The long Easter holiday weekend is a good time to reflect and ponder about the prospects for higher interest rates, world events, and a few other forgotten matters. It appears that Chair Yellen has a “mini revolt” on her hands as St. Louis Fed President Bullard, Atlanta Fed President Lockhart, and Richmond Fed President Lacker are publicly suggesting […]
The bond market is doing the “happy dance” in response to last week’s FOMC meeting. But what
did the Fed say that we did not already know that would cause such a reaction? They are keeping
overnight rates unchanged for the moment and are suggesting that rates will rise more gradually
this year than earlier envisioned. The officials […]
Will the recent rise in the price of oil and a much improved stock market influence the Fed at its upcoming FOMC meeting? Absolutely! The Fed’s itch to hike rates another 25 bps is likely to be scratched no later than their June 14-15 meeting. A string of positive news has caused the Fed to put further rate […]
Bond yields rose again this past week, mostly in response to better-than-expected economic news and positive gains in the stock market. Both the Dow and S&P were up over 2.2% for the week, oil was back above $36 per barrel, and the employment report was very good. Job growth for the month of February was a solid 242,000 […]
