Lost In Translation
"S&P Futures Fall; Powell Spoke on NPR."
That was the headline on one of Bloomberg's quick summary alerts summarizing potential key trading levels for the S&P Thursday, but it could just as easily be a headline from any other day when markets are open and the Fed isn't in a pre-FOMC blackout.
Just substitute whatever stocks are doing for "Fall" and wherever Powell is speaking for "NPR" and you'll have a headline with at least some claim on being accurate. For example, "S&P futures
So, as is often the case, the kerfuffle wasn’t a case of a public official mispeaking; it was someone in a newsroom going for the “gotcha” headline.
Rebalancing, auctions, yields, stimmy – all top of mind lately. I would not forget about Covid. The hapless Eurozone shows what can happen if you get the dance of vaccination, variants, and reopening wrong. Looking at the US new infection curve, there is a nice downward slope. But looking at some individual states, there is a sharp reacceleration in new cases. If that spreads (ha) and the whole summertime economic rebirth thesis gets shaken, it will not be pleasant.