Public Jamie's Hurricane Mar 9, 2023 2 min read JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has been warning that a recession is coming. Today, ironically, the bank stocks took it on the chin sending the overall stock market lower because the economy is widely deemed to be too strong, and a solid gain is expected in February's payroll employment tomorrow. Furthermore, fears that next Tuesday's CPI report for February might be higher than expected raised concerns Ed Yardeni
Public Dr Ed's Video Webcast 3/6/23 Mar 8, 2023 1 min read Productivity was poor last year—declining more than it has since 1974—and growth in unit labor costs was high. But the final quarter of 2022 saw significant improvements in both, and we think the worst is over for both. Below is exclusive early access to Dr Ed's Webcast for paid members. This post and video will open to the public on a later date. If productivity continues Ed Yardeni
Paid Thus Spake The Fed Chair Mar 7, 2023 2 min read paid Fed Chair Jerome Powell is the high priest of monetary policy. His pontifications are carefully read and analyzed by his followers. We are among his followers because we are Fed watchers. Indeed, we often count how many times certain words appear in his public remarks. The word “disinflation” was uttered 11 times at Powell’s press conference on February 1. He was the only one who mentioned the word at Ed Yardeni
Paid The Fed Chair Testifies Before Congress Mar 6, 2023 1 min read paid Tomorrow (Mar. 7) and the day after (Mar. 8), Fed Chair Jerome Powell will testify in hearings before the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services panel respectively, to discuss the bank’s latest semiannual Monetary Policy Report (MPR). The report was released on Friday. It reaffirmed the Fed’s commitment to bring inflation back down to 2% by 2025, according to the FOMC's December Summary of Ed Yardeni
Paid Market Call Mar 5, 2023 2 min read paid The S&P 500 may continue to mark time until the data more convincingly support either the bull or the bear case. The index bounced off its 200-day moving average (dma) and closed above its 50-dma on Friday (chart). If the batch of economic indicators over the next two weeks is as strong as was January's comparable batch, the market will go down on fears that an Ed Yardeni
Public The Economic Week Ahead, March 5-10 Mar 5, 2023 2 min read Fed Chair Jerome Powell will testify on the Fed's semiannual monetary policy report to two congressional committees on Tuesday and Wednesday. He is likely to say that although there are signs of disinflation, inflation remains too high and the Fed still has lots of work to do to bring it down. Powell's favorite labor market indicator, i.e., job openings, will be out on Wednesday for Ed Yardeni
Paid Tale Of Two Surveys Of Purchasing Managers Mar 3, 2023 2 min read paid Today's NM-PMI for February was happier than the month's M-PMI released on Wednesday. On balance, they confirm that consumers have pivoted away from buying goods to services, and that the rolling recession in the goods-providing industries continues to be offset by strength in services-providing ones. Let's start with the happy news that's contributed to this morning's stock market rally: (1) Ed Yardeni
Paid Q4 Productivity & Labor Costs Going Right Way Mar 2, 2023 2 min read paid Bond and stock prices opened weak this morning on good news from the labor market. Good news is bad news because the Fed is trying to slow the economy to bring down inflation. So good news increases the risk of higher-for-longer interest rates. The 10-year Treasury bond yield is back above 4.00%. At 4.95%, the 2-year Treasury yield reached levels not seen in more than a decade. The Ed Yardeni
Public Fear Can Be Good For Stocks Mar 1, 2023 1 min read "Greed is good" is a catchphrase based on Gordon Gekko's quote "greed, for lack of a better word, is good" from the 1987 film Wall Street. That was the year that Fed Chair Alan Greenspan introduced the "Fed Put" as a way to stop panic selloffs in the stock market. For stock prices to go up, fear is sometimes better than greed. Ed Yardeni
Paid Performance Derby: Stocks YTD & In February Mar 1, 2023 1 min read paid The S&P 500 was up 3.4% ytd through the last day of February (chart). All of the 11 S&P 500 sectors with the exception of Information Technology gave back some of their January gains (or widened their losses) during February (chart). The market was discounting a soft landing in January. During February, the concern was an inflationary no-landing scenario. It's been a tug Ed Yardeni
Public Dr Ed's Video Webcast 2/27/23 Mar 1, 2023 1 min read The stock market beat a hasty retreat in February, spooked by reports of January’s economic strength and the Fed’s dreaded possible reaction. So today we look at what March’s releases of economic data for February might bring. Below is exclusive early access to Dr Ed's Webcast for paid members. This post and video will open to the public on a later date. They could be Ed Yardeni
Paid Capital Spending Getting A Lift From Washington Feb 28, 2023 1 min read paid Inflation-adjusted capital spending rose 4% y/y during Q4. That was a solid increase. However, it may be starting to slow. The CEO Outlook Index compiled by the Business Roundtable fell most of last year as the Fed's interest rate hikes heightened recession concerns (chart). Nondefense capital goods orders excluding aircraft have stalled at a record high in recent months through January (chart). The weakness in primary metals, Ed Yardeni