The ISM Services Index, which represents about 70% of the economy, rose to a six-month high in August, exceeding all estimates in a Blomberg survey of economists. The surprisingly robust figures highlight the
Oil rose about 2% yesterday following the announcement that Saudi Arabia will extend its unilateral oil production cut by another three months. Its daily production will hold around 9 million barrels a day, the lowest level in
A cooling jobs market may give the Fed room to pause interest rate increases this month while keeping options open for another rate hike later in the
The Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation posted the smallest back-to-back increase since late 2020 as the data largely met expectations. The markets ignored the “super core” PCE report, the gauge that
Will today’s data confirm the increasing sense of optimism that the Federal Reserve is approaching the end of its interest rate hikes? Yields on the two-year Treasury, or the instrument most sensitive to monetary policy, declined to
Bloomberg writes August’s market performance is the worst August since 2015. The Newswire also reports the S & P 500 is hovering nominally lower than it was at this point in
Equites rose nominally as bond yield yields fell ahead of a week that is full of economic data that may help shape the outlook of Federal Reserve policy. Equites breathed a sigh of relief that no
FRB Powell’s speech was widely a nonevent. All markets sifted through comments from him and other Fed officials. Powell stated officials “will proceed carefully” on whether to
A rally in big tech fizzled as bond yields rose with all parsing remarks from a slew of Federal Reserve officials and awaiting today’s speech by FRB Chair Powell for clues on
Relatively speaking, the Treasury market was quiet yesterday. Amongst participants, there was more conversation about potentially changing the inflationary speed limit from 2% to
