Markets are mixed today as the specter of 4%+ Fed rates loom over traders. Equities have bounced between positive and negative today, after yesterday’s disappointing report on consumer prices sent the DOW nearly 1,300 points lower. As most people fought the urge to check their 401ks, the chatter of a super-sized 100 bps September rate hike became louder and louder. This morning’s report on producer prices did little to quiet those calling for more aggressive measures by the Federal Reserve. Monthly PPI grew higher-than-expected, coming in at .4% vs .3%. Year-over-year producer prices remained elevated at +8.7%; with the volatile sectors of food and energy removed, prices rose by 7.3%. Yesterday, money market bets were indeed pricing in a full-point rate hike by the Fed at next week’s meeting, though the odds have fallen today. Still, interest rates futures markets are pricing in hotter-than-expected inflation will lift the Fed Funds rate as high as 4.5% by early 2023, pulling large parts of the treasury yield curve up to levels not seen in more than a decade. To be sure, 2022 has been a very difficult year for bond investors; not knowing when or how to put money to work in the fixed income market. According to PIMCO’s bond fund manager, Mohit Mittal, “to avoid more pain, its best to wait until the Fed gets to 4% and then add shorter maturity exposure in high-quality credit and floating-rate notes”. On the Brightside, mortgages are holding on for dear life today. UMBS 4.5s are sharply unchanged, despite 4 consecutive days of moving lower. Treasuries could be worse too, with the yield on the 10yr note still managing just under support at 3.50%. On the other hand, the so-called “short end” of the curve is getting absolutely annihilated as it tracks future Fed rate hikes creating a yield curve that is more inverted than a 4G negative dive with a Mig-28 at 1.5 meters. And because of that, the great ARM boom of 2022 that many thought was promised remains nowhere to be found. JC (at Yulia Brown VP of Mortgage Lending NMLS: 1467981) https://www.instagram.com/p/CigI9x5PoGR/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=