IVOL News and Press, Quadratic Interest Rate Volatility and Inflation Hedge From 06/15/21

The Labor Department reported that the CPI rose 0.6% in May, bringing the total rise in the past 12 months to 5%. Does the FOMC still think that inflation is just “transitory?” - and will they begin to change their current accommodative policy? The Fed is in the proc...

BlackRock’s senior executives and portfolio managers discussed what lies beyond the restart - and investment implications - at our semi-annual forum. U.S. consumer price index (CPI) jumped in May and key drivers appear related to activity restart. Stocks rallied to record highs...

With the consensus view being that inflation for June would print at about a 4.7% increase year on year, inflation barreled in at 5%. The Fed prefers a different gauge for determining its economic policy - their “core” inflation rate - and that number came in at 3.8%, wh...

The effect of this year’s stimulus has petered out after a few months. The primary driver of this inflationary spike is supply bottlenecks rather than increased demand. The inflationary spike this year has actually caused the average real hourly wages for nonsupervisory workers...

Strategas Chief Economist Don Rissmiller discusses the macro environment, hitting on recent inflation data, the weaker-than-expected jobs recovery, and where monetary policy goes from here. So far, the Fed has consistently stated they’re likely to view this data as transitory a...

Investors are exceedingly exuberant about markets once again, with numerous analysts suggesting nothing but “blue skies” ahead. We set our expectations for a 5-10% correction between mid-June and July. With that window approaching and signals very close to triggering &#x...

Much of last week’s economic focus was on the inflation report. Inflation was indeed pretty hot year over year, but that wasn’t unexpected. With CPI printing at 5% year over year, bond yields fell. But these are small moves, and the trend for rates is still up for now. ...

The Fed continues to be patient in communicating - or even discussing - its plans for tapering, with the rationale that such conversations could lead investors to aggressively reprice monetary policy expectations. Though highly uncertain, we define the FOMC's "maximum employment" targ...

IVOL offers an inflation protected, long volatility position. Given probable market scenarios, IVOL has a strong case for good returns at low risk. IVOL's swaption exposure makes it capable of asymmetric and convex payoffs while serving as a hedge against downside in the US Treasu...

The latest inflation numbers are out, up 0.64% from April to May (7.7% annualized), on top of 0.77% (9.2% annualized) from March to April. Not all inflation is the same, and what you experience depends on what you buy and where you buy it. The current surge of inflation is concent...