Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of February 28, 2017. 10-year note: By Friday last week, fed funds futures were putting the odds of a rate hike in the upcoming FOMC meeting (March 14-15) at 34 percent. By Monday, … Continued
Tuesday was J.P. Morgan’s (JPM) annual investor day. Bloomberg pointed out that CFO Marianne Lake talked about loans depleting a little bit – the growth rate, that is. Core loans were up 15 percent last year. She sees 10 percent … Continued
Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of February 21, 2017. 10-year note: Are we in for a March shock? Post-FOMC minutes on Wednesday, fed funds futures were pricing in a 32-percent chance of a rate hike in the March … Continued
Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of February 14, 2017. 10-year note: On February 15, 10-year yields hit 2.52 percent before retreating. That high tagged a declining trend line from December 15 when yields hit 2.62 percent intraday. This … Continued
China’s Treasury holdings rose by $9.1 billion month-over-month in December. This comes in the wake of six consecutive months of contraction during which it sold $194.7 billion worth. This was the first monthly increase since last May. Coincidentally or not, … Continued
The usual middle-of-the-road approach. Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen’s Humphrey Hawkins testimony to the Senate yesterday, that is. (She appears before the House later today.) There were no hints as to if she was ready to vote for a rate … Continued
Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of February 7, 2017. 10-year note: On January 26, 10-year yields began dropping after hitting 2.56 percent, lower than the 2.62 percent on December 15 – hence lower highs. In the meantime, they … Continued
Financials are once again beginning to perk up, with XLF, the SPDR financial ETF, closing last Friday right underneath near-term resistance. The ETF has been sideways for nearly a month. This followed a massive breakout post-election last year. Resistance at … Continued
Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of January 31, 2017. 10-year note: During his presidential campaign, President Donald Trump openly criticized the Fed’s easy monetary policy. Indeed, since June 2006, there have only been two 25-basis-point increases in the … Continued
Following futures positions of non-commercials are as of January 24, 2017. 10-year note: Yields (cash) rose 14 basis points for the week to 2.48 percent, having risen as high as 2.56 percent intra-day Thursday. Earlier, they bottomed at 2.31 percent … Continued