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Fade Trade

Fiscal policy, regulatory policy, and even Fed policy have taken a back seat to the new driver of daily swings in financial markets: trade policy. I have spent a bit of time in recent notes over the last month trying to dissuade folks from getting too bent out of...

Questions for Janet Yellen

As many of you are aware, we are holding another Global Macro Speaker Series event next week ‪on 2-Apr-2018 in New York City. It will be the usual fireside chat structure, lasting about one hour. And this time our guest will be Janet Yellen. As was done with our prior...

Jay Gets an A

Hawkish hype surely gained traction in the lead-up to Jay’s first FOMC meeting this week. Talk of four – and whispers of even five – rate hikes in 2018 was becoming ubiquitous. But in the end Jay delivered a calm, cool, and clean FOMC rate-hike decision. His...

Janet Was Right… Partially

Janet was always convinced that there existed excess labor market slack in the post-crisis economy. And as such, the low participation rate and low employment-to-population ratio were never permanent fixtures in her long-run economic view. She also believed that...

Are Fortune Cookies and Sauerkraut Next?

Well, it had to happen at some point. We all knew Trump had the power to set tariffs unilaterally as long as he invoked national security concerns. And steel and aluminum were certainly natural candidates. The questions now of course center on international escalation...

Optimism ≠ Hawkishness

A new Fed chair does not enjoy all the luxuries afforded a veteran. Small missteps can create plenty of anxiety in markets. We all got to know Janet, Ben, and Alan over many years. But it did take a while, and looking back at the initial courtship periods, there was...