Market Updates

• Yields pushed higher over the week as the two-year Treasury note increased by six basis points to 0.28% while the five-year note increased by nine basis points to 0.95%.

• Equites exhibited little reaction as Chairman J. Powell signaled to investors last week that the Federal Reserve is preparing to reduce its asset purchases, a formal announcement is expected at the November meeting with an estimated reduction of $15 billion each month.

• Markets have been surprisingly calm as uncertainty builds from a multitude of avenues including the ongoing debt ceiling saga that threatens a government shutdown, a Chinese property giant on the brink of collapse that investors fear could spark financial contagion, and as previously mentioned – a Federal Reserve set to begin reducing the enormous amount of support it has been providing since the onset of the pandemic.