique, but generally the types of asset classes that protect investors in times of crisis are not necessarily the same as those during a bull run. Therefore, it’s worth taking a look at five previous periods of distress to see the returns of conventional and alternative asset classes.

1994: Surprise Rate Hike

In 1994, the economy was recovering from a significant recession and treasury yields started to rise from the lows of the previous year. The Fed and Alan Greenspan surprised markets by tightening monetary policy with the first rate hike in five years.

Returns: Large cap (-7.75%) and small cap stocks (-9.84%) got crushed. Managed futures (4.07%), commodities (3.15%), and gold (0.28%) did okay.

1998: LTCM Goes Under

Long-Term Capital Management started off with promise as it brought in annualized returns (after fees) of 21%, 43%, and 41% in its first three years with high leverage and normal macroeconomic conditions. LTCM directors Myron Scholes and Robert Merton would share the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1997. Promptly after, the hedge fund would lose $4.6 billion in four months in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis, requiring a bailout from the Federal Reserve and various banks.

Returns: Stocks and REITs get crushed. Bonds (0.78%) and managed futures (5.61%) survive.

2000: Dotcom Bubble Bursts

Fledgling internet companies with no profits and limited revenues went public, reaping huge gains on IPOs. Prices went up and up, but eventually came crashing down in March of 2000 with the Nasdaq losing up to 70% of its peak value.

Returns: Large cap stocks (-40.33%), small cap stocks (-35.29%), private equity (-25.40%), and international stocks (-46.53%) get hammered. REITs (49.48%), bonds (19.65%), global macro (44.69%) all did well. Gold (0.47%) remained virtually unchanged.

2001: 9/11 Tragedy

Coordinated attacks on the United States shock markets, and the NYSE and Nasdaq remain closed until September 17th. Upon re-opening, the Dow drops 7%.

Returns: Almost all asset classes struggle, but gold (3.73%) got the highest return.

2008: Global Financial Crisis

Lehman Brothers goes under and the Greenspan real estate bubble crashes and burns. Excessive speculation, lenient mortgage lending, and the proliferation of derivative financial products such as credit default swaps contribute to the problem. The Fed has $29 trillion in bailout commitments while 8.8 million jobs and $19.2 trillion in household wealth are lost.

Returns: Again, most assets get crushed. It is no surprise that worst off are REITs (-63.77%). Gold continues to shine, gaining double digits (16.33%).

Original graphic by: Attain Capital

Related Topics:crisis investing global financial crisis asset classes managed futures gold Bubble

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Ranked: America’s Largest Semiconductor Companies

This graphic visualizes the market capitalizations of America’s 15 largest semiconductor companies.

Published

26 mins ago

June 5, 2023

Marcus Lu

Ranking America’s Largest Semiconductor Companies

As our world moves further into an era of widespread digitization, few industries can be considered as important as semiconductors.

These components are found in almost everything we use on a daily basis, and the ability to produce them domestically has become a topic of national security. For example, in 2022 the Biden administration announced the CHIPS and Science Act, which aims to strengthen America’s position in everything from clean energy to artificial intelligence.

With this in mind, we’ve ranked the top 15 U.S. semiconductor companies by their market capitalizations.

Data and Highlights

The data we used to create this infographic is listed in the table below. Year-to-date (YTD) returns were included for additional context. Both metrics are as of May 30, 2023.

Rank	Company	Ticker	Market Cap (USD billions)	YTD Return
1	Nvidia	NVDA	$992	180.2%
2	Broadcom	AVGO	$335	45.1%
3	AMD	AMD	$202	95.7%
4	Texas Instruments	TXN	$160	8.2%
5	Qualcomm	QCOM	$129	8.2%
6	Intel	INTC	$125	12.2%
7	Applied Materials	AMAT	$115	41.2%
8	Analog Devices	ADI	$89	9.2%
9	Lam Research	LRCX	$85	52.1%
10	Micron Technology	MU	$78	42.3%
11	Snyopsys	SNPS	$71	45.4%
12	KLA	KLAC	$63	21.8%
13	Marvell Technology Group	MRVL	$54	76.2%
14	Microchip Technology	MCHP	$42	11.2%
15	ON Semiconductor	ON	$36	36.3%

At the top is Nvidia, which became America’s newest $1 trillion company on Tuesday, May 30th. Shares pulled back slightly over the day and Nvidia closed at $992 billion. Over the past decade, Nvidia has transformed from a gaming-focused graphics card producer to a global leader in AI and data center chips.

In third and sixth place are two of America’s most well known chipmakers, AMD and Intel. These longtime rivals are moving in opposite trajectories, with AMD shares climbing 770% over the past five years, and Intel shares falling 47%. One reason for this is the data center segment, in which AMD appears to be stealing market share from Intel.

Further down the list we see Applied Materials in seventh, and Lam Research in ninth. Both firms specialize in semiconductor manufacturing equipment and thus play an important role in the industry’s supply chain.

Trade War Impacts

As tensions between the U.S. and China escalate, chipmakers are becoming increasingly entangled in geopolitical conflict.

In October 2022, the Biden administration introduced new export controls aimed at blocking China’s access to semiconductors produced with U.S. equipment. This impacted several companies in our top 15 list, including Lam Research and Applied Materials.

Shortly after the export controls were announced, Lam Research said it expected to lose upwards of $2.5 billion in annual revenues.

We lost some very profitable customers in the China region, and that’s going to persist, obviously.
– Doug Bettinger, CFO, Lam Research

In response, China announced in May 2023 that it would no longer allow America’s largest memory chipmaker, Micron, to sell its products to “critical national infrastructure operators”.

This is not the first time Micron has been involved in a controversy with China. In 2018, the firm alleged that Fujian Jinhua Integrated Circuit, a Chinese state-owned company, had solicited a Micron employee to steal specifications for memory chips. The U.S. Department of Commerce imposed export restrictions on Fujian Jinhua as a result.

Chipmakers on both sides of the Pacific will be closely watching as competition between these two countries heats up.