Via the Federal Reserve: Information in the Yield Curve about Future Recessions Michael D. Bauer and Thomas M. Mertens The ability of the Treasury yield curve to predict future recessions has recently received a great deal of public attention. An inversion of the yield curve—when short-term interest rates are higher than long-term rates—has been a
On Friday night, DXY fell, CNY and EUR jumped: Markets are now moving short EUR: The Aussie dollar climbed against DMs: And EMs: Shorts eased last week: Gold launched: Oil too: And base metals: Plus big miners: EM stocks gained: EM high yield not so much: The Treasury curve was crushed: Bunds sold: And stocks
Via Moody’s: Significant Differences, Erie Similarities The U.S. business cycle has entered its boom phase. This is a period that typically comes closer to the end of the cycle, just prior to a recession. It is characterized by robust economic growth, tightening labor and product markets, intensifying wage and price pressures, monetary tightening, and higher
By Leith van Onselen When former Treasurer Peter Costello halved the rate of capital gains tax (CGT) in 1999, it was done on the assumption that a lower rate of CGT would help boost business investment. The result was anything but, with money instead flowing into established investment properties, at a cost of billions to
Investment markets are late in the economic cycle, the issue being that you never know when the end will come. However, there are some signs that it is not here yet for US equities at least – and there is the potential that US equities will hold the rest of the world out of the abyss
Via Oddschecker: A spike in bets have followed the guilty plea of Michael Cohen. Michael Cohen yesterday pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws during the 2017 presidential run and that has caused pressure to build on Trump’s administration. That admission relates to hush money paid to Mr Trump’s lovers and has seen the 72-year-old’s
Via the FT: Germany’s foreign minister has called for the creation of a new payments system independent of the US as a means of rescuing the nuclear deal between Iran and the west that Donald Trump withdrew from in May. Writing in the German daily Handelsblatt, Heiko Maas said Europe should not allow the US
Readers and investors will know that the MB Fund’s prevailing narrative for 2018 was “reverse decoupling”. That is, that global synchronised growth would slump quickly into US leadership and a growing EM crisis around a rising USD and slowing China. This, in turn, would club commodities lower and contain US inflation and bond yields boosting
In The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy there is a galactic president: The President is very much a figurehead… the qualities he is required to display are not those of leadership but those of finely judged outrage. For this reason the President is always a controversial choice, always an infuriating but fascinating character. His job is not
By Leith van Onselen The latest data on household debt from the RBA shows that Australia’s household debt-to-disposable income ratio hit a record high 190% in March 2018: With this in mind, it’s interesting to read Elliot Clarke’s (Senior Economist at Westpac) analysis showing that US household debt-to-disposable income (90%) is now back to 2002
by Chris Becker Predictions are hard to make, especially about the future and while trying to overlay charts from different periods can lead to the gambler’s fallacy, it’s when fundamentals collide with technicals that you should pay attention. For US stocks their are some alarming parallels with the end of the 2000 bubble today, according
The big economic news over the weekend was the US July non-farm payrolls, which came in at 157,000 versus 193,000 expected. However, the previously two months were revised up by a combined 59,000 jobs, whereas the US unemployment rate declined to 3.9% and the broader U-6 unemployment declined to 7.5%. Wages growth was also close to
Cross posted from The Conversation: by Richard Holden Professor of Economics and PLuS Alliance Fellow, UNSW The US economy grew at a startling 4.1% in the second quarter, the first time in four years it has hit the 4% mark. It was not surprising that President Donald Trump was both delighted and vocal about the figures. “Once again,
by Chris Becker The FOMC meeting by the Federal Reserve overnight came and went without much fuss, but traders and analysts are focusing in on the “strong” phrase, used no less than five times in the statement. All bets are on for another rate rise very soon, but the USD had this prices in on
By Leith van Onselen There is little doubt that the Trump Administration’s tax cut package has been a disaster for ordinary Americans. A few weeks back it was revealed that the US Budget Deficit is projected to balloon past $1 trillion next year: This deterioration in the US Budget deficit has been blamed on the
A frequent focus point for the media is whether a company “beat” its earnings forecasts or not. But the definition of a beat or miss is poorly constructed, and often misleading. For me, changes in forward estimates are a more reliable indicator of whether a reporting season is progressing well or not. On that basis,
By Leith van Onselen While the Turnbull Government and the Business Council of Australia (BCA) continue to push the Senate to lower Australia’s company tax rate to 25% from 30%, on the grounds that it would boost investment and wages, the impact from the recent US corporate tax cuts has clearly missed American workers and
Via Moody’s: Base Metals Price Drop Suggests All Is Not Well Though it goes practically unmentioned, one of the more unexpected developments of late has been the stunning collapse of Moody’s industrial metals price index. In part, the industrial metals price index’s average of July-to-date is a deep 8.2% under its June 2018 average because
For those suffering from “Trump derangement syndrome” here a Trump 101 series from Steven Bannon via CNBC. On Russia: On NATO: On China: Not much reassurance there for the one trick pony Downunder except, of course, if you believe in liberal democracy.
DXY was firm again last night: AUD fell then recovered versus DMs: Was stronger versus EMs: Gold held on: Oil too: Base metals firmed: Big miners bounced: EM stocks eased: Junk firmed: Treasuries were sold: Bunds bought: Stocks were firm: US data was soft with ordinary housing starts. US Treasury Secretary Larry Kudlow temped fate:
Via Westpac: FOMC Chair Powell appeared before the Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs overnight in part one of his Semiannual report to Congress. Abstracting from the frequent political focus of the Committee, Chair Powell’s message on the economy was clear: “the FOMC believes that – for now – the best way forward
Paul Kelly has developed Trumpian hysteria: Donald Trump’s quest to become a man of destiny has scaled new peaks with his aspiration for collaborative ties with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, his public repudiation of US intelligence agencies in favour of Putin’s assurances, and his eclipse of the 70-year-old system of US global leadership buttressed by alliance systems.
DXY was strong last night as EUR wilted. CNY gains added to risk appetite: AUD firmed a bit: As did gold: And oil: Plus base metals: And big miners: EM stocks were up: Junk too: Treasuries were sold and curve flattened: Bunds were bought: Stocks broke out led by the Nasdaq at all-time highs: So,
Good breakdown by Credit Suisse (via the Wall Street Journal) on where the US earnings growth is coming from: Oil is good for a small set of companies, bad for the rest. But unless the oil price falls the earnings growth will be repeated in 3Q and 4Q. Taxes are one-off but set to continue
From Moody’s: Outstandings of Rated U.S. Corporate Bonds Dip from 2018’s First to Second Quarter According to Moody’s Capital Markets Research Group, second-quarter 2018’s outstandings of Moody’srated U.S. corporate bonds excluding ABS and MBS rose by 3.3% year-over-year to $7.212 trillion, which was a slight 0.6% under first-quarter 2018’s record high of $7.259 trillion. The
The monthly US jobs preview Calculated Risk: On Friday at 8:30 AM ET, the BLS will release the employment report for June. The consensus is for an increase of 190,000 non-farm payroll jobs in May (with a range of estimates between 144,000 to 212,000), and for the unemployment rate to be unchanged at 3.9%. The
Via Morgan Stanley: We no longer doubt that the US administration’s proposals signal the direction of trade policy. An escalatory cycle of protectionist actions, not just rhetoric, has begun and will continue. It’s another reason why pressure should continue in risk markets, which now must eat their US policy vegetables after feasting on dessert in
By Leith van Onselen The Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis has released an analysis of the first quarter Budget revenue impacts from the Trump Administration’s corporate tax cuts, and the results aren’t pretty: The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 applies to taxes starting in 2018, and the first quarterly data on tax
Via Bloomie comes David Woo, head of global rates and foreign exchange strategy at Bank of America: “I’ve never been this bullish the U.S. economy in 20 years I’ve been doing this,” the strategist said in an interview on Bloomberg Radio, citing the effects of the tax overhaul on corporate behavior. “That’s the fundamental story
Via Westpac today: Expectations for business investment through late-2017 and 2018 have been abnormally strong on the back of fiscal reform. Currently they sit at or above the level seen in the post-GFC recovery and, before that, the heady days of pre-crisis expansion. These expectations have subsequently been franked by the activity data, with the
