Blog Archives

It Costs A Lot To Win and Even More To Lose

It Costs A Lot To Win and Even More To Lose

Last week I discussed how recessions have not occurred until an inverted yield curve reverts to being positively sloped such that long rates are higher than short rates. I wanted to do a bit of a deeper dive to see what it means for employment peaks.

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Fire on the Mountain: Dead Ahead for Jay Powell

Fire on the Mountain: Dead Ahead for Jay Powell

Fed Chairman Jay Powell understandably garnered a lot of attention after the Fed meetings concluded last week, which resulted in the first pause in rate hikes after 10 consecutive increases. At the same time, to manage expectations, the Fed dot plot forecasts two more interest rate hikes before they’re done for this cycle.

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Preparing for Slams

French Open at Roland Garros on June 4, 2023

I had the great privilege to attend the French Open at Roland Garros on June 4th. We saw two women’s matches and one men’s match involving Novak Djokovic. This was the first time I saw Djokovic play in person, so I was really happy we had tickets on the day he was playing on center court. 

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Van Revisited with a Little Help(less) from Neil Young and Family

Van Morrison with his daughter Shana Morrison

With the exception of writing about interest rates. I do make a concerted effort to have content on my blog be fresh and try to avoid repetition. With that being said, however, there is only so much one can write about that is novel and insightful.

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Renter Nation - The Move Away From Homeownership

Renter Nation

Here is my latest video discussing the transition of the United States from a society and economy that was completely homeownership centric to one that has become much more of a Renter Nation. We at CWS believe this is a trend that has some very powerful economic,

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Running the Numbers to Accept Short-Term Pain for Long-Term Gain

Gary CWS Annual Investor Meeting

Last week we had our annual investor meeting. It was the first time we met in person since 2019. It was so nice to be together again. Despite not communicating the rosiest of messages, it was an evening that had great positive energy.

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The Squeeze Is On

Squeeze FRED

As this chart shows, the yield continues to invert with 3-month Treasury Bill yields substantially higher than 10-year Treasury Note yields.

10-year treasury constant maturity minus 3-month treasury constant maturity 1986 - 2023

As I wrote about previously, Fed Chairman Jay Powell discounted traditional yield curve indicators such as the differential between 10s and 3-month T Bills and 10s and 2-year Treasury yields.

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Banking on Cuts

Banking on Cuts

In the short run, the Fed chose to keep up the inflation fight despite deteriorating financial stability emanating from a wounded banking sector. There is now a lot of market data corroborating that the Fed will have no choice but to start cutting rates soon.

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Who's Afraid of Treasuries? When Stability Breeds Instability

Who's Afraid of Treasuries_ When Stability Breeds Instability

I’m going to breeze through a number of tweets and charts as I’m headed to watch the semi-finals and finals of the tennis matches at Indian Wells. The weather is going to be outstanding, and the matches have a similar promise.

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Hiding in Plain Sight

Silicon Valley Bank Hiding in Plain Sight

Like many others, I have been looking for where cracks in the financial system might appear catalyzed by the aggressive Federal Reserve rate hiking policy and balance sheet contraction. And while the housing market has been an obvious sacrificial lamb via much higher mortgage rates,

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