Typically, credit spreads and yields on junk bonds align with credit stress and anticipated stress in the credit markets. Today, however, an aura of complacency reigns over the junk bond market as credit stress for junk-rated companies increases. The top graph, entitled Credit Stress is Building, courtesy of Bloomberg shows that defaults on junk-rated bank […]
For the better part of the last two years, Jerome Powell and the Fed have clearly indicated that monetary policy is primarily focused on bringing inflation back to its 2% target. Over the period, Powell indicated he was comfortable with weakness in the labor market if it meant inflation would normalize. Powell’s FOMC press conference […]
In a speech last Thursday, Fed Governor Christopher Waller showed how even the most hawkish Fed members are turning dovish. The transformation from a hawkish to a dovish Fed began last October. In late summer and early fall of 2023, the Fed talked about rate increases and was steadfast about beating inflation. At the November […]
As shown on the left, from 1979 until 2000, the correlation between small cap returns (Russell 2000) and the U.S. Treasury ten-year yield was often highly negatively correlated. As circled in the graph on the right, the U.S. experienced its highest yields in history during this period. Due to their high debt loads, small cap […]
Yesterday’s Commentary discussed the fall of EV maker Fisker. After posting the article, Fisker shares were suspended from trading on the NYSE. Tesla, the world’s largest producer of EVs, has fared much better than Fisker, but it, too, is having problems. For example, Tesla’s revenue growth was only 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Competition from […]
Over the last few weeks, we have shared information about the troubles facing the commercial real estate (CRE) market and the regional banks that made CRE loans (CRE Pain & CRE Loans). The problem for CRE investors and lenders stems from overbuilding over the last ten years and high vacancy rates due to the work-from-home […]
The vacancy rate of commercial real estate is higher today than at any point in the 2008 global financial crisis, per the Wall Street Journal. Yet, the CRE industry isn’t experiencing the pain one might expect to see with such high vacancy rates. CRE deals involving distressed sellers are still surprisingly low, at just 3.5% […]
With inflation remaining sticky well above the Fed’s 2% target and the economy showing few signs of weakness, the Fed will find it difficult to cut rates meaningfully. Furthermore, ending QT and re-starting QE is much less likely in this environment. The problem with the Fed’s anti-inflationary stance is that it forces the government to […]
The last release of the Fed’s quarterly Summary of Economic Projections, aka dot plots, was in December. At the time, the median 2024 GDP projection of the 19 Fed members was a relatively slow 1.4% growth. Further, they expected PCE prices to decline to 2.4% by year-end. Both estimates were slightly lower than their September […]