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Oil is up roughly 12% over the past week, hitting a US economy already at full capacity, 4.1% unemployment and payrolls averaging 106,000 a month. That's the kind of shock that turns into services and core inflation rather than fading on its own. Fed funds futures already price an 87% chance of a hike this week. The real question is what happens to the other 75 basis points still priced in after that.
The other supposed backstop already cracked. Bessent had promised to at least double the Treasury's bond buybacks, with the street expecting 5 to 7.5 billion. The first operation only spent 3.6 billion against 10.5 billion of bonds dealers offered, because Bessent wouldn't pay up for the rest. The 30 year yield broke through 5% anyway, and the 10 year touched a level it hasn't held since 2007.
Jonny sits down with Andy Constan, founder and chief investment officer of Damped Spring Advisors and his former boss at Salomon Brothers, to unpack why the sell-off has further to run, why Treasury's own supply games matter more than talk of QE, and why he thinks the real fault line is the private credit funding the AI buildout, not the bond market.
In this episode:
Oil up around 12% last week, landing on an economy at 4.1% unemployment and 106,000 average monthly job growth
Treasury's buyback boost landing at 3.6 billion spent against 10.5 billion of bonds on offer
The 30 year yield through 5% for the first time in years, the 10 year testing a level not held since 2007
An 87% priced chance of a hike this week, and what happens to the other 75 basis points priced in after that
Term premium on the 10 year at 90 basis points, up from minus 50 in the 2020 bubble
Why long dated TIPS look like the better trade than nominal Treasuries right now
Every major bond deal funding the AI buildout, an 80 billion Google raise included, still trading underwater
Jonny has spent 25 years trading macro at the highest institutional level. This is not retail speculation or headline chasing. It is rigorous, independent analysis from someone who has sat at the table.
New to SuperMacro?
Get 30 days of our Daily Note entirely free at www.super-macro.com
0:00 Intro: this week's G7 bond sell-off and rate repricing
0:58 No Elvis this week, and introducing guest Andy Constan
1:55 The three forces behind the sell-off: fiscal, inflation, and hyperscaler issuance
4:46 Oil up 12%, landing on an economy already at full capacity
6:18 The CPI print, and why PCE inflation isn't getting to target this year
7:24 Treasury's underwhelming buyback announcement
9:11 Inside the first buyback operation: 10.5 billion offered, 3.6 billion spent
10:32 The ECB's hawkish meeting, and why the Fed can't afford to lag behind
11:58 The 10 year touching 5% for the first time since 2007
12:23 The 30 year through its cap, and how high it could still go
13:58 How much hiking is priced into the UK, eurozone and US
16:13 Why current yields aren't as extreme as they look against nominal GDP growth
19:04 Andy Constan: why the Fed has boxed itself into a corner
23:24 How much of the global hiking cycle is already priced in
25:14 Why the dot plot probably won't match what's priced into the curve
27:25 What actually moves the long end: growth and inflation expectations, not supply
28:20 Term premium then and now, and the case for long dated TIPS
30:23 Treasury's buybacks, the November refunding deadline, and Bessent's Yellen U-turn
37:06 The hedge: foreign stocks, gold, and a short dollar
38:10 Why equity valuations hinge on earnings expectations that may not hold
42:51 Every major AI-linked bond deal still trading underwater
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There is a generation of bond traders who have never seen yields this high, levels they would have dreamt of five years ago. The US deficit is running at 5.5 to 6% of GDP with the economy nowhere near a recession, and there is no political will in sight to fix it. That combination alone isn't the buy signal it looks like.
Two live risks sit in front of this call. Wednesday brings the Treasury's buyback announcement, and Bessent has already said he will at least double the size, with room to go further. Friday brings the CPI print that Fed chair Kevin Warsh has effectively staked his credibility on, after reversing from downplaying inflation in July to calling the 2% target non negotiable at Jackson Hole.
Elvis sits down with veteran macro trader Jonny Matthews, 25 years of institutional experience at Brevan Howard and Citigroup, to unpack why he isn't rushing to buy bonds despite the highest yields in a generation, what August's payrolls really mean for the Fed, and why Japan's own hawkish pivot is a warning against betting on long yields falling.
In this episode:
Why elevated yields reflect strength as much as strain, and the three forces, inflation, fiscal discipline and corporate supply, keeping them there
The US deficit at 5.5 to 6% of GDP, with next to no political will to close it
Nominal GDP running near 8%, and why Treasury yields still have catching up to do
August's payrolls: a 106,000 six month average against the 30,000 to 35,000 needed just to hold unemployment steady
Why the case for rent disinflation may already be stalling, against Fed governor Waller's dovish read
PCE inflation above target for 64 straight months, with services alone contributing 2.5 percentage points
Why the Fed's September decision now hinges almost entirely on Friday's CPI print
What Japan's hawkish pivot did to its yield curve, and why it's a warning against being short long bonds
Jonny has spent 25 years trading macro at the highest institutional level. This is not retail speculation or headline chasing. It is rigorous, independent analysis from someone who has sat at the table.
New to SuperMacro?
Get 30 days of our Daily Note entirely free at www.super-macro.com
0:00 Intro: do we buy bonds
0:51 The framing question, and why high yields alone don't mean buy
1:19 The three forces keeping yields elevated: inflation, fiscal discipline, corporate supply
2:50 Why higher yields reflect strength, not a debt doom loop
3:17 The deficit and debt to GDP since Clinton, the GFC and the pandemic
4:19 The 5.5 to 6% deficit, and why there's no political will to close it
4:54 Nominal GDP against the ten year yield, and the catching up still to do
6:32 Interest costs creeping from 3.5% to 4.5% of GDP
8:02 Entitlement spending, and Europe's worse position
9:44 This week's risks: Wednesday's buyback announcement and Friday's CPI
11:17 The yen, the BOJ's hawkish pivot, and Bessent's swap facility theory
13:12 Nonfarm payrolls: the call that played out, and cyclical versus non-cyclical jobs
15:08 The 106,000 six month average, and what it means for unemployment
17:31 PCE inflation, Warsh's reversal since Jackson Hole, and 64 months above target
20:31 Break even inflation at 2.4%, and the Fed's single data point trap
22:10 Waller's dovish dissent, and why rent disinflation may already be stalling
24:04 What Japan's yield curve just did, and why it's a warning on short bonds
26:01 Wrap up: still cautious, and the trade into September
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US interest costs have quietly climbed to around 18% of tax revenues, up from about 5% not long ago. At Jackson Hole, Fed chair Kevin Warsh delivered what looked like a near 180 degree hawkish pivot from his July meeting, sending the two year yield up 11 basis points in a day. The long end barely moved.
Jonny thinks the pivot has less to do with inflation than pressure from the Treasury. Scott Bessent has been doubling bond buybacks and hinting at drawing on the $950 billion TGA to support long dated debt, and the two men meet weekly. A short end hike buys Bessent room to defend the long end without spending the Treasury's own firepower.
Elvis sits down with veteran macro trader Jonny Matthews, 25 years of institutional experience at Brevan Howard and Citigroup, to unpack why the long end didn't budge despite the hawkish pivot, what a September hike really says about debt sustainability, and why he still likes gold and short bonds as the trade.
In this episode:
Jonny has spent 25 years trading macro at the highest institutional level. This is not retail speculation or headline chasing. It is rigorous, independent analysis from someone who has sat at the table.
New to SuperMacro?
0:00 Intro: did Warsh just kill the debasement trade
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The data all pointed one way last week. Payrolls missed, CPI and PPI came in benign, retail sales underwhelmed across every single aggregate. Sovereign bonds caught a bid, then sold off almost immediately. When bonds cannot rally on their own good news, the problem is not the data.
The US interest bill has now overtaken the defence bill. Niall Ferguson's law says any great power that spends more on debt servicing than defence risks ceasing to be a great power, and the US is running a deficit of 5.5 to 6% at full employment with unemployment at 4.1%. There is no reform coming, in any G7 country, because nobody is going to vote for it.
Elvis sits down with veteran macro trader Jonny Matthews, 25 years of institutional experience at Brevan Howard and Citigroup, to work through why the long end sold off into weak data, what the deficit does when the economy finally turns, and why he is still short treasuries.
In this episode:
Why sovereign bonds sold off into a weak payrolls print, benign inflation and soft retail sales
G7 debt to GDP ratios, and the US on track to pass Italy from over 120%
Japan cutting 220% to 200% with no reform at all, just nominal GDP running above the interest rate
A 6% deficit at full employment, and where it goes in even a mild recession
Ferguson's law: the interest bill has passed the defence bill, and neither one is coming down
AI capex arriving in the bond market as a new and very large competing issuer
Ten years of long dated treasury total return below zero while CPI rose 40 to 45%, and what that does to the 60/40
Why TIPS at 2.4% on the ten year and 3% on the thirty look like the better bet
4.5% on the ten year and 5% on the thirty now acting as a floor rather than a ceiling
Jonny has spent 25 years trading macro at the highest institutional level. This is not retail speculation or headline chasing. It is rigorous, independent analysis from someone who has sat at the table.
New to SuperMacro?
Get 30 days of our Daily Note entirely free at www.super-macro.com
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
US payrolls fell by 23,000 in the latest print, with over 100,000 of downward revisions to the previous two months — and yet Treasury yields climbed. When bond markets rally on bad news and then give it all back, something deeper is going on.
Meanwhile, the much-publicised coordinated intervention to support the Japanese yen — complete with a conveniently photographed "buy yen" note on the Treasury Secretary's desk — may be far less than it appears. And with Japanese government bond yields hitting two-decade highs, the pressure on Tokyo is building fast.
Elvis sits down with veteran macro trader Jonny Matthews — 25 years of institutional experience at Brevan Howard and Citigroup — to unpack why the Treasury market shrugged off a weak jobs report, what the US–Japan yen intervention is really designed to achieve, and why the long end of the bond market in both countries is flashing red.
In this episode:
Why Treasury yields rose despite a negative payrolls print — and what a shrinking labour supply means for wages and inflation
The unemployment rate at a 13-month low of 4.1% even as jobs are lost — the retiring boomers and net-zero migration story the headlines miss
Bessent's "whatever it takes" moment: the leaked to-do list, the Exchange Stabilization Fund, and why this intervention is more theatre than firepower
Japan's high nominal GDP playbook — inflating away a 200% debt-to-GDP ratio while JGB yields hit two-decade highs — and the 1992 sterling lesson for anyone defending a currency
Why 4.5% on the 10-year and 5% on the 30-year now look like floors rather than ceilings — and the asymmetric risk around this week's CPI print ahead of September's Fed meeting
Jonny has spent 25 years trading macro at the highest institutional level. This is not retail speculation or headline chasing. It is rigorous, independent analysis from someone who has sat at the table.
New to SuperMacro?
Get 30 days of our Daily Note entirely free at www.super-macro.com
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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