Fed

Market Call: Did Powell Just Pour Gasoline On Stock Market's Fire?

Aug 25, 2024 3 min read paid

Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech at Jackson Hole on Friday was unambiguously dovish, as we observed in that day's QT. It was also unambiguously bullish for the stock market because it confirmed widespread expectations that September's cut in the federal funds rate is in the bag and will be followed by several more cuts. However, the stock market may have discounted most of these

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Powell Confirms Fed's Pivot To Rate Cuts. Doesn't Push Back Against Market Expectations.

Aug 23, 2024 3 min read paid

Fed Chair Jerome Powell was dovish in his Jackson Hole speech today. He didn't hedge. He didn't push back against market expectations of several rate cuts ahead as we anticipated he might. He wasn't more dovish than the market, but he didn't utter any hawkish views whatsoever to alter the market's dovish expectations for several rate cuts (chart). Powell unambiguously

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Are Grocery Stores Price Gouging?

Aug 21, 2024 3 min read paid

Today, Target CEO Brian Cornell said that there's no room for price gouging in a super competitive business like retail. He was responding to accusations by Vice President Kamala Harris that grocers are inflating their prices. As the Democratic candidate for President, she proposed the first ever ban on "corporate price-gouging" in the food and grocery industry. She also pledged last Friday to come after "

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

2% Inflation: Are We There Yet?

Aug 14, 2024 2 min read paid

On long car rides, the kids in the back seat ask their parents, “Are we there yet?” Investors have been asking the same question about the Fed’s 2.0% inflation target. The answer is we aren’t there yet, but we're close. At his Jackson Hole speech at the end of next week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell is likely to confirm that. The question is whether he

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Market Call: More Churning?

Aug 11, 2024 3 min read paid

We've been expecting the stock market to churn for a while. We didn't expect it would churn so much in just one week as it did last week. So now what? Our bet is probably more churning is ahead with lots of volatility through the presidential election.

Ed Yardeni

Is Japan's Carry-Trade Earthquake Over Yet?

Aug 5, 2024 3 min read

This morning, US stocks and bonds were quick to price in Japan's stock market carnage overnight. Tokyo's Nikkei stock price index fell more than 12%, its worst day since "Black Monday" in October 1987, as the yen surged to 142 against the dollar (chart). This time, the crash was in carry trades financed in Japan. In 1987, it was so-called portfolio insurance in the

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Market Call: Pushing Back Against the Diehard Hard-Landers

Aug 4, 2024 4 min read paid

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Powell Says Economy Is Normalizing & September Rate Cut Is On The Table

Jul 31, 2024 3 min read paid

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) left the federal funds rate (FFR) unchanged between 5.25%-5.50% at today's meeting, as expected. Fed Chair Jerome Powell did signal that a 25bps rate cut is highly likely at the September meeting now that the labor market is "normalizing" and inflation is cooling. The 2-year and 10-year US Treasury yields slid by about 6 basis points during

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

The Economic Week Ahead: July 29-Aug 2

Jul 28, 2024 2 min read paid

The week ahead is packed with economic indicators, but all eyes will be on the Fed's interest rate decision on Wednesday and payroll employment on Friday. We don't expect the Fed will alter the stance of monetary policy at the July meeting, but Fed Chair Jerome Powell could signal that a September cut to the federal funds rate (FFR) is likely. That's because as

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Fed Put Jolts Stocks To New Record High

Jul 2, 2024 2 min read paid

The S&P 500 jumped to a new record high of 5509 today on better-than-expected Tesla vehicle deliveries. In addition, today’s JOLTS report showed more job openings. Nevertheless, two Fed officials suggested today that the Fed Put is back because they are worried that the Fed might cause job losses if monetary policy stays too tight for too long. Their dovish comments reinforced expectations that the Fed will

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Rate Cuts This Year Unlikely As Fed Gets Closer To 2.0% Target

Jun 26, 2024 3 min read paid

We still expect that the Fed's preferred core PCED inflation measure will fall to the Fed's 2.0% target by the end of this year (chart). It was already down to 2.8% y/y in April. May's number will be released on Friday, and should show further progress. We don't see the Fed cutting the federal funds rate (FFR) this year,

Ed Yardeni
Eric Wallerstein

Inflation Moderates & Stocks Soar As Fed Aims For One Rate Cut In 2024

Jun 12, 2024 2 min read paid

Hooray! The S&P 500 closed slightly above our yearend target of 5400 today (chart). The same thing happened to us last year: We were forecasting 4600 by the end of 2024 and got there by mid-year. The index closed around 4800 at the end of last year. So what do we do now? We’ll talk and write more about our 2025 and 2026 targets of 6000 and

Ed Yardeni

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