Gov Sovereigns/Treasurys
This week’s Special Report uses our Golden Rule of Bond Investing to forecast US Treasury returns for 2023 under different economic scenarios.
In Section I, we explain why we do not see the deceleration in US inflation, the likely near-term pickup in European growth, and the end of China’s dynamic zero-COVID policy as signs of a sustainable rebound in global economic activity over the coming 6-12 months. The key question is not whether inflation will fall back to central bank targets, but rather how quickly this will occur. For now, our indicators point to slower but still elevated inflation this year. In Section II, we explore what it will take for the Fed to cut interest rates, and note that nonrecessionary rate cuts are possible but not especially likely.
Fed Governor Lael Brainard delivered an important speech last week in which she laid out the intellectual justification for the Fed to soon pause its rate hike cycle. This week’s report reviews her arguments and explains how they inform our monetary policy and investment views.
Hopes of a soft landing for the US economy will intensify over the coming months, allowing equities to rally. However, even if an equilibrium of high employment and low inflation is reached, it will be difficult to keep the economy there. Investors should remain tactically bullish on stocks but look to turn defensive in the second half of 2023.
We remain bullish the yen, despite the BoJ maintaining yield curve control. In this report, we outline a few reasons for this stance.
We remain bullish the yen, despite the BoJ maintaining yield curve control. In this report, we outline a few reasons for this stance.
In this Strategy Insight, we assess the best and worst opportunities for inflation-linked bonds within the major developed markets. We see a case for underweighting inflation protection in the euro area, while overweighting Japanese inflation-linked bonds with the Bank of Japan moving away from yield curve control at a time of relatively high Japanese inflation.
While the housing downturn will be fairly mild in the US, it will be more severe abroad. Continue to favor bonds of countries whose housing fundamentals will limit rate hikes.
The Fed will respond to December’s CPI report by downshifting to a 25 bps hike pace next month. We anticipate two more 25 bps hikes before the Fed goes on hold.
This week we present our Portfolio Allocation Summary for January 2023.