Indonesia's central bank left its benchmark rate unchanged for the eighth consecutive meeting on Thursday to ensure lower and more controlled inflation within the target corridor this year.
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Inflation nerves return
US yields rise, boost dollar
The inflation genie I mentioned on Friday found life rather uncomfortable in its bottle, it appears, as US yields shot higher on Friday. Notably, the long end of the curve steepened markedly, and for all the noise surrounding the rise in 10-year yields, the 30-years was where the real action was.
That was enough to unwind the intra-day rallies on Wall Street, with the rotation into cyclicals at the expense of technology very much in evidence again. That left the Dow Jones higher, the Nasdaq stretchered of injured once again, and the S&P 500 left somewhere in the middle.
Deficits be damned
Yellen to call for more stimulus to bolster economy
The Financial Times reports that Treasury Secretary Nominee Janet Yellen, the Federal Reserve’s former head, will state that the US risks a more prolonged recession and long-term scarring if it does not inject more government spending into the economy. The prepared remarks obtained by the FT ahead of Ms Yellen’s testimony today outlined that Ms Yellen feels that with interest rates at historical lows, now was the time to “act big,” with the benefits outweighing the challenges of a larger deficit.
With US markets mostly closed for a public holiday, Asian markets appear to have seized on Ms Yellen’s remarks as further vindication for President-elect Biden’s USD1.90 trillion stimulus package. And as we know from 2020, any mention of stimulus is usually good for asset prices. That seems to be the case in Asia, with most equity markets across the region opening up much stronger.