I. From The Good To The Bad To The Ugly The spectrum of explanations for the rise in bond yields worldwide includes relatively benign ones to downright dangerous ones (chart). On the good side of the spectrum, better-than-expected economic growth has driven US bond yields up to levels

I. Blue skies ahead for earnings? We are now seven years into our Roaring 2020s thesis, which remains our base case for the rest of the decade, and it has played out very well so far. When we first introduced the idea in August 2020, the prospect of another Roaring

I. Profits, Cash Flow & Capital Spending Corporate profits are the economy's lifeblood. As Dr. Ed explains in his 2021 book, In Praise of Profits, profits are not merely a reward for economic success; they also drive the economy. Strong profits give businesses both the incentive and the financial means

The S&P 500 fell 0.3% last week. Energy (OW) and Information Technology (MW) led the week’s sector performance derby, both up 1.4%. Utilities (MW) was the only other gainer, up 0.7%. Health Care (OW) was the weakest at -2.7%, followed by Financials (OW) at

The Bond Vigilantes have gone wild worldwide, pushing government bond yields higher in developed and emerging markets alike. A month ago, we asked whether rising yields reflected stronger growth, higher inflation, or looming fiscal crises. We still think the answer is mostly growth. The exception is where government finances are

Most of last week's economic indicator reports were strong: Initial jobless claims fell to near a 57-year low, ADP private payrolls rose 90,000 in September, and the ISM M-PMI was in expansion for a ninth straight month. Friday's employment report was the exception. Nonfarm payrolls

The 10-year US Treasury bond yield has climbed above 5.25%, and the S&P 500 hasn’t flinched. The stock index is just 2.2% below our year-end target of 7,900. It could overshoot our target in the coming days now that crude oil shipments from

Today, Ed and Elias take a deep dive into core inflation, i.e., min...

I. Micron and the AI Trade Memory has become one of the biggest beneficiaries of the AI spending boom. Micron’s stock, for example, is up 273.2% ytd, second only to SanDisk among the semiconductor companies. We have been bullish on memory, and Micron’s fiscal Q4-2026 results

Bond yields rose yet again today even though September's PCED inflation report showed some improvement, which was due mostly to new measurement procedures. Inflation remains about a percentage point above the Fed's 2.0% target. Other economic indicators today confirmed that the economy and the labor market are

I. Is Wage Growth Accelerating? Wage growth signals labor market conditions. Just as shortages of goods tend to push prices higher, worker shortages tend to push wages higher. When labor demand outstrips labor supply, employers must compete more aggressively for workers, resulting in faster wage growth. Former Fed Chair Jerome

I. Revenge of the Bond Vigilantes? We still have a 70% subjective probability for our bullish base-case Roaring 2020s scenario. The remaining 30% covers all the possible bearish scenarios. We monitor those possibilities closely with our Worry List. Our main worry right now is the significant rise in bond

Stocks opened last week with a big rally. The S&P 500 rose 1.5% on Monday, and the Nasdaq closed at a record high as oil prices and bond yields fell. The reprieve didn't last. The 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 5.17% by Friday's close,

The week ahead is jam-packed with labor market data releases, capped off by September's employment report (Fri). August's PCED and the third estimate of Q2 GDP arrive Wednesday, along with BEA's annual revisions, followed by ISM's M-PMI on Thursday. FedSpeak continues, with Richmond Fed

I. Global Economy The global economy has been surprisingly resilient so far this year. There were dips earlier this year, when the Middle East war was in full swing; but in recent months, global industrial production and exports have rebounded to their record highs from before the war (chart). The

I. Credit Last week's events confirm our "Proceed With Caution" call in September 15's QuickTakes. The main event was the jump in the 10-year US Treasury yield above 5.00% to an intraday high of 5.22% on Friday (chart). At the end of the day, it

In a scant three months, FOMC members moved from a unanimous hold t...

Consumer spending resilience increasingly has become a balance-sheet story rather than an income-statement story. The personal saving rate has been falling since January 2024 as consumer outlays have outpaced disposable personal income (chart). Many economists believe that this is unsustainable. Not us. We think that the saving rate

Bond yields have risen for many reasons this year (chart). The war in the Middle East and the war between Russia and Ukraine have pushed up crude oil and refined petroleum product prices. Rising interest rates in Japan are forcing hedge funds to unwind their carry trades. They are paying

I. The Silver Tsunami The “silver tsunami” refers to the large wave of Baby Boomers moving into retirement and the rise in the number of older households. That demographic shift is increasingly reshaping America’s consumer economy, as older households account for a growing share of income and spending power.

There was lots worrying investors last week, and there still is. But the stock market has a habit of climbing a wall of worry. It seems to be doing so now. Investors have been watching analysts raising their earnings expectations faster than stock prices have been rising (chart). As a

Two shocks hit the stock market last week. On Monday, the heads of the major AI labs called for slowing the development of frontier models, and chip stocks sold off hard. On Wednesday, the FOMC raised the federal funds rate by 25bps to 3.75%-4.00%, the first hike

Central banks in the US, Europe, and Japan all raised their policy rates over the last two weeks. Bond yields are rising nearly everywhere. Neither development has broken the global stock bull market, as earnings forecasts keep getting marked up. The Stay Home and Go Global investment strategies have been

The Federal Reserve raised the federal funds rate (FFR) by 25bps on Wednesday, lifting the target range to 3.75%-4.00%. The vote was unanimous. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh cited stronger growth, insufficient progress on inflation, and rising geopolitical risk as reasons for the move. The Fed's updated

I. Curbing Our Enthusiasm Last week on Tuesday, we pushed our 8,400 year-end target for the S&P 500 to mid-2027. Our new year-end target is 7,900. We remain confident in the resilience of both the economy and S&P 500 companies’ earnings per share

We’re still strong believers in our Roaring 2020s scenario, hinging...

I. Yen-Carry Trade Unwinding? The “yen‑carry trade” has been a key feature of global financial markets since roughly 2012. It rested on two pillars: ultra-low Japanese interest rates and either a weak or relatively stable yen. Hedge funds could borrow funds cheaply in yen, convert the proceeds

I. The Fed Today marked the conclusion of the September 15-16 FOMC meeting. The Fed's monetary policy committee delivered a widely anticipated 25bps increase in the federal funds rate (FFR), raising the target range to 3.75%-4.00%. Here are five key takeaways from today’s decision:

I. Lowering S&P 500 Target On Saturday, we lowered the subjective odds of our Roaring 2020s base-case scenario from 80% to 70%. We raised the odds of a bearish outcome from 20% to 30%. Today, we are moving our S&P 500 target of 8,400 for year-

President Donald Trump has some advice for the Fed. Speaking to reporters at the Irish Open golf tournament today, he said he did not know whether Fed policymakers will raise interest rates at their meeting this week. But he said the US "should be paying the lowest interest rate in

Rising bond yields and oil prices weighed on stocks last week, though a mostly in-line CPI report on Friday sparked a rebound. The S&P 500 still fell 0.8%, with nine of the 11 sectors declining. Energy (OW) led, rising 2.0%, and it tops the sector derby

The price of Brent crude is back above $100 a barrel. Government bond yields are rising nearly everywhere, with the 10-year yields of Australia and the UK both above 5.00% and the US’s at 4.97%. Either development would normally be enough to break a global bull

Global bond yields rose across the board last week (chart). The US 10-year Treasury bond yield climbed 19 basis points to 4.97%. The UK's 10-year gilt closed at 5.35%, near its highest level in decades. Even Japan's 10-year, at 2.99%, is near

I. Performance The good news is that our recommendation to overweight the S&P 500 Energy sector is working well (chart). The bad news is that it is doing so because the war in the Middle East has re-escalated. Saudi Arabia has shut down its East-West pipeline as

On September 1, we warned you that September is back. We wrote, "Everyone in the stock market knows that September is the cruelest month for stocks. But when it is a bad month, it tends to create buying opportunities for a year-end rally that often starts in October." So

I. Bessent Intervening On August 19, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced an expansion of the Treasury's buyback program in the long end of the yield curve. Today, the Treasury unveiled a $6 billion buyback operation in the 10- to 20-year sector, with Bessent stating that the goal is

The outcome of the September 16-17 FOMC meeting will likely hinge on this week's August CPI and PPI reports. Fed Governor Christopher Waller recently noted that while inflation remains "meaningfully above" the Fed's 2.0% target, the three-month annualized core PCED inflation rate fell from 4.

August payroll employment jumped 162,000, a sharp reversal from July's decline, while the August unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%. Those numbers reinforce our view that the labor market remains solid, so the Fed has little reason to delay a rate hike. The federal funds futures market

Energy (OW) led the S&P 500 sectors again last week, up 2.3% as the price of Brent crude rose back above $95 a barrel. The sector is now up 41.6% ytd, the best of all sectors (chart). Information Technology (MW) rose 1.1% wtd, with Dell stealing

The Fed might or might not raise the federal funds rate this month. The war in the Middle East may or may not be over (and isn't even a war anymore, says VP JD Vance). A debt crisis may be imminent, or not. The Republicans will probably lose the

Stock prices continue to rise worldwide. A run of central bank meetings over the coming weeks will test whether equity composure holds. Bond yields are also rising worldwide. The question is whether that reflects better-than-expected economic growth, higher-than-expected inflation, and/or looming fiscal debt crises. Equities

The August US jobs report is among the best we have seen in some time and provided an uplifting backdrop for the Labor Day weekend. Labor demand is solid and becoming more broad-based, unemployment remains low, and labor supply improved in August. At the same time, moderate wage growth

Fed Chair Kevin Warsh isn’t one to give the markets a heads-up. Inv...

I. Stocks, Bonds & Waller Today, the S&P 500 had its best day in a month as Treasury yields edged lower and the dollar dropped to its lowest level since May. The policy-sensitive 2-year Treasury yield retreated to 4.34% after briefly rising to 4.41% on Tuesday.

I. Dell Dell Technologies' stock price is soaring (chart). The company delivered a major beat across the board for its fiscal 2027 second quarter (ended July 31), driven by massive, accelerating demand for AI infrastructure and strong legacy hardware performance. Revenues and earnings rose 58% y/y and 203%, respectively.