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Friday 13 October 2023

Morning Brief: Another phantom rate hike

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Yahoo Finance Morning Brief withh Myles Udland and Sam Ro

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Friday, Oct 13

What we're watching

The Big Banks' big day: JPMorgan (JPM), Citigroup (C), and Wells Fargo (WFC) report Q3 results Friday, kicking off earnings season in earnest. One key challenge for banks investors are watching: how banks will do under "higher for longer" rates.
Dropping sentiment: The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment numbers are expected to fall again on Friday. It's been falling since peaking in July.
More big earnings: BlackRock (BLK), PNC (PNC), UnitedHealth (UNH), PNC (PNC), and Progressive (PGR) also report quarterly results.

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What we're reading

Social Security benefits will increase 3.2% next year: That's well above the 2.6% average over the past two decades, but it's less than half the 8.7% increase retirees saw in 2023.
Fed can stay 'patient' after inflation data as odds rise on a December rate hike: Thursday's inflation report kept the narrative for a Fed pause in November intact but underlying details increased the likelihood the Fed could raise rates again in December.
Mortgage rates pummel homebuyers again, edge closer to 8%: The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage jumped to 7.57% this week from 7.49% a week prior, according to Freddie Mac. All of this is making housing costs yet another challenge for the Fed.

Markets right now

Note: Data is as of the time of opening this email. To view real-time markets data click here.

The Fed's next 'rate hike' has already arrived — as surging Treasury yields

Today's Takeaway is by Hamza Shaban, Senior Reporter.

Another interest rate increase is creeping its way through the economy. But this time it didn't come from the Federal Reserve. Spooky season is upon us and so is the phantom rate hike.

The recent surge in Treasury yields has unleashed an array of anxiety goblins, from fears of a stock market slump to worries about ballooning interest payments on government debt.

But policymakers also see rising yields as a way to slow the economy without having to go through the trouble of raising rates again.

In effect, elevated yields can do the work of central bankers for them — functioning as a rate hike without instituting an actual rate hike.

This isn't the only time recently where we've seen a phantom rate hike. In March Fed Chair Jerome Powell noted that the bank failures and associated turmoil essentially acted as another rate hike.

Long-term Treasury yields have a direct influence on households and businesses. They impact the cost of mortgages, car loans, and taking on other types of debt. So increasing yields have a tightening effect, slowing economic activity. Though it's receded this week, 10-year Treasury yields (^TNX) have risen to levels last seen in 2007, climbing roughly 30 basis points since the Fed's meeting in September.

Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson pointed to the rise in yields and their impact in a speech earlier this week, pledging to "remain cognizant of the tightening in financial conditions through higher bond yields ... as I assess the future path of policy."

Jefferson said that the Fed is in a particularly sensitive period of managing risk, having to balance between the twin risks of too loose and too tight.

Other Fed officials have chimed in on the bond market acting like a pinch-hitter.

"We're just kind of keeping a very close eye on that and then we'll see how these higher rates feed into what we're trying to do in policy," said Fed Governor Chris Waller on Wednesday.

But similar to the Fed's previous rate increases, a rise in inflation or other unfavorable observations could force the central bank to move. And if yields slide, their tightening effect would diminish, creating a greater need for the Fed to enact a genuine hike instead of relying on a substitute.

There's a circular logic to all of this, which means it can turn on a dime.

As Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said earlier this week, it's possible higher bond yields will mean less work for the Fed. But if those yields are higher because the market's expectations for the Fed are changing, the Fed might have to follow through on those expectations to keep those yields high.

In other words, there's a wobbly Jenga tower of expectations.

"It's hard for me to say definitively that because they moved, we don't have to move," Kashkari said. "I don't know yet."

For now, as some Fed officials think the focus of the tightening campaign should shift from how high to raise the policy rate to how long to hold the policy rate at restrictive levels, the latest data might support more of a let-the-bond-market-do-the-work approach.

While the likelihood for a rate hike next month has fallen, that may be because one has already come through. It just didn't come from the Fed.

Stocks on the move

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Broadcom (AVGO) led the Yahoo Finance trending tickers page after a report that the company's purchase of VMware (VMW) is nearing approval in China. Shares popped 3% on the news.
Delta Airlines (DAL) dropped nearly 3% after the company reported earnings. The negative price action came after the airline trimmed its profit outlook due to rising fuel prices.
Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) jumped nearly 6% despite fiscal fourth quarter earnings that came in short of Wall Street's expectations. The retail pharmacy company reported narrowing losses, exemplifying progress in its cost-cutting initiatives.
Kraft Heinz (KHC) dragged down more than 5%, hitting its lowest levels in roughly three years. Thursday's losses added to several down days as Wall Street analysts have expressed a growing concern over how the rise of prescription weight loss drugs could hurt food companies' sales.

— Josh Schafer, Markets Reporter

Watch on Yahoo Finance Live

Big bank earnings coverage
Penny Pennington, Edward Jones CEO, 9:40 a.m. ET
Our EV Week finishes strong
- Fraser Atkinson, GreenPower Motor Company Chairman & CEO, 11:40 a.m. ET
- Doron Merdinger, Doroni Aerospace CEO (flying cars!), 4:30 p.m. ET

Chart of the day

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Earnings and economic calendar

Friday

Economic data: Import prices, month-over-month, September (+0.6% expected, +0.5% previously); Export prices, month-over-month, September (+0.5% expected, +1.3% previously); University of Michigan consumer sentiment, October, preliminary (67.5 expected, 68.1 previously)
Earnings: JPMorgan (JPM), Citigroup (C), BlackRock (BLK), Wells Fargo (WFC), UnitedHealth (UNH), PNC (PNC), Progressive (PGR)