the speed of interest rate rises
The best indicator of how fast the Fed will raise the Fed Funds rate will likely be the pace of wage gains and new job creation, as shown in the monthly Employment Situation report issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Infrastructure investment legislation that may be passed by the new Congress next year may also factor into the Fed’s thinking. On the other hand, the continuing example of Japan, whose quarter-century of no economic growth is due in part to premature tightening of economic policy is also likely to play a part in decision making.
Much of that will be hard to be certain about in advance. Current Wall Street thinking, for what it’s worth, is that the pace will be north of glacial but not fast at all–maybe a move of +0.50% next year, after a boost of +0.25% later this month.
The endpoint of policy, however, may be somewhat easier to forecast.
the final policy goal
Fed policy is aimed at holding inflation at +2.0% per year. Its main problem recently is that it can’t get inflation that high, in spite of having flooded the economy with money for the past eight years. So let’s say we’ll have inflation at 2%, but not higher, some time in the future.
cash
If so, and if the return on cash-like investments during normal times continues to provide protection against inflation and little else, then the final target for the Fed Funds rate is 2%.
bonds
If we consider the 30-year bond and say that the normal annual return should be inflation protection + 2% per year, then the target yield for it would be 4%–vs slightly over 3% today.
The 10-year? subtract 50 basis points from the 30-year annual yield. That would mean 3.5% as the target yield.
If this is correct, the important thing about the domestic bond market since the US election is the substantial steepening of the yield curve. While cash has another 150 bp to rise to get to 2%, the long bond is within 100bp of where I think it will eventually settle in.
In other words, a substantial amount of readjustment has already occurred.