Daily Comment
Daily Comment (March 15, 2017)
by Bill O’Grady, Kaisa Stucke, and Thomas Wash [Posted: 9:30 AM EDT] Happy Ides of March! There are two big events today—the FOMC meeting ends with an expected rate hike, along with new dots and a press conference, and the Dutch go to the polls. The key issue for the FOMC is the path of future… Read More »
Daily Comment (March 14, 2017)
by Bill O’Grady, Kaisa Stucke, and Thomas Wash [Posted: 9:30 AM EDT] The two big news items since yesterday morning are from the U.K. and the CBO. In the U.K., PM May won her battle for a clean Brexit bill, meaning that Article 50 can be declared soon. We look for the declaration to come by… Read More »
Daily Comment (March 13, 2017)
by Bill O’Grady, Kaisa Stucke, and Thomas Wash [Posted: 9:30 AM EDT] BREAKING NEWS: The Atlanta FRB announced that Raphael Bostic has been named as the new president, replacing the retiring Dennis Lockhart. Bostic will take over the bank on June 5. He was a housing official in the Obama administration and his academic work is… Read More »
Daily Comment (March 10, 2017)
by Bill O’Grady, Kaisa Stucke, and Thomas Wash [Posted: 9:30 AM EST] Happy Jobs Day! The February jobs report was generally positive, with payroll easily beating estimates at 235k compared to the forecast of 200k. Wage growth was pretty strong, coming in line with expectations at 2.8%. Equities have responded positively to the data, whereas bonds… Read More »
Daily Comment (March 9, 2017)
by Bill O’Grady, Kaisa Stucke, and Thomas Wash [Posted: 9:30 AM EST] Equity markets remain relatively calm as the ECB decided to leave its monetary policy unchanged. During a press conference, Mario Draghi stated that even though risks have become less pronounced, global factors are still a threat to the overall stability of the Eurozone. We… Read More »
Daily Comment (March 8, 2017)
by Bill O’Grady, Kaisa Stucke, and Thomas Wash [Posted: 9:30 AM EST] Populist candidates in both France and the Netherlands are seeing their polling numbers deteriorate. In France, Marine Le Pen is holding at around 26% support, which is a statistical dead heat with Emmanuel Macron. She was leading by up to seven points last month. … Read More »
Daily Comment (March 7, 2017)
by Bill O’Grady, Kaisa Stucke, and Thomas Wash [Posted: 9:30 AM EST] In Washington, the wheels of policy continue to move forward. The GOP has offered its first swing at replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It keeps many of the more popular measures, such as pre-existing condition coverage and child coverage up to age 26. … Read More »
Daily Comment (March 6, 2017)
by Bill O’Grady, Kaisa Stucke, and Thomas Wash [Posted: 9:30 AM EST] There were two news stories of note over the weekend. First, President Trump accused the previous administration of wiretapping his campaign. This is a very significant charge, akin to Nixon’s “plumbers” breaking into the Democratic National Headquarters. The FBI and the former Director of… Read More »
Daily Comment (March 3, 2017)
by Bill O’Grady, Kaisa Stucke, and Thomas Wash [Posted: 9:30 AM EST] We are seeing a modest decline in U.S. equities and a softer dollar as traders square positions in front of two key speeches today, one from Vice Chair Fischer and the other from Chair Yellen. It is highly likely these leaders at the Fed… Read More »