St. Louis Fed James Bullard said yesterday, “the FOMC could begin increasing the policy rate as early as the March meeting in order to be in a better position to control inflation. Subsequent rate increases during 2022 could be pulled forward or pushed back depending on inflation developments.”
“There was a significant unanticipated inflation shock in the U.S. during 2021,” he said. “With the real economy strong but inflation well above target, U.S. monetary policy has shifted to more directly combat inflation pressure.”
“We could go ahead with balance sheet run off shortly after lifting off the policy rate,” Bullard said, and start reducing support for the economy “sooner rather than later.”
10-year yield eyeing key resistance as NFP awaited
US non-farm payroll report is the major focus for today. Markets are expecting 400k job growth in December. Unemployment rate is expected to tick down from 4.2% to 4.1%. Wage growth is expected to continue to be strong, with average hourly earnings up 0.4% mom.
Looking at related data, ADP private employment grew strongly by 807k. ISM manufacturing component rose from 53.3 to 54.2. But ISM services employment dropped from 56.5 to 54.9. Four-week moving average of initial jobless claims dropped notably from 239k to 204.5. The NFP report is more likely a solid one than not.
Reactions from treasury yields to the data is worth a watch. 10-year yield is now close to 1.765 key near term resistance. A set of solid job data, in particular wage growth, could push TNX through this 1.765 resistance to resume larger up trend from 0.398. In this case, we could see TNX quickly accelerate through 2.0 handle to 61.8% retracement of 3.248 to 0.398 at 2.159 down the road, even within Q1. Such development would give USD/JPY and push upwards.