Making Sense

“Every once in a while, an up-or-down-leg goes on for a long time and/or to a great extreme and people start to say "this time it's different." They cite the changes in geopolitics, institutions, technology or behaviour that have rendered the "old rules" obsolete. They make investment decisions that extrapolate the recent trend. And then it turns out that the old rules still apply and the cycle resumes. In the end, trees don't grow to the sky, and few things go to zero.” ~ Howard Marks Bonds continued to rally this week with yields on US2s printing a high and low range of 3.71% - 3.55% to close the week at 3.584% and US10s printing a high and low range of 3.76% - 3.6050% to close the week at 3.655%. I highlighted in my blogpost on Aug 31, the triangle breakout target at 15.50 bps on US2s10s. We dipped to -0.004% on the CPI release and closed the week at 0.0710%. On Crude Oil prices we dipped to lows of $ 68.71 but closed the week higher at $ 72.09. ECB annou...

 In this Second Part, we look at the economic data prints: A Benign CPI reading - mom inflation at 0.15% mom and Core print at 0.17% mom. Core goods disinflation continued with mom at -0.32% with 3m annualized rate at -1.93%. Core Services Inflation rose at 0.31% mom which is at pace higher than the average 0.18% mom in the prior 2 months. Super Core Services also rose at a mild 0.14% mom. The respite in Shelter inflation seen in June appears short lived with prices rising at 0.38% mom in July. There has also been a talk around re-acceleration in inflation as mild prints in the second half of 2023 weigh on the readings going forward. Fed members have also highlighted that the  Inflation progress last year benefited from supply-side improvements like eased supply chains, increased labor force participation, and lower energy prices.  However, these factors may not continue to reduce inflation, as supply chains have normalized, labor force participation has stabilized, and i...