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US Treasury yields continued to soar higher across the curve with by 9-11bp. Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan, an FOMC voting member came out stating that there is no clear case yet to be made for keeping Fed policy rates on hold. Also, positive economic data prints added to the rise in yields. Initial jobless claims for the prior week fell to 242k from the prior 264k print. Also, the Philly Fed Manufacturing Index came at -10, much better expectations of a -20 reading.
The peak Fed Funds Rate jumped 3bp to 5.16% with markets now expecting a 36% chance of a 25bp hike in the the Fed’s next policy meeting in June. This compares to just a 10% probability a week ago. Equity indices closed higher with the S&P and Nasdaq up 0.9% and 1.5% respectively. US IG CDS spreads tightened by 0.8bp and HY CDS spreads tightened by 4.3bp.
European equity markets ended higher too. European main CDS spreads were 2.8bp tighter and crossover CDS spreads were 13bp tighter. Asia ex-Japan CDS spreads tightened by 0.6bp. Asian equity markets have opened in mixed today.
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On Fed’s hawks making a pitch against a rate-hike pause – Dallas Fed President, Lorie Logan
“The data in coming weeks could yet show that it is appropriate to skip a meeting. As of today, though, we aren’t there yet…. [on inflation] we haven’t yet made the progress we need to make… may warrant taking out some insurance by raising rates somewhat more to make sure that we really do get inflation under control”
On A Debt Deal ‘Not Close’ – Key McCarthy Ally
“We have a lot more work to do… the right things are being discussed”
On Inflation too high but impact of high rates not fully felt yet – Fed’ Governor Jefferson
Inflation “is still too high, and by some measures progress has been slowing… Outside of energy and food, the progress on inflation remains a challenge… [however the economy] has “slowed considerably”… History shows that monetary policy works with long and variable lags, and that a year is not a long enough period for demand to feel the full effect of higher interest rates.”
On ‘Soft landing’ narrative taking shape in the post-pandemic US economy
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee
“There are a lot of things about this inflation that we’re still trying to understand… Mocking the ‘immaculate disinflation’ is a mistake because there was a large component that was ‘immaculate inflation'”
Jan Hatzius, chief economist at Goldman Sachs
Inflation is “starting to see clear signs of improvement”
Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic
“We have strength in parts of the economy that you don’t usually have when we’re in this part of a policy cycle… That’s why I have some confidence … we can see inflation get back to our target”