FTSD News and Press, Franklin Liberty Short Duration U.S. Government From 05/03/23

2023-05-03 17:30:00 ET Summary The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the U-3 US unemployment rate as 3.5 percent in March 2023, which is near historic lows. Looking at the aggregate number of jobs accounted for in recent WARN filings across 39 US states, a similar pattern to wha...

2023-05-03 17:21:00 ET Summary The “new” Fed Funds trading range now stands at 5%–5.25%, its highest level since 2007. Up to now, the economy was showing signs of slowing, and investors could even see zero or negative readings for real GDP in upcoming quarters...

2023-05-03 11:27:00 ET Summary Expectations at the start of the year were quite pessimistic. However, growth has remained surprisingly resilient—along with inflation. U.S. core inflation is still quite high. So in the last three or four months, it's been running at a sort o...

2023-05-03 01:55:00 ET Summary Leading indicators of recession continue to worsen, as do many financial/credit metrics, but the economy stubbornly refuses to decline. Inflation continued to be elevated in March and, importantly, remained well above the Fed’s long-term goal ...

2023-05-03 01:36:00 ET Summary Why there may be other small lenders set to fail. The Fed is sticking to plan and focusing on fighting inflation, and nothing else. Are niche banks bearing the brunt of interest rate hikes? JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ) has agreed ...

2023-05-02 02:55:00 ET Summary The US money supply data for March 2023, which were published on Tuesday of this week, reveal that the monetary inflation rate has continued its ‘swan dive’. As illustrated below, the year-over-year growth rate of US True Money Supply (...

2023-05-01 09:45:00 ET Summary We see bond yields staying high in the new macro regime - that means income is back as a portfolio driver. We stay nimble and granular across fixed income. U.S. stocks rallied from a four-week low last week after tech earnings beat. Yields fell even ...

2023-04-30 05:36:00 ET Summary There have been glimmers of hope in 2023 that the inflation fixation of 2022 was a transitory phenomenon. Regulated prices tend to be more discrete and more lagged in their changes due to bureaucratic delays and their negotiated nature. In our vi...

2023-04-27 23:48:00 ET Summary I see the economy continuing to grow at about a 2% rate and I see inflation falling. Swap spreads and credit spreads continue to be relatively low and well-behaved. An economy growing at a modest 2% rate, inflation by all measures declining signi...

2023-04-26 02:20:00 ET Summary On April 25, the Fed released the M2 statistics for the month of March '23, and they were very encouraging. The decline in M2 which began about a year ago is accelerating, with the result that M2 has fallen by almost $900 billion (-4.1%) since its pe...