Above record close levels
The major indices are trading at new session highs and in the process all are above record close levels.
- The S&P index is up 6.85 points or 0.21% that 3197.98. The high price reached 3198.39
- the NASDAQ index is currently up 27.16 points or 0.31% at 8854.89. The high price reached 8858.078
- The Dow is currently trading up 97.5 points or 0.35% at 28336. The high price reached 28340.88
also of note today is the yield curve steepening. The 2-10 year spread has moved to the highest level in 2019 at 30.972 basis points (reached the highest level since October 2018). Recall that the spread did move into negative territory in August and again briefly in September. The low was -6.6 basis points back on August 28.
Yield curves that go negative are thought to be a precursor to a recession. However, the thinking was that US yields were being pushed down by negative rates abroad. As a result global investors were stretching into higher yielding US debt pushing the yield lower. The German 10 year note reached a low level on September 6 at -0.74%. The current yield is still below 0.0% but is trading near the highest levels since July at -0.222%. (See chart below).
