Markets were relatively quiet ahead of a week filled with top tier statistics. A speech by FRB Chair Powell was generally market insignificant as he stated the Committee was in no hurry to cut rates.
Treasuries ended lower in price however the two-year Treasury or instrument most sensitive to monetary policy y were up for the fifth consecutive month, the longest streak on record according to Bloomberg.
The narrative is beginning to rise about the complacency of the surging national deficit and Middle East tensions. Will all of a sudden both issues become a major concern with many questioning as to why all were opaque to the potential risks at hand?
The election is five weeks away. Perhaps the only certainty to write is that it may get uglier and the mistruths more flagrant. As often stated, truth is the first virtue lost in war and politics.
The JOLTS Job Openings and the ISM Manufacturing Survey is released today. Both are tier I statistics that could perhaps validate the prevailing soft-landing scenario.
Today the long shoreman on the East and Gulf coasts went on strike, the first such stoppage since 1977. Some declare the stoppage may only last a week, an opinion that is perhaps lacking in substance. Writing the incredibly obvious, the longer the strike lasts, the greater the impact.
FRB Powell again stated yesterday the path to 2% inflation is at hand. A different question should be asked…are not both the Boeing and Longshoremen strike indicative of cost push or wage inflation?
Will the outcome not affect other wage demands including the vast preponderance of workers not union members?
Last night the foreign markets were up. London was up 0.50%, Paris down 0.02% and Frankfurt up 0.36%. China was up 8.06%, Japan up 1.93% and Hang Seng up 2.43%.
Futures are flat. The 10-year is up 11/32 to yield 3.75%,
