Recent Treasury yield curve flattening may be a warning sign from fixed income markets, but there are also arguments to suggest otherwise. Historically, an inverting yield curve has been a solid leading indicator of recessions. However, the yield curve’s recent behavior is seemingly incongruous with that of equity markets, which have continued to hit record highs throughout the year. Although the yield curve may be implying a slower growth environment than equity markets are signaling, the curve is still a long way from inverting.

Continued Flattening…

Year to date, the Treasury yield curve has flattened considera

Last week marked the one-year anniversary of President Trump’s Election Day victory. The period since the president was elected has been one of the best ever for U.S. stock markets. The 28.5% rally in the Dow Jones Industrial Average (Dow) one year after the election ranks 4 out of 31 overall among one-year post-election rallies for U.S. presidents since the inception of the Dow in 1896 [Figure 1] and is one of the best performances since World War II (WWII). The best? President Coolidge during the Roaring Twenties. The worst? Woodrow Wilson’s second term during WWI.

A Closer Look at the Past Year

The Dow gained 28

Productivity for the third quarter of 2017 rose 3.0%, the largest one quarter increase since the third quarter of 2014 and over double the average quarterly growth rate since the start of 2009. This surge is significant, as a lack of productivity growth has been one of the main factors that has kept U.S. economic growth, as measured in gross domestic product (GDP), to an average of just 2.2% since the end of the Great Recession. In fact, the five-year average of productivity growth has been under 1% since the fourth quarter of 2014. Dating back to the start of record keeping in 1947, 1981 to 1983 was the only other period with productivity gr

Master limited partnership (MLP) weakness appears overdone. The Alerian MLP Index has lost 9.3% in 2017 year to date, well behind the S&P 500 Index’s 17.5% return and even the energy sector’s 6.3% loss. More recent performance is particularly surprising given the 30% rally in WTI crude prices since June 21, 2017 — the Alerian MLP Index has been flat over that roughly 4.5-month period, while the S&P 500 has returned 7%. In an environment where many investments look stretched, this is one that has lagged behind and could offer potentially more upside. Here we discuss several reasons the group has struggled and make the