Investors should be in stocks to protect against inflation even with the Federal Reserve likely to keep ratcheting up interest rates to cool down high prices, investing veteran Mark Mobius said Friday on CNBC.
His interview took place two days after the Federal Open Market Committee raised the target on the fed funds rate for the first time since 2018 to combat hot inflation. Policymakers on Wednesday lifted rates by 25 basis points to a range of 0.25%-0.5%, embarking on the path it announced late last year toward battling inflation which has since risen to 7.9% as of February.
“[Anybody] who wants to protect themselves against this inflation must hold stocks. They must hold companies that are able to adjust their prices to inflation,” said Mobius, a pioneer in emerging markets investing.
The Fed’s commentary this week suggested policy makers expect to raise the interest rate another six times this year and they see the benchmark rate reaching 2.8% in 2023.
“So, my thinking is that definitely, you’re going to see higher and higher rates. And I expect to see rates in America go up to 6% or 7%,” said Mobius. The Fed funds target rate hasn’t been at 6% since 2001 under then-Chairman Alan Greenspan.
“But that doesn’t mean the stock market has to go down. As you know, if you look at the history of interest rates of the stock market, there’s not much correlation,” said Mobius, who went on to say investors should have exposure to stocks for inflation protection.
The S&P 500 this year had dropped into a correction, or a fall of 10% or more from a recent high, in part as investors prepared for higher borrowing costs. Some analysts this week have issued notes showing the broad-market equity index can advance during rate-hiking cycles.
Independent research firm CFRA noted the FOMC this week launched its sixth rate-tightening cycle since 1994. The S&P 500 “fell all five times in the first 30 days following the initial hike since 1994, but recovered to a 80% frequency of advance by the six-month mark,” wrote CFRA’s chief investment strategist Sam Stovall.
