Treasuries can’t catch a break, with bond prices dropping fast and interest rates rising. That’s putting pressure on stocks again. Gold, silver, and crude oil are mostly flat, while the dollar is higher.
On the news front...
At least ONE of the nation’s strikes has been resolved. The Writers Guild of America reached a deal with the major Hollywood studios, allowing the 11,000 screenwriters who have been on strike for 146 days to resume working. That’s assuming members vote to ratify the deal leadership struck, which is all but certain to occur.
That said, the SAG-AFTRA union representing actors remains on strike. As a result, most television and movie production will remain halted unless and until they can finalize their own deal. The United Auto Workers union also remains on strike as the Big Three auto makers haven’t agreed to their pay, retirement, and job security demands.
10-Year Treasury Note Yield
Just how high will interest rates go? No one knows for sure. But the selloff in bonds is continuing to push yields to fresh multi-year highs. The 10-year yield just hit 4.51%, its highest since October 2007. The 30-year climbed to 4.61%, a fresh high dating back to April 2011.
Finally, Amazon (AMZN) jumped into the Artificial Intelligence (AI) arms race, announcing plans to invest as much as $4 billion in Anthropic. The firm produces an AI-backed assistant called Claude that is a rival to ChatGPT, the product created by OpenAI. Microsoft (MSFT) invested $10 billion in that company at the beginning of 2023. Amazon hopes to incorporate Anthropic’s tech in various business units.
