Rate Hike Expectations Surge Into March Fed Meeting As Divergent Market Participation Looms

What a difference a month makes. On February 19, the S&P 500 (SPY) was taking a brief rest from a sprint off oversold conditions. The market for Fed Fund Futures had priced away any rate hikes for all of 2016. Ever since then, expectations have risen ever higher. NOW, the market expects the next rate … Read more

Rising Rate Expectations Add to Changes in Market Sentiment

I have become accustomed to a relatively predictable reaction to moves in the market’s expectations for rate hikes from the U.S. Federal Reserve. Last week began in the wake of the market finally bringing its expectations for the next rate hike back into 2016. The cascade of impacts from there were predictable: a stronger U.S. … Read more

A Cascade of Impacts from Rate Hike Expectations Planted Back In 2016

On Friday, February 26th, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis reported revised GDP results for Q4 2015. The number went from a first estimate of 0.7% to 1.0% annualized. The Bureau of Economic Analysis declared “with this second estimate for the fourth quarter, the general picture of economic growth remains the same; … Read more

January U.S. Jobs Numbers Do Not Boost Rate Hike Odds Enough for 2016 Action

The U.S. jobs numbers for January, 2016 were good enough to send odds for the next rate hike from the U.S. Federal Reserve to jump across the scheduled meetings for 2016. Yet, the odds for December as the next month for a rate hike are still well under 50%. Source: CME Group FedWatch Although the … Read more

Far-Reaching Ripples From Japan’s Newly Negative Rates

(This is an excerpt from an article I originally published on Seeking Alpha on February 1, 2016. Click here to read the entire piece.) On Wednesday, January 27th, the U.S. Federal Reserve stared down volatile conditions in financial markets and decided to avoid addressing them directly. {snip} When the Bank of Japan (BoJ) came up … Read more