FED'S POWELL:
"I WOULD NOT CALL SOFT LANDING A BASELINE EXPECTATION"
BREAKING: A HAWKISH PAUSE BY THE FED
FOMC KEEPS RATES UNCHANGED AS EXPECTED BUT MAKES CLEAR THAT HIGHER RATES ARE THE NEW NORMAL...US 2y yields hit highest since 2006 after somewhat hawkish Fed. Bottom-line: #Fed futures now no longer show rate CUTS beginning until September 2024. To put this in perspective, three months ago futures were expecting 4 rate CUTS in 2023. Now, interest rates are expected to PAUSE for at least 1 year... One remark: Fed estimates that r* (the real short-term interest rate expected to prevail when an economy is at full strength and inflation is stable) remains at 0.5%, and yet rates in 2026, when US debt may hit $50 trillion will be 3%. This means that blended interest on US debt will be ~$2 trillion, double where it is now. Source: Bloomberg, The Kobeissi Letter, HolgerZ, www.zerohedge.com
FED leaves rates unchanged, signals one more hike this year
The Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged while signaling one more hike this year. FOMC repeated language saying officials will determine the “extent of additional policy firming that may be appropriate.” The FOMC held its target range for the federal funds rate at 5.25% to 5.5%, while projections showed 12 of 19 officials favored another rate hike in 2023.
Central banks meetings calendar
Source: Bloomberg
Can be the second half of 2007 be a good parallel for today's market?
As highlighted by MacroAlf, back in 2007, the FED kept rates at 5.25% (orange) despite core inflation was trending around 2% (blue) for quarters already. That ''higher for longer'' stubborness kept policy unnecessarily tight - as we figured out in 2008... Source: Alfonso Peccatiello
JUST IN: Personal interest payments in the US hit a record $506 BILLION in July
During the first 7 months of 2023, Americans paid a total of $3.3 TRILLION in personal interest. This is up a staggering 80% since 2021 and nearly above the entire 2022 total. The worst part? These numbers do NOT include interest on mortgage payments. Source: The Kobeissi Letter, FRED
It seems that Ueda talks are useless...
USD/JPY
Some interresting comments by Themacrocompass.com / Alfonso Peccatiello
on yesterday's ECB hike and Lagarde's comments: "The demand for corporate loans in Europe has plummeted as borrowing costs remain prohibitively high. The Eurozone credit creation process is quite reliant on bank lending, so this matters. And indeed markets aren't reacting as if the ECB just hiked - quite the opposite: bond yields have moved lower and the EUR has taken another dip. The risks of an ECB policy mistake keep growing".
