Halyard’s Weekly Wrap – 02/24/23
This holiday shortened week was free from the wild, unexpected economic data we’ve been seeing since the start of the year. Activity continues to surprise to the upside as has the inflation backdrop. Existing home sales fell -0.7% from last month’s measure, while the second look at Q4 GDP was revised lower to 2.7% from 2.9%. The most eye-popping of the week’s data, the Personal Consumption Expenditure price deflator, the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, rose 5.4% year-over-year. That measure, when paired with the above expectation CPI released mid-month has taken the steam out of the nascent bond rally that started the year.