Developed Countries
The Treasury curve bull steepened meaningfully on Friday with the 2-year yield falling by nearly 11 basis points versus the 3 basis point decline in the 10-year yield. A softer than anticipated US PPI release prompted this move. The unexpected 0.1% m/m…
According to BCA Research’s Global Investment Strategy service, the EV boom, much like the initial auto revolution over a century ago, could experience several disruptions. Buying diesel-engine era heroes can act as a call option on coming EV market…
In this brief Insight we examine the expanding Middle East conflict and update the situation in the Taiwan Strait on the eve of elections. The Houthis are a distraction and China is not likely to invade Taiwan in the near term, but both situations support our overweight of US equities relative to global. Global growth is likely to slow while commodities are likely to see at least minor supply shocks.
In light of the hotter-than-expected US CPI report, we look at what interest rate currency investors should focus on. Our conclusion largely keeps our existing trades in place, as published in our outlook, a few weeks ago.
US CPI inflation for December came in slightly hotter than anticipated. Headline inflation accelerated from 0.1% to 0.3% on a month-over-month basis and rose from 3.1% to 3.4% on a year-over-year basis. Both the monthly and yearly changes in headline…
US corporate bonds performed well last year with both investment grade and high-yield spreads narrowing in 2023. Indeed, the 12-month breakeven spreads are relatively low – especially in the case of investment grade. This means that corporates have a…
The best leading indicator for post-pandemic US wage inflation is the ratio of job vacancies to ‘bad’ unemployment (V/U), where bad unemployment refers to ‘job losers not on temporary layoff’. This ratio has already declined from 6.4 to 4.1 and wage…
We update our inflation forecast following this morning’s CPI report.
The Atlanta Fed’s US Wage Growth Tracker stalled at 5.2% in December, unchanged from November. Notably, after falling from a peak of 7.1% in June 2022, this indicator has stabilized at still-elevated levels in recent months. This dynamic raises the question…
Crude oil prices weakened following the release of the US EIA’s weekly report on Wednesday, reversing gains earlier in the session and ultimately ending the day lower. The data release showed commercial crude inventories unexpectedly rose by 1.3 million…