Post-June Jobs, Powell Has Chance This Week To Show Markets Rate Expectations Are Aggressive

June’s stronger-than-expected payroll print has the potential to change the Fed’s interest-rate outlook for the remainder of the year.  Markets still expect at least two 25-basis-point cuts this year, including one later this month.  Should Chair Jay Powell wish to … Continued

Hawks Versus Doves – Odds Of Former Losing Ground In Rate Debate

posted in: Credit, Economy | 0

The Fed’s dual mandate currently is a source of ammo for both hawks and doves within the FOMC.  Would it always remain this way? Core PCE inflation has been ticking up a bit of late, but still below the Fed’s … Continued

Fed Up — Doing Same Thing Over And Over, But Expecting Different Results!

Three months.  That is all it took for the Fed to do a 360. In the middle of last December, the fed funds rate was raised for the first time in nine years – to still-zero-bound 37 basis points.  The … Continued

Fed Set To Set Precedent

posted in: Credit, Economy, Equities | 0

The year’s last FOMC meeting begins today.  Tomorrow, we will probably witness the first rate hike in nine years. On June 29, 2006, the fed funds rate was pushed up by 25 basis points to 5.25 percent, and stayed there … Continued

Fed Wants/Expects Uptick In Inflation, Markets Do Not Foresee One

posted in: Credit, Economy | 0

“Most of my colleagues and I anticipate that it will likely be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate sometime later this year and to continue boosting short-term rates at a gradual pace thereafter as the … Continued

Between Now And Sep FOMC Meeting, How Stocks Act Probably Matters More Than Inflation Or Jobs

posted in: Economy, Equities | 0

Since last Wednesday, there has been a sudden pickup in QE talk.  That was when Bill Dudley, president of the New York Fed, said that “the decision to begin the normalization process at the September FOMC meeting seems less compelling … Continued