Business

The initial reactions wre modest but directionally 'correct' given the dovish bias to the Fed Minutes - stocks are up, bonds are up (lower in yield), and the dollar is down. But then traders read the warnings that due to excessively easy financial conditions, "a tighter monetary policy than otherwise was warranted", something Goldman has been warning about for months, and stocks sank.

To be sure, there were 3 very dovish quotes:

There are two, also known as non-GAAP four, things to look forward to in today's FOMC Minutes: inflation, and balance sheet, balance sheet, balance sheet.

Authored by Louis Rouanet via The Mises Institute,

Although today high levels of inequality in the United States remain a pressing concern for a large swath of the population, monetary policy and credit expansion are rarely mentioned as a likely source of rising wealth and income inequality. Focusing almost exclusively on consumer price inflation, many economists have overlooked the redistributive effects of money creation through other channels. One of these channels is asset price inflation and the growth of the financial sector.

One week ago, we closed the book on the long-running debate whether gross (and net) leverage is the highest on record, when we showed a chart from Goldman according to which net debt/EBITDA for all companies (with or without energy) is the highest on record, surpassing the previous credit bubble peak by nearly 0.3x turns. Furthermore, as Goldman said that the time, "given we are 8+ years into an economic expansion, we believe it’s prudent to also view this via a “normalized EBITDA” lens (i.e., median NTM 2007Q1-2017Q1).

Following last night's mixed mesage from API (crude draw, gasoline build), WTI prices have gone nowhere as all eyes focus on DOE data this morning. Confirming API's trend, crude saw its biggest draw since Sept 2016 but Gasoline, Distillates, and Cushing (most since March) saw builds which upset the machines and sent prices lower. Crude production rose once again to its highest since July 2015.

API