The markets are around where they were immediately after the election. Is this poetic justice as there were some who predicted the end of the world as we know it and continued to say the strangest things imaginable are being rebuked to those who swore of certain messianic achievements?
On the surface it appeared that the 2017 tax cuts were priced in, a massive tariff induced selloff and then rally as the tariffs might be more bark than bite and the hopes of increased government efficiencies replaced by the return to the status quo.
Life is stranger than fiction, no mortal being is omnipotent or omniscient and the future is always unknown and those who declaratively state where all is going is nothing other than a shuckster.
Led by the Magnificent Seven, the NASDAQ gained about 0.5%. NVDA became the first company to reach the $4 trillion milestone. The company now comprises about 7.5% of the S & P 500. Wow! I vividly recall the hype surrounding GE when it broached the $750 billion mark in 1999, saving the WSJ headline that GE will become the first trillion-dollar company, Today it shares are worth about $225 billion up from about $90 billion two years ago.
NVDA is worth more than the Partis and Frankfurt markets combined.
The Treasury market snapped a five-day losing streak as the demand for the $39 billion 10-year Treasury auction was “strong,” the result of the bond cheapening over the previous days. Today is the 30-year Treasury auction.
The Minutes from the recent FOMC meeting were a non-event, reiterating the known that officials remained split around how tariffs would impact inflation. Policy makers pointed to “considerable uncertainty” about the timing, size and duration of the tariff’s potential effects on inflation and took varying views on what the inflationary impact might be.
Additionally, most policy makers assessed that “some reduction” in the Fed’s policy rate may be appropriate this year but have maintained that an overall stable economy provided the Committee room to be patient on rate adjustments.
Last night the foreign markets were up. London was up 1.06%, Paris up 0.61% and Frankfurt up 0.14%. China was up 0.48%, Japan down 0.44% and Hang Seng up 0.57%.
Futures are nominally lower amid uncertainty over the Administration’s next tariffs policies, searching for a catalyst to move in either direction. The 10-year is off 5/32 to yield 4.35%.
