November 2, 2022 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
At first investors and traders thought they heard the Federal Reserve signal that the central bank was thinking about a pivot to a policy of cutting interest rates. And stocks rallied. But then Fed chair Jerome Powell “clarified” the Fed’s thinking in his post-meeting press conference. It would be “premature,” Powell said, to think about pausing the Fed’s policy of increasing interest rates to fight inflation. The Fed, he added still had a “ways to go” and the “Ultimate level of interest rate will be higher than previously expected.” Powell stressed that the Fed’s goal continues to be a reduction in inflation and that the Fed is surprised at how sticky prices are and that inflation hasn’t given up more ground to the Fed’s six interest rate increases in 2022.
November 2, 2022 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing, Videos |
Today is Ground Hog Day for the Federal Reserve. The U.S. central bank will announce whether or not it sees its shadow. It’s predicted to announce a 75 basis point increase in interest rates. However, there’s no revision of projections on interest rates, inflation updates, or GDP growth assessments scheduled for this meeting. Which leaves Wall Street free to speculate until the Fed’s December 14 meeting with those Dot Plot projections. During this “gap” in Fed guidance, investors are speculating on a pivot from the Fed’s policy of raising interest rates to either a pause or an outright reversal that moves to cut rates. This speculation, along with seasonal trends, has led to a rally that is now feeding itself as portfolio managers try to take advantage of this end-of-the-year bounce. However, I believe that the idea the Fed will pivot soon is incorrect and we’ll see another leg of the bear market starting around January. Because of this, I’d suggest not putting any new money in the market and instead waiting for upcoming lows as the Bear Market continues through 2023 to a bottom sometime that year or in 2024. And do remember that we get jobs numbers for October on Friday.
November 1, 2022 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
The JOLTS survey from the Department of Labor showed a big jump in job openings in September. Which raised market worries that the Fed will raise interest rates tomorrow, November 2, by a hefty 75 basis points and signal that it is farther away from a pivot toward lowering interest rates than this recent rally has hoped. The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey showed that the number of available positions climbed to 10.7 million in September from a revised 10.3 million in August. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg were looking for a drop to 9.8 million openings.
October 28, 2022 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
Inflation as measured by the Personal Consumption Expenditures index, the Federal Reserve’s favorite inflation guide, rose at an annual rate of 6.2% in September, according to data released today, October 28. The core index, which excludes more volatile prices for food and energy, rose at an annual rate of 5.1%. The month-to-month gain in the overall PCE was 0.3% and the core index climbed a month-to-month 0.5%.
October 19, 2022 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
The two-day bounce in U.S. stocks stalled today. The Standard & Poor’s 500 closed down 0.67% and the NASDAQ Composite was down 0.40%. Why? Increased sentiment that the Federal Reserve will raise its target short-term interest rate by a hefty 75 basis points at its November 2 meeting and its December 14 session. While the 75-basis-point increase at the November 2 meeting has been expected for some time, the shift in sentiment for the December 14 meeting is new.
October 14, 2022 | Daily JAM |
After climbing 2.60% yesterday, the Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 2.37% today. Same story with the Dow Jones Industrial Average–up 2.83% yesterday, but down 1.34% today. And the NASDAQ Composite–up 2.23% yesterday and down 3.08% today. And the small-cap Russell 2000–up 2.41% yesterday and down 2.66% today.
October 13, 2022 | Daily JAM, Morning Briefing |
After Thursday’s surprising and disappointing higher-than-expected CPI inflation number stocks rallied–but bond prices sank and bond yields rose on expectations that higher inflation means faster interest rate increases from the Federal Reserve. How much higher?
October 12, 2022 | Daily JAM |
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg are looking for core inflation, that is inflation without volatile food and energy prices, to return to a four-decade high in tomorrow’s report of CPI inflation in September. Projections are looking for a 0.4%increase n core inflation in September and an annual rate of increase of 6.5%. That would match the March rate that was the highest since 1982. About a third of economists in the Bloomberg survey, however, expect an annual rate of 6.6% or more. The economists in the survey do expect a decline in headline (that is, all items) inflation to an 8.1% annual rate.
October 9, 2022 | Daily JAM |
Thursday’s CPI inflation report for September will overshadow everything else scheduled for this week, including the beginning of earning season. The report is so important because the financial markets continue to look for clues on how many more times the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates and how soon the central bank might begin to cut rates. For investors, the report is especially challenging because 1) there’s the task of getting the numbers right, and 2) there’s the question of how the market will react to those numbers.
October 1, 2022 | Daily JAM, Special Reports |
Today, October 1, I’ve gone back through this Special Report to update any parts of my calendar in light of what we’ve learned about the economy, about Federal Reserve interest rate policy, and about the global economy in the last few weeks. This update includes my take on the August jobs report and the September 21 meeting of the Fed. (It’s a complete revision of the original so changes are in the body of the original text.) It is different this time. And it’s likely to “be different this time” for the next five years or so. And you need an investment strategy for that period.
September 21, 2022 | Daily JAM |
At today’s meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, the U.S. central bank raised interest rates by 75 basis points for a third straight meeting. That took the Fed’s short-term benchmark rate to a range of 3% to 3.25%. This move was widely expected with the CME FedWatch Tool giving odds of 84% yesterday on a 75 basis point increase. What the market hadn’t expected was how negative the Fed’s projections in its Dot Plot would be. To sum up: Higher interest rates (with more rate increases) for longer. And very low economic growth but no recession.
September 14, 2022 | Daily JAM, Videos |
My one-hundred-and-seventy-fifth YouTube video: “The Fed’s Real Inflation Problem” went up today. The CPI numbers came out and they were disappointing with Inflation running at an 8.3% annual rate in August. But the inflation problem is worst than the headline numbers indicate. Shelter, the single biggest component of the CPI inflation rate, was up by the most in August since 1991. And the Federal Reserve has very little ability to lower a runaway inflation rate in rents using its usual methods of raising interest rates and curbing growth in the money supply. That means the process of controlling inflation is going to be slow and difficult.
