Rate Cuts

“He who awaits much can expect little.”

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The Big Story of the Week was Powell’s speech in Jackson Hole. The Chairman’s message was clear: The Fed’s focus has shifted exclusively in the direction of U.S. Employment. Inflation will be allowed to run hot–especially in services and shelter.
There was little doubt that more stimulus was coming. Powell has signaled for months that he wants to stimulate—all he needed was supporting evidence. He got it. The BLS revised its new job calculations (Reducing the new jobs created in the year by over 800,000), which now indicate that employment growth was 30% lower than previously advertised.

“He who awaits much can expect little.” Read More »

“By all means, let’s be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.”

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The Fed Won’t Cut Rates This Year. Most economists think they should. (Of course, they do! Most of them work for the government or on Wall Street.) But let’s face it, as calculated by the government, inflation for the average household is up 25% since it started rising in 2021. However, for most households, it feels much higher. The point is that inflation is not going to go down. The Fed doesn’t even want it to! Core PCE is rising at 3.5%, and it’s expected to rise to 4% by the election. The Fed’s stated target is +2%; inflation would have to be negative for a prolonged period to bring any relief to the average household.

“By all means, let’s be open-minded, but not so open-minded that our brains drop out.” Read More »

“Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts.”

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All three key US equity indices made all-time new highs for the week on the notion that economic data was softer. We saw:
1. A slowdown in housing activity. (Existing home sales were down -1.9 %, and New Home Sales were down -4.7%, albeit from near-record high levels.)
2. Languishing consumer sentiment surveys (which were at 100 pre-pandemic and bottoming at 50 in 2022) have slipped from 80 in Q1/24 and are down to around 68-69.)
3. Slightly lower inflation expectations (1 year from now nudged lower to 3.3%.)
4. But, most interesting is a notable pick-up in U.S. service activity (the PMI services survey jumped to 54.8 from 51.3), which is where the bulk of the inflationary pressure is causing the greatest damage to households and businesses.

“Prejudice is a great time saver. You can form opinions without having to get the facts.” Read More »

“Any great power that spends more on debt service than on defense will not stay great for long.”

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Investors pushed U.S. Equities to all-time highs last week. This is an extraordinary momentum rally that appears to be attracting increasing amounts of investor capital in a sign that the economy can keep its momentum up to, and perhaps beyond, the election. This is a logical assumption based on the realization that the U.S. government is addicted to spending (there is no mention of cutting it by either party.) The rising cost of debt service seems almost an afterthought, and if the debt burden gets high enough to slow the economy, the Fed will increase stimulus. Higher bond yields do not appear to be part of any in-depth analysis. Except mine.

“Any great power that spends more on debt service than on defense will not stay great for long.” Read More »

“In this new global environment, policymakers, even those previously in the ‘lower forever’ camp…”

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Interest rates drive everything, and they are as volatile and directionally uncertain as they’ve ever been. So are the global macroeconomics driving them. Global fund managers are required to make bets on outcomes for stocks, currencies, and commodities based on the cost of money. If perspectives on rates are so dispersed, how can we judge the value of the things that are driven by them?

“In this new global environment, policymakers, even those previously in the ‘lower forever’ camp…” Read More »