Good Monday AM from your Hometown Lender,

Fairly slow week for economic data.

We had ISM non-manufacturing numbers this AM and they were stronger than expected. The selloff in US Treasuries is extending after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank is wary of cutting rates too soon.

In an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes that aired Sunday evening, Powell said voting members are unlikely to reach the required “level of confidence” about inflation’s path by their March meeting. While those comments echoed the message he delivered at a press conference Wednesday, investors are reading it as an intensifying push back against expectations for interest rates to fall early in 2024.

The Treasury declines sent waves through bond markets, pushing down government debt from Australia to Germany and the UK — where traders are giving up on bets the Bank of England will deliver four rate cuts this year.

Please remain safe and healthy, make today great!