Media – Blog
October 16, 2025
A Spooky Beginning to October The U.S. government shutdown has now entered its third week, and on Tuesday, Speaker Johnson cautioned that it could become the longest shutdown in history. Adding to market uncertainty are renewed trade tensions after President Trump threatened an additional 100% tariff on Chinese imports in
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October 2, 2025
Government Shutdown: Economic & Market Implications A stalemate over health care subsidies has triggered the first government shutdown in nearly seven years, affecting an estimated 750,000 federal employees. Historically, shutdowns tend to be either brief (lasting just 2–3 days) or stretch for several weeks. From an economic and market perspective,
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October 1, 2025
Co-authored: Pate Campbell, Keren Luo The U.S. government has officially entered a shutdown. The federal budget process typically begins with the President’s detailed budget request for the fiscal year starting October 1st. However, without the passage of either a full year spending bill or a continuing resolution (CR) by Congress,
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September 30, 2025
Laddered SMA Portfolios vs. MMFs and Deposits in a Rate-Cutting Environment The Federal Reserve recently cut overnight interest rates at its September meeting - now what? As an institutional cash investor, you might feel like a kid watching the ice cream truck pulling away. But there may be a way
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September 30, 2025
Key Takeaways: The Revision That Sparked a Crisis of Confidence in U.S. Economic Data The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) revised payrolls down by 911,000 jobs for the 12 months through March - the largest preliminary benchmark revision since 2000.[1] Markets flinched, and Washington quickly made it a referendum on
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September 18, 2025
FOMC Reduces Fed Funds Target Range by 25 bps As expected, the Federal Reserve cut the fed funds target range by 25 bps on Wednesday, setting a new target range of 4.00%–4.25%. The decision was nearly unanimous, with only newly appointed Governor Miran dissenting in favor of a larger 50
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September 16, 2025
Another Disappointing Employment Report The August jobs report was broadly disappointing, marking the second consecutive month of weaker-than-expected results: The BLS preliminary benchmark revisions (covering April 2024–March 2025) suggested total payrolls were overstated by 911,000 jobs, further highlighting labor market softness. At the same time, weekly jobless claims climbed to
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September 4, 2025
Powell Cracks the Door Open to a September Cut At the Jackson Hole Symposium on August 22nd, Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled that the first rate cut of 2025 could be on the table at the September FOMC meeting, noting that “the shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting our
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August 27, 2025
Key Takeaways: Tariffs Fade, But Risks Remain With trade war tensions easing, tariff uncertainty is beginning to fade. The U.S. economy has so far avoided recession, despite a slowdown in growth, while inflation remains close to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Stock markets are reaching new all-time highs and bond
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August 18, 2025
Fed Déjà Vu This August is starting to feel like déjà vu. In July 2024, a weak employment report was followed just weeks later by Fed Chair Powell’s Jackson Hole remarks, where he signaled that “the time has come for policy to adjust.” At the very next FOMC meeting in
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