FED DAY!!! Policy announcement at 1CST, press conference at 1:30
The Fed’s benchmark interest rate stands in a range of 5%-5.25%, the highest level since September 2007. As part of its most aggressive rate hiking campaign since the 1980s, the Fed has increased the target range for its benchmark interest rate by 5 percentage points since March 2022.
I don’t agree with this but…… it’s interesting to read what the other side is thinks…..
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jpmorgan-michele-says-time-exit-143330550.html
JPMorgan’s Michele Says It’s Time to Exit ‘Cash Trap’ and Move Into Bonds JPMorgan’s Michele Says It’s Time to Exit ‘Cash Trap’ and Move Into Bonds (Bloomberg) — It’s time to exit the “cash trap” of money market funds and move into bonds as the Federal Reserve is set to pause its rate-hike campaign and then cut as soon as September, according to Wall Street veteran Bob Michele. “If we are right and we’ve seen the last Fed rate hike and the market starts pricing in rate cuts and they start cutting rates, then those cash returns will start to evaporate,” Michele told Bloomberg Television’s The Open on Wednesday. The producer price index for final demand dropped 0.3% last month on lower energy costs after rising by an unrevised 0.2% in April, the Labor Department said on Wednesday.
OTHER:
Jeffrey Gundlach, CEO of DoubleLine Capital warns conditions for a recession are ripe but not imminent. Gundlach discusses his favorite indicator, the consumer expectation of the future one year forward minus the current situation, which has been trending towards recessionary levels. He also discusses inflation and the factors impacting it. He notes that shelter is a large factor, with housing being stickier than expected despite a rise in mortgage rates. Core goods is contributing almost nothing to inflation. He also discusses the Producer Price Index (PPI), which has come down to pre-pandemic levels, Ex-food and energy is at 3.2%, and import prices are negative 4.8%. Gundlach believes that these low inflation numbers make bonds a more attractive asset. He recommends a 30-60-10 portfolio mix, with 10% in real assets such as gold.
Endowments are some of the most sophisticated hedge funds. Definitely worth studying. An endowment fund is the investment arm of nonprofit institutions like universities, charities, and churches. Ranked: The World’s Top 50 Endowment Funds What do Harvard, the Church Commissioners for England, the NYC Metropolitan Museum of Art, and an entity on behalf of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah all have in common?
Currencies:
Dollar index is weaker today.
https://www.barchart.com/forex
Stocks and Bonds:
MSFT ATVI buyout temporarily blocked
- Microsoft has said the deal would benefit gamers and gaming companies alike and has offered to sign a legally binding consent decree with the FTC to provide “Call of Duty” games to rivals including Sony for a decade.
- The case reflects the muscular approach to antitrust enforcement taken by the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden.
Commodities:
https://www.barchart.com/futures/performance-leaders?viewName=chart
Palladium is today’s big winner.
Useful Sites:
ptiprodirect.com/open-account/
Investing.com
Barchart.com
