Correspondent Blog

Powell’s Inflation Message Gets Muddled One day after rolling out the Fed’s new Monetary Policy Framework several officials took to microphones and delivered a mixed follow-up as to what the new policy might look like in practice. From Chair Powell’s Jackson Hole speech it seemed clear to us they were going to lean more heavily…

Fed Chair Powell’s keynote address at the annual Jackson Hole Symposium of central bankers was the main event for the market this week and it didn’t disappoint. His address was on the Fed’s new Monetary Policy Framework, but it was not clear how much he would actually reveal about the policy ahead of its formal…

The major news of the week, from a market perspective, will be the keynote address by Fed Chair Powell to the virtual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium of central bankers. He’s expected to discuss the Fed’s new Monetary Policy Framework. While the framework hasn’t been formally released, expect Powell to disclose a few nuggets to…

If you are like 90% if banks out there, chances are your strategic planning process is not all that effective. Chances are your strategic planning process is a good budgeting exercise, but a poor driver of strategy. It likely your current strategic plan contains something about growth, geographical expansion, and digital transformation. You could exchange…

How Community Banks Protect NIM We feel that community banks have four significant attributes that can be successfully used to differentiate their brand against competitors in the market.  Borrowers find these four attributes valuable, and borrowers are willing to pay above market rate to purchase these attributes.  But community banks must understand what these attributes…

D.C. and a Virtual Jackson Hole Share Spotlight The annual symposium at Jackson Hole is usually a showstopper as central bankers from around the world convene in the bucolic outpost of Jackson Hole. This year it will be a mostly virtual event but the highlight will surely be the keynote address by Chair Powell on…

If this week has told us anything it’s that the residential housing market has maintained or even exceeded the momentum it carried into July from June. While other sectors paused, or plateaued in July, the housing sector has built on those June gains. With increasing home prices and a vibrant market it could prop up…

There is not a lot of first-tier information this week but what we are getting confirms that the housing market, along with the tech sector, continues to hit on all cylinders as the bounce in activity we saw in June was even bettered in July. Not many sectors of the economy can say that. Yesterday…

Without approving the HEALS or HERO Acts, Congress gave little reason for banks to delay their Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Forgiveness program. As such, many banks, like ourselves, launched on the 10th. With a couple of weeks of testing and processing, we thought it might be helpful to give an update that can hopefully inform…

Community banks face a new and unfamiliar underwriting risk – an epidemiological disruption that has limited visibility and short history that affects both free cash flow and collateral values.  In addition to debt yield, debt service coverage ratio, and property values, banks now need to understand how all of these credit parameters are going to…

D.C. Headlines Will Dominate This week offers little in the way of first-tier economic data so the market will trade around headlines from Washington D.C. While the fate of the stimulus bill took a hit last week,  President Trump stepped in and signed several executive orders replacing some of the expiring stimulus. However, the biggest…

The week ends with a look at July retail sales and after absorbing new Treasury supply and hotter-than-expected CPI and PPI numbers Treasury yields have taken some body blows but still seem to have solid legs. The retail sales numbers are generally better than expected but off the extreme bounce in activity that characterized June….