March rate cuts had nothing to do with COVID
...but the pandemic offered pretext to take dramatic action when it was already needed.
When J. Powell started announcing rate cuts after the late 2019 'taper tantrum', nobody was surprised, either by the cuts or their size. These were modest cuts announced in successive FOMC releases. All seemed normal and the market appeared to take a breather on slightly lower rates.
Then something peculiar happened in March 2020. Powell announced quite large rate cuts, not once, but twice, in two weeks, outside of the FOMC schedule. The pretext of course, was the pandemic, but the timing might suggest otherwise. Looking at the band of yields, you can see that the curve was already collapsing in January and February. The histogram displayed with the yield band is a composite indicator of all yield curves, each duration being weighed against the next. It appears that the rate cuts announced during FOMC after the 'taper tantrum' were insufficient to set the curve free, and it was still collapsing under higher rates. Powell needed to act quickly and aggressively. The pandemic offered the pretext of an outside threat to the economy. A one-off black swan event. This allowed taking action without having to explain that the bond market was already in deep trouble. The timing of the out-of-schedule rate cuts were both on days that the US10Y broke below key support.
When J. Powell started announcing rate cuts after the late 2019 'taper tantrum', nobody was surprised, either by the cuts or their size. These were modest cuts announced in successive FOMC releases. All seemed normal and the market appeared to take a breather on slightly lower rates.
Then something peculiar happened in March 2020. Powell announced quite large rate cuts, not once, but twice, in two weeks, outside of the FOMC schedule. The pretext of course, was the pandemic, but the timing might suggest otherwise. Looking at the band of yields, you can see that the curve was already collapsing in January and February. The histogram displayed with the yield band is a composite indicator of all yield curves, each duration being weighed against the next. It appears that the rate cuts announced during FOMC after the 'taper tantrum' were insufficient to set the curve free, and it was still collapsing under higher rates. Powell needed to act quickly and aggressively. The pandemic offered the pretext of an outside threat to the economy. A one-off black swan event. This allowed taking action without having to explain that the bond market was already in deep trouble. The timing of the out-of-schedule rate cuts were both on days that the US10Y broke below key support.