Research & News
Daily Comment (April 1, 2016)
by Bill O’Grady and Kaisa Stucke [Posted: 9:30 AM EDT] Happy employment day! We will go into much more detail below, but we are seeing solid improvement in the labor market. Most importantly, the labor force is finally starting to expand; in fact, the unemployment rate rose this month in a good way as the labor… Read More »
Daily Comment (March 31, 2016)
by Bill O’Grady and Kaisa Stucke [Posted: 9:30 AM EDT] Standard & Poor’s lowered China’s credit rating outlook from stable to negative, citing a slower than expected economic rebalancing. Although Chinese risk markets dropped initially, they have recovered since, indicating that the rating outlook cut is not likely to have a long-term effect. We saw similar… Read More »
Daily Comment (March 30, 2016)
by Bill O’Grady and Kaisa Stucke [Posted: 9:30 AM EDT] Risk markets surged globally yesterday as Fed Chair Yellen re-confirmed the central bank’s intention to move rates up slowly, citing weak global growth. This was exactly the kind of reconciliatory signal that the markets were looking for after several FRB presidents had voiced their support for… Read More »
Daily Comment (March 29, 2016)
by Bill O’Grady and Kaisa Stucke [Posted: 9:30 AM EDT] European markets opened strongly higher after the long Easter holiday, but have given back some of the gains in early morning trading. Asian equities were mixed, with Chinese markets trading lower. All eyes will be turned to Fed Chairman Yellen’s address to the Economic Club of… Read More »
Daily Comment (March 28, 2016)
by Bill O’Grady and Kaisa Stucke [Posted: 9:30 AM EDT] Trading was quiet overnight. Hong Kong and European markets are closed for Easter Monday, which limited market activity. On Good Friday, the Commerce Department issued the GDP report for Q4 (see below). In addition to our usual coverage, we want to highlight a couple of important… Read More »
Quarterly Energy Comment (March 24, 2016)
by Bill O’Grady The Market Oil prices have fallen steadily over the past year, reaching a new low early in the first quarter just below $30 per barrel. Since mid-February, they have staged an impressive recovery. Oil Prices and Inventories This rally has occurred despite historic levels of U.S. commercial crude oil inventories. The chart… Read More »
Daily Comment (March 24, 2016)
by Bill O’Grady and Kaisa Stucke [Posted: 9:30 AM EDT] As noted below, St. Louis FRB President Bullard has joined a chorus of other regional presidents pushing back against the dovish tone from the last Fed meeting. The change in Fed behavior is discussed in this week’s Asset Allocation Comment, published below on page 7. As… Read More »
Daily Comment (March 23, 2016)
by Bill O’Grady and Kaisa Stucke [Posted: 9:30 AM EDT] In the aftermath of the terrorist bombings in Belgium, security officials in Europe have been working feverishly to track down the identities of the bombers and search for other terrorist cells. It is widely thought that this cell was already in place and may have decided… Read More »
Daily Comment (March 22, 2016)
by Bill O’Grady and Kaisa Stucke [Posted: 9:30 AM EDT] The big overnight news was a series of apparent terrorist bombings in Belgium. At the time of this writing, 34 are confirmed dead after two bombing attacks, one at the Brussels airport and the other at a metro station near EU headquarters. There have been reports… Read More »
Weekly Geopolitical Report – The Russian Withdrawal (March 21, 2016)
by Bill O’Grady On March 14th, Russian President Vladimir Putin surprised the world with an announcement of the withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria. The move was unexpected and has raised questions as to whether Russia will really pull its forces out of Syria, and if so, why? In this report, we will examine Russia’s… Read More »