Powell’s ‘Totality of Data’ Keeps Bond Market in Limbo

  • Fed boss says September policy decision remains a jump shot
  • Yield curve flattens further, aided by month-end approach
Powell's Jackson Hole Speech: Short and Sweet
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The US bond market’s day of reckoning has been postponed for at least a week.

While Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the central bank’s annual meeting in Jackson Hole Friday was unequivocally hawkish, the market remains near-evenly divided about the outcome of next month’s policy meeting. Still-elevated inflation makes a rate increase inevitable, but the size “will depend on the totality of the incoming data and the evolving outlook,” Powell said.