Following the news that Steve Mnuchin would be US Trasury Secretary, Wall Street analysts offered mixed predictions on which policies Donald Trump’s choice for Treasury secretary may pursue, as they have little to go on other than Mnuchin’s background with Goldman, buying/selling the former Indy Mac.
Submitted by Michael Shedlock via MishTalk.com,
Rudy Havenstein Tweeted an interesting chart earlier today on real negative interest rates.
I recreated the chart below and also share a chart from Doug Short on real median incomes to help put this financial repression by the Fed in proper perspective.
Decade of Negative Real Interest Rates
The above chart was created by taking the short-term treasury bill rate and subtracting the year-over-year rate of inflation as measured by the CPI.
Following last night's API reported surge in product and Cushing inventories, DOE confirmed massive builds in Cushing (biggest since March 2015) and Distillates (biggest since Jan 2016). Of course, with all eyes on Vienna the price action is tough to discern. Production rose modestly but it has now risen in 6 of the last 7 weeks for an overall increase of +0.249 mbpd over that period.
API
Having warned for nearly all of 2016 that the market is getting ahead of itself on the back of median P/E multiples that are higher than 99% of all historical reading, Goldman chief strategist David Kostin stubbornly kept his year end S&P target at 2,100 on valuation concerns.
VIX has been gapping around like a penny stock all morning with multiple slams producing an exuberant equity open (supported by soaring oil prices) but for now selling pressure is back as Oil and Stocks recouple.
Vix tails are back...
And that helped jam stocks to fresh record highs at the open...
And oil caught up to stocks...
All algos all the time.