Bonds & Stocks
After years of regulatory tinkering, Washington is now forcing through the most rigorous overhaul of the world’s biggest bond market in decades. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, who once oversaw federal debt management at the US Treasury, has championed a move to require the vast majority of Treasuries trading to migrate to a central counterparty clearinghouse — an intermediary between buyers and sellers that assumes ultimate responsibility for the transaction.
Economy
Heading into the blackout period ahead of the Jan. 30-31 FOMC meeting, markets interpreted recent Fedspeak — particularly comments from influential Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller — as suggesting policymakers are in no hurry to cut rates. Futures markets sharply pared the odds of a March rate cut, from about 80% to start the week of Jan. 15 to almost a coin flip by its end.
World
The European Union can avoid getting swept up into China’s response to US chip-equipment curbs, Beijing’s ambassador in The Hague said in an interview with a Dutch newspaper. “If the Americans treat us in a hegemonic manner, we will of course respond,” said Tan Jian, Chinese ambassador to the Netherlands, in an interview with NRC published Sunday. “But our relationship with the EU should not be affected.”