Surveys

Everything Is OK Except For...

Oct 24, 2023 2 min read paid

The Q3 earnings reporting season is underway and going well with Microsoft delivering a big upside earnings surprise after today's close. We still expect that S&P 500 earnings per share rose to a record high during the quarter. That's confirmed by S&P 500 forward earnings (chart). Inflation continues to moderate as confirmed by today's Richmond Fed regional business survey'

Ed Yardeni

The Economic Week Ahead: October 23-27

Oct 22, 2023 2 min read

This week should be another disappointing one for the hard-landers. That's been true all year and especially during Q3, when the economic surprises were mostly to the upside as shown by the Citigroup Economic Surprise Index (chart). Q3's real GDP (Thu) is tracking at 5.4% (saar) for the quarter according to the Atlanta Fed's GDPNow. The labor market indicators are likely to show

Ed Yardeni

A Sunny Day With Storm Clouds

Oct 10, 2023 2 min read paid

Despite the dark news coming out of the Middle East, today was sunny in the bond and stock markets. It's possible that the latest geopolitical turmoil has caused the 10-year bond yield to fall to 4.65% today from 4.80% at the end of last week, reflecting a flight to safety, which may be giving stocks a lift. However, the dollar index (DXY) and the price of

Ed Yardeni

Oil's Slippery Slope

Oct 4, 2023 2 min read paid

The 10-year Treasury bond yield fell for a change today. It peaked at 4.87% at 2:45 am, but ended the day at 4.72% thanks to falling oil prices and a weak September payroll employment report from ADP. Brent crude oil futures settled down $5.11, or 5.6%, to $85.81 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) fell $5.01, or 5.6%, to

Ed Yardeni

Why Is the Bond Yield Soaring?

Oct 2, 2023 2 min read paid

The latest batch of economic indicators was weaker than expected. On Friday, we learned that real personal consumption expenditures rose just 0.1% during August. The core PCED edged up by only 0.1% during the month. September’s Consumer Sentiment Index fell 1.4 points to 68.1. As a result, the Citigroup Economic Surprise Index (CESI) is down to 47.3% from a recent high of 81.9%

Ed Yardeni

The Economic Week Ahead: September 25-29

Sep 23, 2023 2 min read paid

This is a relatively slow week for economic data. That means that the markets will be mostly entertained by the talking heads of the Federal Open Mouth Committee. The chattering started on Friday, when two Fed officials (Governor Michelle Bowman and Boston Fed President Susan Collins) endorsed Fed Chair Jerome Powell's remark during his presser on Wednesday: "[W]e're committed to achieving and sustaining a

Ed Yardeni

Good News Is Bad News, For Now

Sep 21, 2023 2 min read paid

The Fed's hawkish pause has unsettled the bond and stock markets. During 2022 and early 2023, the widespread fear was that the Fed's tightening of monetary policy would send the economy into a recession, depressing corporate earnings and the stock market. Now the fear is that stronger-than-expected economic growth will force the Fed to maintain its restrictive stance for some time. So good news is bad

Ed Yardeni

Bond Prices Are Tuning Out Some Bad News For Now

Sep 12, 2023 2 min read paid

The good news this morning was that the bond yield held below 4.30% despite rising oil prices and a mixed August survey of small business owners conducted by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). Bond investors are patiently awaiting tomorrow's CPI. They might also have been calmed by a September 10 WSJ article suggesting that the FOMC isn't likely to raise the federal funds

Ed Yardeni

Bond Vigilantes Running Into Some Resistance

Aug 14, 2023 2 min read paid

The 10-year US Treasury bond yield continues to run into resistance around 4.25%, which was last year's high (chart). The bond bears led by the Bond Vigilantes would like to see the yield rise well above that level to demonstrate that they are unhappy with the government's profligate fiscal policies. The bond bulls--including us, for now--see the current level as an attractive one if inflation

Ed Yardeni

The Economic Week Ahead: July 3-7

Jul 2, 2023 2 min read paid

The first week of every month tends to be jampacked with employment and PMI releases. All eyes will be on June's employment report at the end of the week. The recent upturn in initial unemployment claims suggests that the labor market may be cooling off a bit. Thursday's jobless claims should confirm that. However, that same day, May's JOLTS report should show that job

Ed Yardeni

The Economic Week Ahead: May 22-26

May 20, 2023 2 min read paid

On Friday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that monetary policy is "restrictive." So Fed policy will be data-dependent, particularly so on inflation indicators. For those of us in the "pause" camp, he seemed to suggest that's possible. He acknowledged that the banking crisis is bound to tighten credit conditions reducing the need for the Fed to get more restrictive. That's been our

Ed Yardeni

New York's Regional Business Survey Shows Lots of Weakness

May 15, 2023 1 min read paid

Business activity fell sharply in New York State, according to firms responding to the May 2023 Empire State Manufacturing Survey conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. It was released this morning. The headline general business conditions index dropped 43.0 points to -31.8. New orders and shipments plunged after rising significantly last month. Delivery times shortened somewhat, and inventories contracted. Both employment and hours worked edged

Ed Yardeni

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