U.S. corporate bond issuance is on track for yet another record year this year. In the first half, issuance totaled $877.7 billion, comprised of $697.8 billion in investment-grade and $179.9 billion in high-yield. Annualized, both categories, as well as the … Continued
The yellow metal cannot catch a break. GLD, the SPDR Gold ETF, broke down last week, losing eight-month support at $110. The corresponding support on spot gold lies around $1,140. Friday, gold closed at $1,132.20 and GLD at $108.65. The … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of July 14, 2015. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: Fed Chair Janet Yellen during her mid-week Humphrey-Hawkins testimony reiterated her desire to hike interest rates later this year, if data cooperate. On … Continued
As expected, Fed Chair Janet Yellen, in her Humphrey-Hawkins testimony yesterday, reiterated what she, and other Fed officials, have been saying for a while. They are data dependent, and if data cooperate, a rate hike is coming later this year. … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of July 7, 2015. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: After the June FOMC minutes were released, investors pushed back expectations for the first interest rate hike to March next year. The minutes … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of June 23, 2015. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: Yields pushed up nearly 21 basis points for the week. Sales of both new and existing homes did well in May (even though … Continued
The Friday before January 25th Greek elections, the euro closed at $1.123. Yesterday, one euro bought $1.133. Since anti-austerity Syriza party swept to victory late January in Greece, the euro – by default FXE, the Currency Shares Euro Trust ETF … Continued
The following are futures positions of non-commercials as of June 16, 2015. Change is week-over-week. 10-year note: Let us see if we can make some sense out of this week’s major developments. The FOMC met, and it looked like members … Continued
Is the Fed about to make a mistake? Post-FOMC meeting yesterday, the Fed’s ‘dot plot’ suggested a majority of policymakers were leaving the door open for two rate hikes in 2015. After the release of the statement, TLT, the iShares … Continued
Chart 1 looks normal except for one thing. In the current cycle, the green line has not followed the red line higher. U.S. capacity utilization bottomed out at 66.9 percent in June 2009 and moved higher. The Fed funds rate … Continued