I’m still in Antigua, Guatemala where the weather is beautiful and I was woken up at 1am by the second earthquake in two weeks here. If one of you has upset a volcano, please apologize. The Federal Reserve kept the fed funds rate unchanged. Many expressed concern regarding the three dissenters who wanted a 25bp … Read more
The Federal Reserve concluded its July meeting and elected to keep the fed funds rate unchanged. Wall Street had a meaningful probability on a small rate hike (around 33%). While I understood the logic, and would have voted to hike had I been in the room, I was on record saying I thought they’d hold. … Read more
As a reminder, I’m using the new shorter format here. I think the previous 9-10 page commentary was helpful when I started writing it every month, but is no longer serving us well. The CPI report does matter, but it’s not driving markets like it did in ’22, ’23, and ’24. In addition, the economy … Read more
The Federal Reserve completed its June meeting and the first one with Kevin Warsh as Chairman. The details: – The Fed kept the fed funds rate unchanged. This was the overwhelming consensus expectation. – On the dot plot, nine of 19 Fed officials expect an increase in the fed funds rate later this year. (Warsh … Read more
I’m currently on a train which is why today’s CPI report is late. I also think the previous 9-10 page commentary was helpful when I started writing it every month, but is no longer serving us well. The CPI report does matter, but it’s not driving markets like it did in ’22, ’23, and ’24. … Read more
The PPI came in well below expectations. Energy prices were up as expected, but services pricing was flat. That’s welcome, but the US Congress still intends to debase the dollar into oblivion. Amazon is going to take on Elon Musk and SpaceX’s Starlink by acquiring Globalstar. Apple will have to change suppliers for its satellite … Read more
As noted earlier, there won’t be a long 10 page CPI analysis this month. Your bullet points: – CPI of 3.3% was below the 3.4% expected and far above last month’s 2.4%. – Core CPI of 2.6% was below the 2.7% expected and above last month’s 2.5%. – All items CPI was up 0.9% m/m … Read more
