Pivot hopes carry markets higher
Markets are blithely ignoring Friday’s hawkish guidance from Jerome Powell. Risk-sensitive assets and high-beta currencies remain well-bid even after the Federal Reserve chair said it was “premature to conclude with confidence that we have achieved a sufficiently restrictive stance, or to speculate on when policy might ease,” with investors instead choosing to focus on a brief aside in which he acknowledged rates had been lifted “well into restrictive territory,” allowing policymakers to “proceed carefully”. Yields and the dollar are down and overnight index swaps are showing more than 125 basis points of easing priced in to the curve for 2024,...