Business

Having noted earlier the 44%, or 11-year high, in short Treasury positions among all bond traders (according to the latest JPM client survey), and a record high 70% among JPM's "active" clients, we suggested that the most likely next move in the Treasury sector is a squeeze on even the faintest news that derails the recent hawkish narrative. And, predictably if aonly for now, this morning Treasuries have ground higher, with 10-year note futures matching Asia session highs, and the yield on the 10Y sliding to session lows of 2.33%.

What about the catalyst?

"One Year Later" is the title of the hearing that Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan faces this morning with the Committee on Banking, Housing, & Urban Affairs.

A year after former CEO John Stumpf was grilled by lawmakers over the bank’s massive scandal over fake accounts, Sloan will tell the panel he is “deeply sorry” for the scandal but also that Wells “is a better bank today than it was a year ago,” according to prepared remarks.

Former Equifax CEO Richard Smith (now retired) can expect a serious grilling this morning as he faces a congressional hearing into the utter farce surrounding the company's gross mishandling (and potential insider trading) of a cyber-security breach which has left almost 150 million people at risk.

As The Washington Post reports, some lawmakers plan to not only grill the embattled credit reporting agency but also to cue up a fight for tighter data security standards that they and consumer advocates have long wanted.

After the investing landscape experienced a seismic shift with the introduction of the internet, helping investors benefit from lower fees and less latency, the budding initial coin offering (ICO) market could prove to be the epicenter of another investing revolution.  While the cryptocurrency space has routinely been criticized as a Ponzi scheme by noteworthy talking heads, most recently Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan, the reality is much more sinister for established institutions. 

More and more signs of inflation are showing up.

In the latest ISM reading (a measure of economic activity in the US), this following tidbit showed up: