Insights

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) met today for the second time in 2023 to assess the state of the U.S. economy and monetary policy.

 

BOSTON, MA, March 14, 2023 --  After several years of stability in the banking industry, two large banks were taken over by the FDIC—Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) on March 10 and Signature Bank on March 12, representing the second and third largest U.S. bank failures, respectively, following Washington Mutual in 2008. These events are not an indication of a systemic issue in banking but rather targeted to a concentrated group of organizations. The U.S. banking system, as a whole, is strong despite recent developments.

U.S. Treasury yields rose across the curve in February as new data reflected a resilience in the economy that was not widely anticipated by investors. The belly of the curve rose the most, with the 5- and 10-year U.S. Treasury yields jumping 58 and 44 basis points (bps), respectively.
 

President Biden’s State of the Union Address left energy investors and industry executives perplexed as comments calling for increased fossil fuel production were seemingly at odds with last year’s climate legislation to reduce U.S. fossil fuel reliance. 

After years of underperformance, value stocks outperformed growth stocks in 2022. Many of the conditions that existed during 2022 persist and we believe value may be positioned to outperform growth again in 2023.

U.S. Treasury prices climbed in January as foreign and domestic investors took advantage of attractive all-in yields offered in fixed income. The 2-year/10-year curve inverted further to -70 basis points (bps) and the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield closed at 3.54%. TIPS performance was flat verse nominals, as headline CPI data came in with the first negative month-over-month print since 2020.

 

Since its ratification in August, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has been the focus of policymakers, businesses, and investors worldwide as they seek to understand the risks and opportunities associated with the U.S. climate spending bill. 

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) met today for the first of eight times in 2023 to assess the state of the U.S. economy and monetary policy.

On January 13, 2023, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Janet Yellen, sent a letter to Congressional leadership to inform them that the outstanding debt of the United States was projected to reach its statutory limit of $31.381 trillion on January 19, 2023. When the limit was reached, the Treasury had to start taking extraordinary measures to prevent the United States from defaulting on its obligations.

 

In this issue of our Event-Driven Update, we discuss M&A deal activity in 2022. Looking ahead into 2023, we expect that financial sponsors will drive the bulk of deal activity. In the SPAC market, IPO activity slowed to a trickle, and SPAC-related merger activity witnessed a slight revival in the fourth quarter.