By Note The table above is updated before publication with the latest consensus forecasts. However, the text charts are prepared ahead of time. Therefore there can be discrepancies between the forecasts given in the table above and in the text charts.
Rates as of 0500 GMT
Market Recap
Todays comment will be somewhat abbreviated as I have an appointment this morning.
Stock markets took a breather yesterday, with the SP 500 effectively unchanged and the NASDAQ down 0.3. This follows a down day across Europe. This morning, Asian markets are mixed, with greater China up but other markets mostly down.
The culprit? Too much good news, apparently. Just to review
The US House of Representatives has finished its markups The process by which congressional committees and subcommittees debate, amend, and rewrite proposed legislation on the COVID relief package. A vote is scheduled for Feb. 26th.
The US has extended the CARES Act mortgage forbearance, which allows people hit by the pandemic to stop paying their mortgages without losing their homes, and foreclosure protection. This will prevent millions of people from becoming homeless.
Vaccine rollout continues worldwide; meanwhile, the number of new cases have declined notably.
Lots of betterthanexpected data recently GDB beats in Japan, Thailand and Singapore on Monday, ZEW survey expectations index soaring instead of falling as expected 71.2 up
from 61.8 vs 59.5 expected, and Empire State manufacturing index also…
