Doug Porter Rate Quotations

The market is expecting strong first-quarter growth and employment cost numbers, which could signal more rate increases from the Fed down the road than what people are currently expecting.

What has changed in recent weeks is long-term interest rates across the globe are starting to feel the heat from Fed tightening and now from rate hikes from all kinds of quarters, including Japan and Europe which they really hadn't had to deal with before.

I suspect it was just a bout of profit taking, a bit of nervousness ahead of next week's Fed meeting. Not that anyone's expecting anything out of the Fed's next week, but I think there still are some lingering concerns about the longer-term interest rate outlook. Especially with oil prices pushing above $32 a barrel,

While there are still concerns about further Fed rate hikes down the road, it does seem as if the Fed's on hold for now and investors are starting to reassess which companies still have the best long-term prospects,

There's been a slight upward revision of expectations for Fed tightening, which would keep the spread between rates locked in. The earlier view was that the spread might narrow.

The interest rate differential continues to attract money to the U.S..

If the bank does indeed raise rates, they are likely to sound very cautious about future rate moves, with the press release likely to highlight the many risks to the economy.

There was a strong hint in their latest minutes that they're talking about half percentage point moves in interest rates rather than just these baby steps of a quarter percentage point move.

I think it's quite possible revenues will come in on the high side of expectations simply because we've had very robust corporate profit growth over the last year.