"Space for patience"/"I feel something strange about it"/C&I loans fall again/Other good stuff

In last week's Fed dots, there were two people that wanted just one rate cut this year (also two that wanted none and I'm guessing Michelle Bowman was one of them) and notably one of them is a voting member it seems, the Atlanta president Raphael Bostic. He was also the one who warned us a few weeks ago about the pent up animal spirits that would be unleashed upon rate cuts. That has certainly been seen in financial markets to state the obvious. When speaking Friday, in getting to a 2% rate of inflation sustainably, he said "I'm definitely less confident than I was in December." He went on to say, "If we have an economy that is growing above potential, and we have an economy where unemployment is at levels that were deemed to be unimaginable without pricing pressures, and if we have an economy where inflation is moderating...those are good things. That give us space for patience." How patient? He said "later in the year" will he support the one cut. He does though support the tapering of QT "relatively soon." 

As it didn't sound like Powell was the other dot in wanting just one cut, and definitely not one of the two that wanted none, as his dovishness sounded more like 3 and consensus group think is his mantra, we'll see how Bostic and Powell come together in coming months/quarters. 

The 2 yr note yield is up 3 bps in response to 4.62%. It was at 4.67-.68% at 1:59pm est last Wednesday.  

With the yen just off the weakest level vs the US dollar in 34 years, the verbal intervention is back from the finance ministry. Masato Kanda, the vice finance minister said today the recent moves "has not reflected fundamentals and I feel something strange about it...is clearly driven by speculation" and "We will take appropriate action excessive fluctuations...We are always prepared." With history with intervention as its guide and the fruitless attempts in the past of Japanese FX intervention, the market yawned on the comments. While negative rates don't exist in Japan anymore thankfully, zero to .10% is only slightly better.