Tag: inverted yield curve

The Continuum: Through The Limiters!

Posted on by Gary Tanashian

Inflation pushes the 30-year Treasury bond yield through long-term moving average trends!

Okay, let’s take a breath. I don’t like to use ‘!’ in titles or even in articles. In fact, when I see too many of them I immediately think that someone really REALLY wants me to see their point. That said, the signal shown below is pretty important.

It’s in-month with a monstrously over-bearish bond sentiment backdrop similar to when we installed a red arrow on the chart below at the height of the Q1 2011 frenzy (cue the Bond King: “short the long bond!”). Chart jockeys are probably delivering the bad news of the chart’s inverted H&S, a potential for which NFTRH began managing a year ago when the 30yr yield hit our initial target of 2.5% and then recoiled as expected after the public became very concerned about inflation.

larry

But we were planning for the possibility that the pullback could make a right side shoulder to a bullish pattern, and so it did. Now the question is whether the Continuum continues (resumes its long journey down) or does something it has not done for decades, which is to break the limiting moving average trends. It’s an important question, states Captain Obvious. Continue reading "The Continuum: Through The Limiters!" →

Yield Curve Inverts Deeper Than August Of 2019

Posted on by Gary Tanashian

Like the larger media, this tiny little spec within the media reports the news to you. The 10yr-2yr yield curve has inverted (ref. Yield Curve inversion upcoming). Now, what does it mean?

Well, the first thing it usually means is not to panic (especially now that High Yield credit spreads are easing), but to tune out the media hype about it because it is not the inversion that tends to signal an economic bust but instead, the steepening that follows it. Among the important questions are how long will it remain inverted and how deep will the inversion go before the next steepener?

Here is today’s post-payrolls (+431k jobs) move as the bond market demands that the Fed get off its ample behind and get with the inflation making nasty headlines as it cost-pushes across the economy while the Fed and the long end of the curve lag well behind. But the Fed is probably lagging for a reason and one major reason could be that they see the curve, they know what comes next and it’s not pretty.

yield curve
cnbc.com

From the post linked at the top: Continue reading "Yield Curve Inverts Deeper Than August Of 2019" →

Financials – Conspicuously Underperforming

Posted on by Noah Kiedrowski

Underperforming Despite Tailwinds

The financial cohort has conspicuously underperformed the broader market for the majority of 2018. The group didn’t participate in the broader market performance in Q3 where the S&P 500 had its best quarter since 2013. Banks have had domestic and global economic expansion tailwinds at its back while posting accelerating revenue growth, increasing dividend payouts, engaging in a record number of share buybacks and benefiting from tax reform. Augmenting this economic backdrop is a record number of IPOs, a record number of global merger and acquisitions, rising interest rates, deregulation, and tax reform. Banks are benefiting in unique ways due to the consulting fees regarding mergers and acquisitions and trading around market volatility. All of these elements provide an ideal confluence that bodes well for the financial sector. JP Morgan (JPM), Citi (C), Wells Fargo (WFC), Goldman Sachs (GS) and Bank of America (BAC) seemed to be poised to continue to benefit from the favorable economic backdrop. Thus far in 2018 the financials have performed terribly considering the broader market performance and the aforementioned economic tailwinds. There’s negative sentiment that’s placed the financials in a holding pattern for much of 2018 over concerns of rapid interest rate increases and an inverted yield curve.

The Federal Reserve, Rising Interest Rates and Economic Strength

The Federal Reserve expects the economy to continue to strengthen and inflation to rise shortly. The economic strength coupled with the threat of inflation provides an environment that’s ripe for rising interest rates. The Federal Reserve has been very bullish on the domestic front and signaled that rate hikes will continue and may even accelerate its pace of rate hikes contingent on inflation and economic strength. There’s no question that the financials benefit from rising interest rates, and Bank of America(BAC) has one of the largest deposit bases among all banks and serves as a pure play on rising interest rates. Goldman Sachs (GS) has even branched out into consumer banking with its Marcus product so needless to say all big banks will benefit from their deposit bases.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stated that the unemployment rate currently stands at 3.9%, near a 50-year low while core inflation is right around 2%. Powell said that these two metrics are part of a “very good” economy that boasts “a remarkably positive outlook” from forecasters. The central bank approved a quarter point hike rate in the funds rate that now stands at 2.25%, and the committee indicated that another rate hike would happen before the end of the year. 2019 will likely see three more rate hikes and 2020 will see one rate hike before pausing to assess the delicate balance of rising rates in the midst of a strong economy while taming inflation. Continue reading "Financials – Conspicuously Underperforming" →