Powell Confirms What The Bond Market Already Knew

Powell Confirms What The Bond Market Already Knew

Morning hours were frustrating for the bond market as we watched yields move to new multi-month highs for no obvious reason.  That said, the notion of a "re-pricing" sell-off doesn't really require new obvious reasons (because the obvious reasons from the recent past created momentum that isn't traded all in one go).  If we feel compelled to blame some data, Industrial Production (specifically, the upward revision to last month) is the only game in town). The better bet may be to infer some anxiety ahead of an afternoon speech from Powell confirmed that recent data shows a lack of progress on inflation.  He went so far as to say there's uncertainty over whether there will even be a rate cut in 2024.  The absence of any major market reaction suggests traders weren't too surprised.