HomeNewsBusinessMutual FundsInvestors pivoting from growth to value stocks as US Fed looms: Chris Wood

Investors pivoting from growth to value stocks as US Fed looms: Chris Wood

"Since mid-November, value stocks have outperformed growth stocks by 16.1%"

February 18, 2022 / 10:57 IST
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Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jefferies, pointed out an ongoing shift in investor preference from growth to value stocks as rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve loom in the wake of rising inflation.

"The change in equity market leadership looks ever more pronounced in terms of the shift from growth to value stocks as investors have discounted ever more rate hikes following last week's higher US inflation," Wood said in the Jefferies Greed & Fear report.

The report says since mid-November, value stocks have outperformed growth stocks by 16.1%.

Money markets are discounting 150 basis points of Fed tightening in 2022 while credit spreads have continued to widen, a process that surely can continue only so long as the Fed is perceived to be behind the curve, the report said.

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The US high yield corporate bond yield spread rose to 3.67% last Friday -- highest level since December 2020 -- and is now 3.54% from 2.7% last December.

"Overall the current situation can best be summarised as the inverse of Goldilocks. It also continues to look ever more the case that the FANG stocks peaked as a percentage of S&P500 market cap back in the summer of 2020. In this respect, the rotation out of growth stocks will probably not be completed until the leaders of the bull markets succumb in a more decisive fashion," the Jefferies report said.