4 min readDespite a Wild January, Treasury Yields Ended Little Changed This past January will be one that many of us will never forget. The month started with massive wildfires in Southern California, the inauguration of President Trump, DeepSeek’s disruption of the technology sector, and the first U.S. commercial airline crash since 2009. At month-end, the markets’…
3 min readGovernment Bond Yields Rise Globally The rise in U.S. treasury yields has continued into the new year, primarily driven by 3 factors: A string of solid U.S. releases has continued, with both the ISM Manufacturing & Services reports coming in better than expected, the December nonfarm payrolls beating expectations by nearly 100,000, and the unemployment…
4 min read2024 Recap 2024 saw major central banks begin to ease policy including both the Fed and ECB which each cut rates by 100 basis points. Risk assets had another strong year with the S&P 500 returning +25%, the first time since the 1990s that the index had back-to-back +20% returns. Gold rose over +27%, its…
3 min readFed Speakers Convey Caution on Pace of Rate Cuts Several Federal Reserve officials have echoed a theme conveyed by Fed Chair Powell that the FOMC is in “no hurry to lower rates” and the central bank could slow its easing pace given stronger than expected economic data. For example, year-over-year inflation readings for both CPI…
5 min readPotential for a Fed Santa Pause The Fed followed up their September 50 basis point rate cut with a unanimous 25 basis point cut on November 7th, bringing the federal funds target range to 4.50%-4.75%. With one remaining FOMC meeting this year on December 18th, the market has been flip-flopping between the potential for another…
5 min readResilient Consumer Continues to Spend – No Grinch Forecasted Recent economic data highlights a resilient consumer ahead of the holiday season: Yields Rise on Data and Election Outlook October saw treasury yields rise approximately 40 to 60 basis points from 2 years to 30 years with several narratives behind the increase in yields: Mixed Labor…
3 min readLabor Market Remains Solid but Data Could be Noisy Ahead The September employment report was solid overall but with hurricanes Helene and Milton hitting the Southeast of the United States, labor statistics could be noisy ahead. September Employment Report: Looking ahead, the October jobs report (which will be released on November 1st) will incorporate layoffs…
6 min readFed Cut Rates by 50 Basis Points – But 50 is Not “the New Pace” At the September 18th FOMC meeting, the Fed cut the federal funds rate for the first time in over 4 years by 50 basis points to a new range of 4.75%-to-5.00%. Heading into the meeting, Fed Chair Powell made clear…
3 min readThe Time Has Come To Cut Rates In his keynote address at the Federal Reserve’s Jackson Hole Economic Symposium, Federal Reserve Chair Powell said the Fed now feels it is time to adjust monetary policy. His comment followed the release of the minutes from the Fed’s July FOMC meeting, which showed “several” members were in…
4 min readReturn of the Dual Mandate “For a long time, the risks were more that we would fail to hit our inflation target…. we’re very much aware that we have two-sided risks now.” This was a quote from Federal Reserve Chair Powell when he spoke to Congress last week, acknowledging that elevated inflation “is not the…