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On November 18, President Donald Trump invited Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell to meet at the White House with him and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Afterwards Trump tweeted, “Just finished a very good & cordial meeting at the White House with Jay Powell of the Federal Reserve. Everything was discussed including interest rates, negative interest, low inflation, easing, Dollar strength & its effect on manufacturing, trade with China, E.U. & others, etc.”

While the Fed released a statement saying that the meeting covered “the economy, growth, employment and inflation,” the Fed said Powell’s remarks “were consistent” with those he made at last week’s congressional hearings. “[Powell] did not discuss his expectations for monetary policy, except to stress that the path of policy will depend entirely on incoming information that bears on the outlook for the economy.” Powell told the president that monetary policy decisions will be “based solely on careful, objective and non-political analysis,” the statement said.

Zach Abraham, principal/CIO at Bulwark Capital Management, told reporters at the Bondbuyer.com that, “This is simply a case of Trump throwing everything at the Fed but the kitchen sink. If we really want to keep China in check, the Fed and the White House must be on the same page. Beijing and the PBOC have strategically exploited Fed Independence and the inherent lag between monetary policy and economic reality on the ground.

“I’d assume Trump is merely trying to close this gap and make nice with Powell as he’s realized the need to be on the same page. I just don’t think the White House has realized that lower U.S. rates and a lower dollar are precisely what Beijing wants,” said Abraham.

Read the entire article here: https://www.bondbuyer.com/news/whats-behind-trump-powell-meeting

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The bondbuyer.com is designed for municipal finance professionals, bond issuers, government officials, investors and other decision makers in the municipal bond industry; the website receives nearly 59,000 unique visitors per month. It provides breaking news, analysis and data regarding all areas of municipal finance. The site features news on the national as well as regional levels, and it contains market statistics, graphs, charts, photos and weekly indices.

On October 31, along with other financial industry experts,  Zach Abraham, Principal and Chief Investment Officer for Bulwark Capital Management was asked to weigh in regarding the Federal Reserve’s recent lowering of interest rates.

At that time, Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell had just made it clear the Fed expected to keep rates at a range of 1.50% to 1.75% unless events resulted in a “material reassessment” of the Fed’s outlook.

“While the rate cut certainly means that yields on treasuries are headed lower, it may not be so for the rest of the bond market,” said Zach Abraham, principal/CIO at Bulwark Capital Management.

“At some point in this cycle we will see spreads blow out. It’s inevitable, as it occurs in every cycle. Flight to safety puts a bid under treasuries while corporates are shunned as weakening economic fundamentals raise risks, or at least perceived risks, of corporate defaults.”

He called Powell’s claim that the Fed is on pause “a bit humorous.” The Fed trimmed the rate target by 75 basis points in the past three meetings and “launched a $100 billion standing repo facility (just quantitative easing by another name). It’s time we all face the facts. The Fed has a tiger by the tail and has no clue how to let go,” Abraham said. “Investors, as well as the market, are beginning to figure this out. Barring some exogenous/inflationary shock, we’re headed back to the zero bound.”

Read the entire article here: https://www.bondbuyer.com/news/how-feds-pause-will-impact-bond-market

ABOUT THE PUBLICATION

The bondbuyer.com is designed for municipal finance professionals, bond issuers, government officials, investors and other decision makers in the municipal bond industry; the website receives nearly 59,000 unique visitors per month. It provides breaking news, analysis and data regarding all areas of municipal finance. The site features news on the national as well as regional levels, and it contains market statistics, graphs, charts, photos and weekly indices.