Daily Desk Views
The desk’s live read per asset, refreshed each sessionLabour held, so US CPI now decides the Fed trade for gold, the dollar and Treasury yields
August payrolls came in at 162,000 against a consensus of 56,000, above every forecast in the Reuters poll, and July was revised from a loss into a gain. The labour market did not crack, so inflation now carries the whole September decision. PPI and an ECB decision land on Thursday, CPI on Friday, and the Fed meets four days later with new projections. The desk view: the dollar finished the week lower than it started despite Friday's jump, the 2 year sits two basis points under its 2026 high, and gold closed on the level published here a week ago. The decision tree for both versions of CPI is inside.
Read the Week Ahead →Framework guides: how geopolitical risk moves oil and why the dollar can fall when US bond yields rise.
All Macro Insights
Every reactive macro read the desk has shipped, sorted by latest. Filter by topic in the left rail, search by name above, or page through the full archive below.
Inside The Read
The market moves. We work out why.
Weekly macro breakdowns from Ken’s desk, connecting economic data, central banks, yields and global flows to the markets you actually trade. Every episode comes with a companion desk note so you can apply the same process yourself.
- Data
- Expectations
- Rate pricing
- Yields
- Money
- Market
Watch the market read. Keep the desk notes.
Jackson Hole Just Changed the Gold & Dollar Trade
Warsh did not argue for a hike. He removed the reason to wait.
Kevin Warsh's first Jackson Hole keynote as Fed chair never asked for a rate hike. It took away the reasons to wait: financial conditions were not restrictive, the labour market was stable and inflation was still the priority. September hike pricing jumped from about a third to more than half in one session, the 2 year yield moved first, the dollar had its biggest up day of the month and gold fell more than 3%. Episode 1 shows why expectations, not headlines, moved the trade.
- Fed
- Jackson Hole
- US 2Y
- Dollar
- Gold
Keep the read beside your desk
Download the Episode 1 Companion Desk Note
The charts, decision tree, market framework and key questions from this episode in one clean PDF.
NFP Just FLIPPED the Gold & Dollar Trade
Strong jobs did not mean a hike. They gave the Fed room to hike.
Jackson Hole set one view. Then ADP undershot, Governor Waller spelled out when he would consider a hike, and August payrolls came in far above consensus with July revised from a loss into a gain. A strong labour market did not make a hike automatic. It gave the Fed room to hike if inflation required it, which handed the decision to PPI and CPI. Episode 2 shows why a macro view has to change when the information does, and how to build the decision tree before the data lands.
- NFP
- ADP
- Fed
- Dollar
- Gold
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Download the Episode 2 Companion Desk Note
The charts, decision tree, market framework and key questions from this episode in one clean PDF.
CPI Repriced the Fed. Now Oil & the Yen Could Break the Trade
Hawkish data, and the dollar still would not follow. The reaction is the trade.
Inflation gave the Fed another reason to tighten, but the dollar and gold did not respond as cleanly as expected. Meanwhile oil moved above $100, geopolitical risk spread across Middle Eastern energy routes and the Japanese yen kept strengthening. Episode 3 connects all of it and explains why a yen carry unwind could become a global liquidity story.
- CPI
- Fed
- Oil
- USD/JPY
- Carry trade
Keep the read beside your desk
Download the Episode 3 Companion Desk Note
The charts, decision tree, market framework and key questions from this episode in one clean PDF.
Premieres Monday 14 September
The companion desk note is ready now.