Morning Report: Jerome Powell stresses flexibility

Vital Statistics:

Stocks are lower this morning on no real news. Bonds and MBS are down small.

Initial Jobless Claims fell to 216,000 last week.

Jerome Powell stressed that the Fed has the flexibility to be patient in raising rates and will react to new data as appropriate. “Especially with inflation low and under control, we have the ability to be patient and watch patiently and carefully as we … figure out which of these two narratives [slowdown or inflation] is going to be the story of 2019,” Powell said at the Economic Club of Washington. Separately, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said that the Fed had “reached the end of the road” in this tightening cycle.

The Fed Funds futures have retraced some of their December move and are now forecasting that the Fed will do nothing in 2019. In November, they were forecasting another hike in 2019, and then swung to forecasting a cut in December. They are now more or less agreeing with James Bullard that this tightening cycle is in the books.

Bonds largely ignored the Fed Speak and stocks were more focused on punishing the mall based retailers and department stores, many of which had a difficult holiday shopping season.

Fannie Mae reported another drop in delinquencies, as the SDQ percent fell to .76% of their portfolio from .79% a month ago and 1.12% a year ago. The DQ rate for loans originated during the bubble years is 4.5%. The DQ rate for loans originated since is .33%.

It is looking more and more likely that Trump will declare a national emergency to allocate funds to the wall and to re-open the government. It will then be up to the courts to decide if such a move is legal, which opens up a new can of worms as the executive branch continues its decades-long path of power consolidation.

Author: Brent Nyitray

In the physical sciences, knowledge is cumulative. In the financial markets, it is cyclical View all posts by Brent Nyitray