Analysis Topic: Interest Rates and the Bond Market
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.
Sunday, December 23, 2018
The Fed Tightens the Monetary Noose / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates
By: Steve_H_Hanke
The Fed defied President Trump’s irreverent Tweets. Indeed, the Fed did what it signaled it was going to do long before Trump pushed the “Tweet” button. Yes, the Fed—with all 10 members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voting “yes”—increased the federal funds interest rate by 25 basis points to the 2.25-2.50% range. And, as night follows day, the U.S. equity markets, currency markets, and precious metals markets took a hit.
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Friday, December 21, 2018
FOMC Update - Jerome ‘Dead Eye’ Powell / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Gary_Tanashian
One of the most disturbing scenes in the series Breaking Bad was when Todd shoots and kills a boy on a dirt bike after he witnessed Heisenberg, Jesse and Todd heist 900 gallons of methylamine. Jesse: “Todd, that Opie Dead Eyed piece of shit…”
That is similar to the feeling I got after the Fed hiked the funds rate as expected, but then declined to offer the stock market much relief for its ongoing temper tantrum.
What’s this? The Fed is not doing as the vast majority of market participants expect it to do? The Fed is not taking active measures to boost asset prices?
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Sunday, December 16, 2018
Gerald Celente:Central Banks Can’t Stop a 2019 Debt Disaster / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis 2019
By: MoneyMetals
Welcome to this week’s Market Wrap Podcast, I’m Mike Gleason. Coming up the one and only Gerald Celente joins me to talk about the upcoming trends for 2019 both geopolitically and economically. Gerald breaks down the chaos in Europe, tells us whether or not major protests are likely to break out here in the states and shares his outlook for the metals. Don’t miss a tremendous interview with Gerald Celente, publisher of the Trends Journal and top trends forecaster in the world, coming up after this week’s market update.
Well, as Democrat leaders face off against President Donald Trump over the federal budget, bulls and bears in the gold and silver markets are facing off at key price levels.
The gold market attempted to rally above the $1,250 level this week but ran into some selling pressure. As of this Friday recording, gold prices come in at $1,236 per ounce, off 1.0% for the week.
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Saturday, December 15, 2018
Market Confusion About the Yield Curve Inversion / Interest-Rates / Inverted Yield Curve
By: Donald_W_Dony
Last week, the 5-year Treasury note fell below the 2-year note causing many market watchers to suggest the US Yield Curve is inverting. And as the Curve is a leading indicator to the stock market, the bears came out in force declaring the party has ended.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The more important yield comparison to watch is the 2-year Treasury note versus the 10-year note.
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Thursday, December 13, 2018
Trump vs the Fed: Who Wins? / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Richard_Mills
Who controls the US economy? The “power of the purse” resides within the US Congress and the powers to set fiscal and monetary policy are delegated to the US Central Bank, otherwise known as the Federal Reserve.
While the success of US Presidents often depends on how well the economy does during their terms, in fact they have little direct influence on it. The President can guide the economy and put his stamp on unlimited pieces of legislation, but he must work with Congress and the Federal Reserve in order to execute his agenda.
To demonstrate just how powerless the President is over the economy, you need only look at Article II of the US Constitution which outlines the responsibilities of the Executive Branch:
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Tuesday, December 04, 2018
The Debt Great Reset Is Coming / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: John_Mauldin
The US government on-budget deficit was $100.5 billion in October. It was $63.2 billion in the same month a year earlier. I see little hope it will reverse.There is no appetite in Congress or the public for lower spending. Nor will we see the kind of tax policy changes that would generate more revenue.
Federal debt has grown with little complaint (except from a few of us curmudgeons) because it was mostly painless over the last decade.
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Saturday, December 01, 2018
Ray Dalio: This Debt Cycle Will End Soon / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By: John_Mauldin
Science tells us energy can neither be created nor destroyed within a closed system. The form may change, but the amount will only stay the same. If this only held true for debt.Within the closed system called Earth, we create debt much better than we eliminate it.
Well, when we have too much, we eventually get rid of it. But we do so in painful and unpleasant ways—via some kind of debt crisis.
This has happened over and over again throughout history. And there’s real possibility that we will soon face another major debt crisis...
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Monday, November 19, 2018
Calls Intensify for Halting Interest Rate Hikes / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates
By: MoneyMetals
President Donald Trump isn’t thrilled about Jerome Powell’s stewardship of the dollar and interest rates. He would like the central bank’s help in keeping the economic party going, but so far the Fed Chair just won’t play ball. Now the Wall Street Journal has joined the President’s call for some renewed stimulus.
If officials at the Fed want to pause or even reverse course on raising interest rates, they have cover to do so. As yet, however, the consensus remains unshaken. The markets are counting on another rate hike following next month’s FOMC meeting.
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Saturday, November 17, 2018
The Fed's Misleading Money Supply Measures / Interest-Rates / Money Supply
By: Steve_H_Hanke
The most robust national income determination model is the monetarist model. The course of the economy when measured in nominal terms is determined by the course taken by the money supply. Indeed, the positive relationship between the growth rate of the money supply and both nominal GDP and nominal aggregate demand growth is unambiguous and overwhelming.
So, just what is the measure of money that is most suited for taking the temperature of the economy and forecasting its course? Is a narrow metric, like the monetary base (M0), the best? Or, should we focus on broad money metrics, like M3 and M4? For national income determination, the more inclusive the metric, the better. Indeed, for the most complete and accurate picture, one should include all the important components of money supply, not just a few.
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Monday, November 12, 2018
Stock Trade-of-the-Week: Equity Commonwealth REIT (EQC) / Interest-Rates / Investing 2018
By: Donald_W_Dony
Company profile: Equity Commonwealth (NYSE: EQC) is a Chicago based, internally managed and self-advised real estate investment trust (REIT) with commercial office properties in the United States. As of June 30, 2018, EQC's portfolio comprised 13 properties and 6.3 million square feet.
Monday, November 12, 2018
A Worldwide Debt Default Is A Real Possibility / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis 2018
By: John_Mauldin
Is debt good or bad? The answer is “Yes.”
Debt is future spending pulled forward in time. It lets you buy something now for which you otherwise don’t have cash yet.
Whether it’s wise or not depends on what you buy. Debt to educate yourself so you can get a better job may be a good idea. Borrowing money to finance your vacation? Probably not.
The problem is that many people, businesses, and governments borrow because they can. It’s been possible in the last decade only because central banks made it so cheap.
Sunday, November 11, 2018
Here’s Why 10%+ US Treasury Bond Yields Are a Real Possibility / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
By: John_Mauldin
The US Treasury has closed the books on Fiscal Year 2018, which was another debt-financed failure.The federal government spent above $4.1 trillion in FY 2018. It had to borrow $779 billion on budget and a few hundred billion more off-budget.
And over 40% of the on-budget deficit went simply to pay $325 billion in interest on previously-issued debt.
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Thursday, November 08, 2018
Future US Interest Rates, Financial Markets, and the FED / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates
By: Raymond_Matison
Don’t fight the FED, is a long-established, oft-confirmed market proverb. The FED is indeed an incredibly powerful institution; in fact, it is perhaps the most powerful institution on the planet. It is arguably more powerful than our combined air, sea, and land military forces. These forces can reduce individual military targets to dust, they can flatten cities or even small countries killing thousands of people, but still it is no competition to the FED! The FED with its power over interest rates and money creation, its expansion or contraction, its Petrodollar and global trading currency, its open market operations, and its foreign currency exchange markets can destroy the value of foreign currencies, and start revolutions. It can injure or even destroy economies of single countries or even whole regions of the developing world, in turn crippling the lives of tens or even hundreds millions of people. It can finance wars, determining who will be victorious.
Wednesday, November 07, 2018
Arguing About Fed Policy Is A Waste of Time / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Kelsey_Williams
When government (or a President) claims that Federal Reserve policy is hurting the economy, they are either grandstanding, or are ignorant about the function and purpose of the Federal Reserve.
No one wants to see the economy suffer, anymore than they want to see a plague, or infectious disease, affect millions of people. And no President wants to be in office to preside over a recession or depression. But neither can they exercise any power or influence regarding the implementation of Fed policy; particularly when it comes to interest rates.
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Monday, October 29, 2018
The Great Interest Rate Caper / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates
By: Andy_Sutton
It began as any other bull market. An early burst followed by climbing a wall of worry, then bursting out (or down in this case) beyond the wall of worry, its trajectory headed for the great ethereal unknown. And just like every similar time in history, market analysts, policy makers, and the general public assumed it would go on like this forever. And it did. Until it didn’t. By the title you might have already guessed the topic of this essay but think for a minute about this first paragraph and what we’re discussing in generic terms. Of course! We’re talking about the traits of a financial bubble.
By way of introduction, this essay will not contain any images. We have found that many times graphs and charts confuse the issues rather than helping to elucidate them.
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Monday, October 15, 2018
US Bond market Yields Break 20-year Trends / Interest-Rates / US Bonds
By: Donald_W_Dony
Bond yields have been in decline for a long time. In fact, throughout the last 20 years, the 10 and 20 year US Treasury bonds yields have dropped by almost 80 percent.
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Sunday, October 14, 2018
Here’s Where the Next Financial Crisis Begins / Interest-Rates / Global Debt Crisis 2018
By: Harry_Dent
The 2008 financial crisis was well overdue, what with predictably slowing demographics, especially in the U.S. at first, and an unprecedented debt bubble in the developed countries.The trigger was the subprime crisis – a small, but high-risk sector of really bad loans that started to blow up when everyday households started to default on mortgages they could never afford in the first place. But that was only the trigger.
Since early 2009, we’ve seen unprecedented money printing to save the banking system and economy from a depression, and most of the new debt has accumulated in the third world. A McKinsey study shows that emerging markets have taken on $57 trillion in additional debt through 2014, with more to follow.
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Sunday, October 14, 2018
Fed is Doing More Than Just Raising Rates / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Rodney_Johnson
Over the past month the 10-year Treasury bond yield has jumped from under 3.00% to 3.23%, sending tremors through the equity markets. By now you’ve heard/read/thought about the usual suspects.As interest rates move higher, equity investors searching for income finally (finally!) have a viable alternative to stocks.
As interest rates move higher, consumers using borrowed funds to purchase homes, cars, and stuff on credit cards will have to pay more, which should curb their economic appetite.
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Thursday, October 11, 2018
Loss Of Yield Curve "Shock Absorber" Could Mean A Rough Ride Ahead For Markets & Housing / Interest-Rates / US Interest Rates
By: Dan_Amerman
Two important financial cycles are currently converging for the first time in more than ten years, and how they work in combination can provide key information about the future value of our retirement portfolios, the future prices of our homes, and even when the next recession may hit.
A continuing cycle of interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve has pushed Fed Funds rates up 2% from their floor. This same cycle has contributed to rapidly rising long term interest rates, with 10 year Treasury yields rising to 3.22% by the market close on October 5th, 2018.
This sharp surge in interest rates has led not only to falling bond prices, but to tumbling stock prices as well.
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Sunday, October 07, 2018
The Latest Double Standard from the Fed / Interest-Rates / US Federal Reserve Bank
By: Rodney_Johnson
Collectively, we just got screwed again, and I bet most people didn’t even know it. It happens so many times, particularly at the hands of the Federal Reserve, it’s hard to keep track.A new bank called The Narrow Bank, or TNB, recently applied for an account with the Fed.
This would give the bank recognition by a local reserve bank, in this case New York, and access to its services, like distribution of currency, check processing and other forms of electronic payments.
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