Latest from BCA Research
Though there are some positive signals recently for the Democrats, it is still hard for them to close the gap and turn things around. The Republicans are still favored to win the Senate as well as the House in the upcoming election.
The first in a series of Strategy Insights where we present a checklist for extending duration in each major government bond market. This first entry focuses on the US.
Outside of Germany, European growth fares better than many believe. Will this hidden resilience help the euro and push German yields higher?
Clients have been pushing back on our recession call on the grounds that it is incompatible with the economy’s second-half acceleration and the more recent easing in financial conditions. We examine both of those points in the course of doing some pushing back of our own.
Seasonal weather and price variability in the first quarter will dissipate, which will reduce the agita caused by the recent inflation scare. This will increase the Fed’s comfort level in initiating a rate-cutting cycle in June with a 25 bp cut. With inflation well-behaved, real interest rates will move lower and gold prices will move higher. The rate-cutting cycle also will allow the USD to weaken as assets ex-US become more attractive; this will be bullish for gold. Physical demand for gold is expected to remain robust, along with safe-haven and central-bank diversification demand, due to heightened geopolitical uncertainty. We continue to expect gold to trade above $2,200/oz this year.
We rank the US spread sectors in terms of risk versus reward.