A roundup of what The Globe and Mail’s market strategist Scott Barlow is reading today on the Web
The Federal Reserve’s more hawkish monetary stance after a 25 basis point rate increase Wednesday is the most likely cause of a late day sell-off in the S&P 500. The 10-year Treasury was also weak late in the day, but has retraced all that ground.
“In raising its benchmark overnight lending rate a quarter of a percentage point to a range of 1.75 percent to 2 percent, the Fed dropped its pledge to keep rates low enough to stimulate the economy “for some time” and signaled it would tolerate inflation above its 2 percent target at least through 2020… Policymakers’ fresh economic projections, also issued on Wednesday, indicated a slightly faster pace of rate increases in the coming months, with two additional hikes expected by the end of this year, compared to one previously.”
“Fed lifts rates amid stronger inflation, drops crisis-era guidance” – Reuters
“Thanks to Fed, an Inverted Yield Curve Is Imminent” – Bloomberg
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Oil markets are steady but tense ahead of next week’s OPEC meeting,
““At OPEC’s meeting in a good week’s time, Saudi Arabia apparently plans to make several proposals that all boil down to increasing production on a one-off or gradual basis by between 500,000 and 1 million barrels per day,” Commerzbank analysts said in a note. “Iran has already signaled that it will resist any such attempts and blames the U.S. for the price rise. According to sources close to OPEC, Venezuela and Iraq are also not in favor of raising production.””
“Oil steadies but specter of higher supply curbs gains” – Reuters
“@JavierBlas2 BREAKING: #SaudiArabia oil minister Khalid Al-Falih says #OPEC deal to boost production is “inevitable”. “I think it will be a reasonable and moderate agreement,” he said. “It’s not going to be anything outlandish.”” – Twitter
“@JKempEnergy GLOBAL OIL CONSUMPTION rose by +1.7 million b/d in 2017 and increased by +7.7 million b/d over the five years from 2012 to 2017” – (chart) Twitter
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TD Securities called the loonie “the world’s most hated currency,” although it’s referring to traders looking for a new trend rather than global selling pressure,
“Even as it moved higher on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates, Mark McCormick, head of North American foreign exchange strategy at TD Securities, said the loonie “is probably the market’s most hated currency now,” based on his discussions with investors.
“The [loonie’s] movements are seemingly random as it waffles from headline to headline. It has decoupled from some of its key drivers, though we pin this down to NAFTA noise,” McCormick said in a note on Wednesday.”
“Is the loonie the ‘most hated currency’ in markets right now?” – CBC
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Tweet of the day:
Diversion: “RingerFC has put together a simple guide to help you understand the game of soccer as the WorldCup approaches” – The Ringer