DoubleLine Minutes

Tame Inflation, But Tariff Consternation (E219)

DoubleLine Portfolio Manager Jeff Mayberry and Fixed Income Asset Allocation Strategist Ryan Kimmel June 13 survey a mostly quiet week in markets (0:50) amid encouraging CPI and PPI news (5:30), albeit obscured by ongoing uncertainty over trade tariffs. Among other macro news (12:48), Ryan Kimmel points to a news report that companies appear to be absorbing tariff costs rather than passing them along in the form of price hikes to consumers. Looking ahead to the June 18 FOMC meeting (18:58), Jeff Mayberry notes Fed Funds rate futures are pricing in the first of just two cuts in 2025 for Sept. 17.

Higher Stocks, Commodities, Volatile but Range-Bound Bonds (E218)

DoubleLine Portfolio Manager Jeff Mayberry and Analyst Mark Kimbrough sort through a positive week ended June 6 for stocks (0:59) and commodities (4:36) amid higher yields and volatility for a still range-bound bond market (2:01). After macro news (5:46) including sub-50 ISM manufacturing and services prints for May, nonfarm payrolls for May pushed stock prices and bond yields higher on Friday. Fed funds futures (17:26) on Friday were pricing in one to two cuts for the year, with the first likely cut to come at the Sept. 17 meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee. As labor and price data stand at present, Jeff Mayberry says, “I think we get no cuts this year.” Jeff and Mark will be looking to the Federal Reserve’s annual Economic Policy Symposium Aug. 21-23 and Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s speech at that event for guidance on the course of central bank monetary policy for the remainder of the year. Looking ahead to the June 9-13 week (19:27), Jeff and Mark will be looking for the May CPI on Wednesday, PPI on Thursday and the University of Michigan’s consumer inflation expectation survey on Friday.

Recapping Volatile Month of May (E217)

DoubleLine Portfolio Manager Eric Dhall and Fixed Income Asset Allocation Strategist Ryan Kimmel run down the Memorial Day-shortened week of May 27-30 and a mixed-bag for the markets amid May’s volatility. The S&P 500 had a relatively calm week and pretty positive month (00:32), fixed income had a positive week to cap off a month of gyrations (2:36) and commodities had a rough final session to conclude an up-and-down May (4:26). Over in Macro Land (6:11), Eric and Ryan’s review includes a look at some consumer confidence reports buoyed by the trade détente; a PCE print closer to the Federal Reserve’s 2% goal; Fed meeting minutes that point to staying the course on rates; and durable goods orders, with Ryan noting a possibly negative signal in the data. Looking ahead (19:25), next week’s prints will include ISM manufacturing and services reports and the Fed’s Beige Book, but the market’s focus will be on Friday’s jobs report.

Markets Price for Higher Term Premia (E216)

DoubleLine Portfolio Manager Eric Dhall and Analyst Mark Kimbrough survey a rough week for stocks and bonds ended May 23, 2025. Those losses followed the May 16 announcement of Moody’s downgrade of the U.S. to Aa1 from Aaa on the rating agency’s outlook for the federal deficit to rise to nearly 9% of GDP by 2035 from 6.4% in 2024. Eric and Mark begin with a dive into fixed income markets (0:30), which saw Treasury yields rise on the long end of the curve. The yield on the long bond Wednesday through Friday closed above previous resistance of 5.00%. “With these concerning fiscal deficits, investors seem to expect more of a term premium,” Eric Dhall notes. “I think that’s the reason for higher rates on the long end of the Treasury curve – as we’ve been saying for a long time at DoubleLine.”
 
Every sector of the S&P 500 ended the week (9:18) in the red, led by energy as speculators considered the possibility of crude oil production increases by Saudi Arabia in the wake of closed-door meetings by President Trump with leaders of that country as well as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Notwithstanding the week’s losses, Eric Dhall notes that all these sectors remained in the green on a month-to-date basis. Commodities (11:47) were up, led by precious metals but also supported by gains in copper, considered a macro bellwether.
 
For the week’s macro news (13:00), Mark Kimbrough observes a weak Leading Economic Indicator report and an uptrend in continuing jobless claims. However, he also points to “decent expansions” in the S&P Global U.S. PMI manufacturing and services surveys for May 12-21, the first survey period since the Trump administration paused tariffs. For the week ahead (17:40), Eric and Mark will have on their radar the OPEC+ meeting, durable goods orders, the Conference Board’s consumer confidence report, the second estimate of first quarter GDP, personal income and spending, and the PCE index.

Yield Curve Control Waiting in the Wings? (E215)

DoubleLine Portfolio Manager Jeff Mayberry and Fixed Income Allocation Strategist Ryan Kimmel chart the powerful market reactions for the week ended May 16 surrounding Monday’s joint decision by Washington and Beijing to move from trade war to trade détente. Stocks (0:34) rallied broadly across all sectors of the S&P 500 except for a light decline in health care. As rates moved higher across the Treasury curve (4:05), traditional investment grade sectors in fixed income posted negative returns while emerging markets debt led in the winners’ circle. Commodities (6:03) declined with industrial metals and livestock diverging higher. On the macro front (7:23), markets welcomed a raft of reports including April consumer and producer prices and PCE-input import prices showing inflation moving in the right direction.
 
For their Topic of the Week (17:51), Jeff and Ryan delve into the implications for markets, in particular, for the U.S. dollar and other currencies, if the Federal Reserve were to engage in yield curve control as a means to manage the government’s ballooning debt service on the national debt. Among other aspects of this question, they examine the rare historical precedents of yield curve control by the Bank of Japan (2016-2023) and the Federal Reserve (1942-51). The latter case, however, was a mechanism to assist Washington in funding the Second World War and afterward persisted during the first years of Bretton Wood foreign exchange regime. Under Bretton Woods, the dollar was set to an exchange of $35 per ounce of gold with the currencies of America’s trading partners tied to the dollar – a vastly different world than today’s regime of free-floating fiat currencies.

Fed Between a Rock and a Hard Place (E214)

DoubleLine Portfolio Managers Jeff Mayberry and Eric Dhall discuss the week ended May 9, including a mixed bag for stocks (0:55), rates up across the board in fixed income (2:59) and commodities (4:12) largely up with the notable exception of agricultural products. Bitcoin (5:17) crossed back above $100,000. On the macro front, ISM services for April came in at 51.6, much better than the consensus estimate of 50.2. No surprise, the U.S. trade deficit for March worsened to -$140.5 billion as importers moved to front-run the imposition of tariffs by President Trump. 
 
For the Topic of the Week (8:23), Jeff and Eric covered Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s news conference following the Federal Open Market Committee’s well anticipated decision to stand pat on monetary policy. The upshot from FOMC guidance and Powell’s press comments was the Fed, while seeing elevated risks to its mandates for price stability and full employment, does not know how tariffs and trade negotiations will play out in the economy. Jeff Mayberry suspects that if push comes to shove, the Fed likely will prioritize inflation fighting over full employment. Topping Jeff and Eric’s calendar for the week of May 12-16 (13:12) will be April consumer price index on Tuesday.

Stock Vol Just a Bad Dream to Rip van Winkle (E213)

DoubleLine Portfolio Manager Eric Dhall and Fixed Income Asset Allocation Strategist Ryan Kimmel (0:22) review markets and macro through the week ended May 2. “If you were a Rip van Winkle investor who went to sleep March 31 and woke up today, what would you find?” After the tariff-unleashed sell-offs, Eric notes Rip would find equities up across the major indices. Rates (4:97) moving higher farther out the yield curve led to lower returns in most of the fixed income universe for the month with bright spots being high yield corporates and bank loans. Commodities (6:57) were down more than 4% from March 31 through May 2, led by energy down 14%, with precious metals being the bright spot, up 6%, and gold up 3%.
Economic data (8:47) for the week, Ryan notes, “took more of a front stage compared to previous weeks that were dominated by tariffs.” Among those prints, he covers the JOLTS report, with weaker-than-expected job openings reported for March and a healthy balance between job openings and total unemployed workers. Consumer confidence has deteriorated due to concerns about tariffs. ISM manufacturing shows more contraction into recessionary territory. On a positive note, nonfarm payrolls showed improvement amid abating wage growth.
Looking to the week ahead (21:11), topping Eric and Ryan’s calendar will be the Federal Open Market Committee meeting Wednesday May 7 and Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell’s news conference. The futures markets have priced in only a 3% probability of a cut to the target federal funds rate. The news conference promises to be more interesting. “Everybody is going to be watching Jay Powell to see how he tap-dances around the questions that he’s going to get regarding his job.”

Headline Fatigue or Just Normal Fatigue? (E212)

DoubleLine Portfolio Manager Jeff Mayberry and Fixed Income Asset Allocation Strategist Ryan Kimmel recap the markets for the week of April 21-25, noting how the post-April 2 volatility has made it seem like a very long month. Equities (0:53) were up on the week, with the trade stories of 2024 on growth, value and tech putting in an appearance. The bond market (2:21) had a pretty quiet week while the Agg continued to have a pretty good run in the new year. Commodities (3:33) were flat. Jeff and Ryan note that the markets seemed to dodge another volatile week after President Donald Trump walked back his calls for removal of the Fed chair. Over in Macro Land (7:54), they look at mixed April prelim manufacturing and services PMI numbers, consistent initial jobless claims and a consumer sentiment score that is usually only seen in crises. The week in Fedspeak (15:48) had a pair of Fed governors each addressing a side of the agency’s inflation-employment mandate. Next week (18:34) will bring prints including JOLTS numbers, a Q1 GDP estimate (very low) and inflation data.

Relative Recumbence Post-Tariff Turbulence (E211)

DoubleLine Portfolio Manager Eric Dhall and Analyst Mark Kimbrough review (0:05) the abbreviated market week ended April 17. It was a week characterized by lessened price volatility than in the first two weeks of the month and somewhat positive macro prints. As stocks ended lower (0:48), value stocks and the equal-weighted S&P 500 posted gains, diverging from declines for growth stocks and the market-cap-weighted S&P 500. Fixed income (2:00) had a positive week in high yield corporates and emerging markets as well as the investment grade, government and government-guaranteed sectors. Commodities (3:00) caught a bounce.
 
On the macro front (4:39), Eric and Mark walked through import prices, retail sales and industrial data, finding some positive news in the readings, but they cautioned to wait for May data, given the as-yet unclear adjustments under way in response to Trump administration trade policies and reactions from U.S. trading partners. Looking to the week ahead (14:24), among other reports, Eric and Mark will be on the lookout for the Leading Economic Index (Monday), S&P Global manufacturing and services (Wednesday) and durable goods orders (Thursday).

More Turbulence Post “Liberation” or “Obliteration” Day (E210)

DoubleLine Portfolio Manager Jeff Mayberry and Fixed Income Asset Allocation Strategist Ryan Kimmel April 11, 2025, look into the extraordinary intra-week turbulence (0:48) behind a moderate weekly gain in the S&P 500, an almost no-place-to-hide week for bonds (4:41) and commodities (9:57) showing weakening demand in industrial inputs as WTI crude pierced intraweek below $56/barrel.
 
Overwhelmed by tariff-driven sentiment in the wake of Liberation or Obliteration Day, the markets paid little attention to the week’s backward-looking macro prints (11:24), including constructive March reports for the consumer and producer price indexes. For their review of the week’s Fed Speak (20:23), Jeff and Ryan single out comments on Thursday by Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee. In a fireside chat hosted by the Economic Club of New York, Goolsbee said tariffs risk “a stagflationary shock.” This complicates the Fed’s achievement of both its full employment and price stability mandates. “There’s not a generic playbook,” Goolsbee said, “for how a central bank should respond to a stagflationary shock.”
 
The abbreviated April 14-17 market week (22:44) appears to be relatively quiet in terms of scheduled macro news. Jeff and Ryan will be on the lookout for import prices (Tuesday) and retail sales and industrial production (Wednesday).