Elias Griepentrog

A Well-Balanced US Labor Market

Jun 30, 2026 4 min read paid

The stock prices of ADP, Paychex, and ManpowerGroup sold off sharply last year as hiring cooled. Employers froze their headcounts as they assessed the impacts of Trump's tariffs and of AI technologies on their businesses (chart). On May 8, we wrote that the labor market was showing early signs of improvement and that employment-related stocks may have bottomed. So far, so good. Employers now seem to have

Ed Yardeni
Elias Griepentrog

Warsh Taking Hawkish Path to Lower Interest Rates

Jun 29, 2026 4 min read paid

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh has often said that the members of the Federal Open Mouth Committee should talk publicly less often. He wants the Fed to follow the financial markets rather than the other way around. Yet, two weeks after his first press conference as Fed chair on Wednesday, June 17, he is scheduled to appear on a policy panel on Wednesday, July 1, at the annual ECB Forum on

Ed Yardeni
Elias Griepentrog

Fed Still Has An Inflation Problem Despite Plunging Oil Prices

Jun 25, 2026 4 min read paid

The FOMC’s policy stance is determined by the balance of risks to its dual mandate of price stability and full employment. In the current environment, those risks remain firmly skewed toward inflation, justifying last week's FOMC pivot from an easing bias to a tightening one. Today's plethora of May economic data shows that the economy and the labor market are in great shape, while both

Ed Yardeni
Elias Griepentrog

Is The Dollar Debasement Trade Kaput?

Jun 24, 2026 5 min read paid

The "Dollar Debasement Trade" was a big theme in global financial markets last year. The thesis was that President Donald Trump's aggressive tariff hikes would revive inflation in the US and undermine foreigners' confidence in the US's reliability, especially among America's allies. In addition, the president's attacks on Fed Chair Jerome Powell threatened the Fed's independence and

Ed Yardeni
Elias Griepentrog

June's Swoons

Jun 23, 2026 4 min read paid

The stock market was hit by another June swoon today. Investors were unnerved by the outcome of last Wednesday's FOMC meeting. The committee participants were more hawkish than expected, according to their Dot Plot. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh abstained from providing his dot, but he came across as very hawkish during his presser, repeatedly stressing the importance of the Fed achieving price stability. Also weighing on AI-related

Ed Yardeni
Elias Griepentrog

FEMO Lifting Economic Growth & Foreigners Lifting US Stocks

Jun 22, 2026 4 min read paid

In the spectrum of bullish stock markets, there are two polar opposites. The first is driven by FOMO, the Fear of Missing Out, which inflates P/E multiples as investors chase hope and hype rather than fundamentals, creating the conditions for a bubble. The second is driven by FEMO, or Fabulous Earnings Momentum, which works the other way around: Corporate earnings grow faster than stock prices, compressing P/E multiples

Ed Yardeni
Elias Griepentrog

Geopolitical Release Valve Taking Pressure Off Resilient Economy

Jun 19, 2026 4 min read

The US-Iran interim peace deal is shaky; but if it holds, it will end the US blockade of Iranian ports and reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping. Now comes a 60-day negotiating period to hammer out a permanent agreement, centered on restricting Iran's nuclear program. The price of Brent crude oil extended its sharp decline following the peace deal announcement, with markets pricing in

Ed Yardeni
Elias Griepentrog

A Hawk In Dove's Clothing ... June Swoon Is Back ... 'We Have A Task Force On That'

Jun 17, 2026 4 min read

We weren't surprised by most of the news following today's FOMC meeting. We expected the committee to pivot from April's easing bias to a tightening bias, and they did. We expected the committee to acknowledge that, in their dual mandate, the risk of higher inflation had risen, while the risk of higher unemployment had fallen, and they did. The FOMC's Summary of

Ed Yardeni
Elias Griepentrog

Crib Notes For Warsh & Co. On The Fed's Dual Mandate

Jun 17, 2026 5 min read

During the final four months of 2025, the Fed lowered the federal funds rate (FFR) three times by a total of 75bps. The cuts were justified for two reasons: Inflation was approaching the Fed's 2.0% target, and the labor market was weakening. So the FFR was deemed to be too restrictive, i.e., above the "neutral" FFR. Under the Fed's dual mandate, the

Ed Yardeni
Elias Griepentrog

Why Is The US More Exuberant Than China?

Jun 16, 2026 4 min read

China has accomplished a great deal over the past few decades, transforming from a poor, insular, and rural economy to the world's second-largest economy. Its transformation has been hailed as an economic miracle. Yet this miracle hasn't been reflected in China's stock market. The China MSCI stock price index has been flatlining since the end of the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2010.

Ed Yardeni
Elias Griepentrog

Bull Jumping In Crete

Jun 11, 2026 4 min read paid

Greetings from Greece. My colleagues, Elias and Toby, have been writing the QTs this week while my wife and I are vacationing in Crete and Santorini. The weather, food, and people are great. In Crete, we visited the ruins of the Palace at Knossos. It was the ceremonial and political center of the Minoan civilization and culture that thrived during the Bronze Age. We learned that for fun, Minoans enjoyed

Ed Yardeni
Elias Griepentrog

Inflation & Employment Indicators Are Mixed As Fed Meets

Jun 10, 2026 4 min read paid

The latest batch of inflation and employment indicators suggests that the FOMC might adopt a neutral policy stance at next week's meeting rather than a tightening one as we have been expecting. That seemed to be the initial reaction in the US Treasury market, as 2- and 10-year yields edged lower on today's cooler-than-expected core CPI inflation news. We are sticking with our

Ed Yardeni
Elias Griepentrog

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