Welcome to Thoughts on the Market.
I'm Andrew Sheets, Global Head of Fixed Income Research at Morgan Stanley.
Today I'm going to talk about key signposts for stability in a world that, from day to day, feels anything but.
It's Friday, January 30th at 2 p.m. in London.
A core theme for us at Morgan Stanley Research is that easier fiscal, monetary and regulatory policy in 2026 will will support more risk-taking corporate activity and animal spirits.
Yes, valuations are high, but with so many forces blowing in the same stimulative direction across so many geographies, those valuations may stay higher for longer.
We think that the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan all lower interest rates more or raise them less than markets expect.
We think that fiscal policy will remain stimulative as governments in the United States Germany, China and Japan all spend more.
And, as I discussed on this program recently regulation, a sleepy but essential part of this equation is also aligning to support more risk-taking.
Of course, one concern with having so much stimulative sail out, so to speak, is that you lose control of the boat.
As geopolitical headwinds swirl and the price of gold has risen 100 in the last year, many investors are asking whether we're seeing too much of a shift in both government and fiscal, monetary and regulatory policy.
Specifically, when I speak to investors, I think I can paraphrase these concerns as follows.
Are we seeing expectations for future inflation rise sharply?
Will we see more volatility in government debt?
Has the valuation of the US dollar deviated dramatically from fair value?
And are credit markets showing early signs of stress?
Notably, so far, the answer to all of these questions based on market pricing is no.
The market's expectation for CPI inflation over the next decade is about 24, similar actually to what we saw in 2024-2023.
Expected volatility for US interest rates over the next year is well lower than where it was on January 1st.
The US dollar, despite a lot of recent headlines, is trading roughly in line with its fair value based on purchasing power.
Based on data from Bloomberg.
And the credit markets long seen as important leading indicators of risk well across a lot of different regions.
They've been very well behaved, with spreads still historically tight.
Uncertainty in US foreign policy, big moves in Japanese interest rates and even larger moves in gold have all contributed to investor concerns around the potential instability of the macro backdrop.
It's understandable.
But for now, we think that a number of key market-based measures of this stability are still holding.
While that's the case, we think that a positive fundamental story, specifically our positive view on earnings growth, can continue to support markets.
Major shifts in these signposts, however, could change that.
Thank you, as always, for your time.
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