Clif Droke | Jul 02, 2013 02:42PM ET
On May 3, the bond market fired the proverbial "shot heard ‘round the world.” Treasury yields began a two-month climb to levels not seen in almost two years. Many analysts proclaimed the end of the 30+ year interest rate decline. The true significance in the yield rally isn’t that the long-wave deflationary trend in interest rates is over, however. Rather, it’s that the commencement of long-term inflation is within sight.
Downtrend Still Intact
While the rally in Treasury yields does have longer-term significance, it’s still far too early to assume the downtrend in yields is over. As we’re still some 15 months away from the bottom of the 120-year cycle of inflation/deflation, we can only assume the downward trend in interest rates remains intact. Additionally, as real estate analyst Robert Campbell has pointed out, “until the actions of the Fed speak otherwise, Fed policy is currently working to push mortgage rates down.”
The rally in Treasury yields, while impressive, should be put into context with the longer-term yield trend. Here’s what the Treasury Yield Index (TNX) looks like from the vantage point of a two-year chart. In this relative short-term chart you can clearly see the attempt yields have made in establishing a new rising trend in relation to the steep drop in 2011-2012.
The ultimate meaning behind the short-term rally in Treasury yields can only be known with certainty after the facts have become clear. It’s still far too early to discern what those facts may be. Based on historical examples, however, it’s probable that the yield rally is a “shot across the bow” preliminary to the beginning of a new long-term inflationary trend starting in late 2014/early 2015.
U.S. Economy
The selling pressure which hit stocks and bonds in June left the U.S. retail economy unscathed.
Among the individual corporate-stock components of the New Economy Index (NEI), which measures the real-time strength of the economy, only Wal-Mart (FDX ) -- the other important components of the index -- are in varying degrees of health or recovery. The signals reflected in the stock price performance of these three stocks alone are worth a hundred conventional economic indicators of the type relied on by mainstream economists.
The NEI reading for last week was in line with the reading of recent weeks, viz. the NEI is still holding on above its 12-week and 20-week moving averages. The interim uptrend for the index remains intact (below), therefore we still have a confirmed “buy” signal for the U.S. economy
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