The January labour force data was, superficially, terrible. Following a poor result last month (-65.1K printed, revised to -62.7K) there was some hope that there would be an improvement in the January data released on Thursday. There was not. The economy added an anaemic 0.5K jobs and the unemployment rate rose from 3.9% to 4.1%. The hours worked dropped 2.5%.

An apt description of long-term bond yields in the second half of 2023 could be “what goes up, must come down”…….. But could it go back up again?

Following recent economic data and some comments from officials, it is becoming clear that the US Federal Reserve and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) are both nearing the peaks of their respective interest rate cycles. However, it is quite possible that the US Fed peaks, and even begins cutting rates much earlier, than the RBA.

Latest version of our Company tracker, updated as at 1 August 2022

As global markets brace for ongoing uncertainty caused by higher inflation and rising interest rates, bonds offer investors certainty through regular coupon payments and the repayment of capital at maturity at a known price. Here we discuss these key benefits offered by longer-dated fixed rate bonds.

Latest version of our Company tracker, updated as at 4 July 2022

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