U.S. Banks are facing unrealized losses of roughly $685 billion. They are desperately hoping the Federal Reserve will cut rates sooner rather than later.
Source: Barchart, FDIC
On the timing of the first cut, Waller said he believes that the FOMC will be able to lower the funds rate “this year.”
Main culprits from yesterday's pullback in Wall Street were comments by Governor Waller in a speech and discussion as they raised the risk that the first cut could come slightly later than the market's expectation of March and that the pace of cuts could be quarterly from the outset, rather than the market's more aggressive forecast of three initial consecutive cuts followed by a switch to a quarterly pace. On the speed of cuts, Waller said the funds rate “can and should be lowered methodically and carefully” and that he sees “no reason to move as quickly or cut as rapidly as in the past,” when the FOMC was combating recessions. Waller also noted that next month's scheduled revisions to CPI inflation (the seasonal factors will be revised on February 9) could influence his thinking on rates cuts, especially if the revised data show a less clear deceleration recently. The result was most evident in the drop in the market's expectations for a rate-cut in March...
After an aggressive tightening cycle, 152 centralbanks around the world expect to cut rates in 2024, including the Fed.
Source: Games of Trades
Is this the reason why the Fed might be forced to cut rates in March?
We could have: 1. Reverse repo ends (see chart below) 2. BTFP expires 3. Fed cuts (allegedly) 4. QT ends (allegedly) I.e 3 and 4 could counter-balance 1 and 2
RIP QT
Source: bofA, Ronnie Stoeferle
The Fed balance sheet expanded last week by $5.7BN - the most since March's SVB crisis...
Source: Bloomberg, www.zerohedge.com
Surprise, surprise... Even with a hot jobs report and inflation rising to 3.4%, market expectations regarding timing and number of rate cuts have shifted more dovish.
Markets are now pricing-in a rate cut at EVERY Fed meeting this year beginning in March 2024 until December 2024. Effectively, markets are saying that us interestrates will move in a straight-line lower. Source: The Kobeissi Letter
Headline CPI Hotter Than Expected In December, Food Costs Hit Record High
>>> Headline Consumer Price Inflation printed hotter than expected in December, +0.3% MoM vs +0.2% exp and +0.1% prior, pushing the YoY headline CPI up to +3.4% (from +3.1% prior and hotter than the +3.2% exp)... >>> US Core CPI (ex-Food/Energy) rose 0.3% MoM as expected, dropping the YoY change below 4.00% (3.93%) for the first time since May 2021. This was also above estimates of 3.8% yoy. >>> Goods deflation has stalled as the used cars and trucks index rose 0.5 percent over the month, after rising 1.6 percent in November. Food costs stand at record highs. Fuel costs are on the rise again. >>> More problematically for The Fed is the fact that Core CPI Services Ex-Shelter (SuperCore) rose 0.4% MoM, upticking the YoY rise to +4.09%...(see chart below). All the subsectors of SuperCore rose MoM with the shelter index increased 6.2 percent over the last year, accounting for over two thirds of the total increase in the all items less food and energy index. >>> Market reaction: 10Y hit 4.06% and sp500 futures are sligthly down. Prediction markets are severely discounting a March rate cut. We started 2024 with a 70%+ chance that interest rate cuts begin by March. After the strong jobs report and a hot inflation reading, odds have nearly HALVED. Still, markets are pricing in 6 rate cuts in 2024, DOUBLE what the Fed is guiding. Source: Bloomberg, The Kobeissi Letter, www.zerohedge.com
