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LyondellBasell is a petrochemical producer with operations in the United States, Europe, and Asia. The company is the world’s largest producer of polypropylene and also a major producer of polyethylene and propylene oxide. Its chemicals are used in various consumer and industrial end products. Well over half of LyondellBasell’s production comes from its North American operations.

The Vickers Top Insider Picks is a daily report that utilizes a proprietary algorithm to identify 25 companies with compelling insider purchase histories based on transactions over the past three months.

The Vickers Top Insider Picks is a daily report that utilizes a proprietary algorithm to identify 25 companies with compelling insider purchase histories based on transactions over the past three months.

Our stock/bond asset-allocation model, which we call the Stock Bond Barometer, is indicating that stocks are the asset class offering the most value at this market juncture. Our model takes into account real-time levels and forecasts of short-term and long-term government and corporate fixed-income yields, inflation, stock prices, GDP, and corporate earnings, among other factors. The output is expressed in terms of standard deviations to the mean, or sigma. The mean reading from the model, going back to 1960, is a modest premium for stocks, of 0.14 sigma, with a standard deviation of 0.97. In other words, stocks normally sell for a slight premium valuation, which they did for most of the 2022 and 2023. But the current valuation level now is a 0.14 sigma discount for stocks, reflecting in large part the move lower in long-term interest rates. Other valuation measures also show reasonable multiples for stocks. The current forward P/E ratio for the S&P 500 is approximately 21, within the normal range of 15-24. The current S&P 500 dividend yield of 1.2% is below the historical average of 2.9%, but is also 29% of the 10-year Treasury bond yield, compared to the long-run average of 39%. Further, the gap between the S&P 500 earnings yield and the benchmark 10-year government bond yield is about 330 basis points, compared to the historical average of 400 and nose-bleed valuation levels of 200. Lastly, the ratio of the S&P 500 price to an ounce of gold is now 2.3, within the historical range of 1 to 3. We expect the results from our stock-bond valuation model to tilt even more toward stocks as interest rates head lower into 2025 and EPS growth picks up. Based in part on the output from our model, our current recommended asset-allocation model for growth accounts is 70% growth assets and 30% fixed income.