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The past year proved to be a difficult one when it came to forecasting how the stock market and economy would perform, especially after 2018 ended with the worst December since the Great Depression, according to John Lynch, chief investment strategist at LPL Financial.
However, although LPL's positive stock market outlook "proved too conservative," the firm managed to get "more right than wrong for 2019," he said in the firm's latest weekly market Commentary: "2019 Hits and Misses."
One standout prediction that LPL got right was its forecast that large-caps would perform better than small-caps, he noted.
"We came into 2019 favoring benchmark-level exposures to large and small cap stocks while urging some caution as the economic cycle matured," he recalled. LPL also anticipated that additional progress on trade would help large-caps, he noted,
In a commentary on March 18, 2019, "Movin' On Up (In Market Cap)," the firm projected better performance for large caps relative to small caps and, "in a timely move, reduced small cap stock exposure in some of our model portfolios," he said.
Although the "path on trade was longer and bumpier than we anticipated, the large cap Russell 1000 Index has outperformed the small cap Russell 2000 Index by 6.6 percentage points since March 18, 2019," he pointed out. Also, as of Dec. 30, the Russell 1000's 31.1% return was about 5 percentage points ahead of the 26.2% return for the small cap Russell 2000 Index, he noted.
A second major area that LPL projected correctly was cyclical sector leadership, he said. "Favoring the most economically sensitive, or cyclical sectors, worked in 2019, particularly technology," he said, noting it had "topped all S&P 500 sectors with a return of 49.5%" as of Dec. 30. The "next-best performers — communication services, financials, and industrials — also were "cyclical and have each posted year-to-date returns near 30%," he pointed out.
"Not favoring 2019's worst performing sector — energy — was also helpful, though we did maintain limited exposure to underperforming but higher-yielding master limited partnerships in income-oriented portfolios during the year," he added.
Heading into 2019, LPL had also favored U.S. equities over those in developed international markets throughout the year, he said, adding: "Concerns about economic growth, global policies, and low interest rates drove our caution on European and Japanese investments last year." That's a view LPL has maintained in "Outlook 2020: Bringing Markets Into Focus," he noted.
