Sage Advice Quarterly Market Review 4Q1999

It’s not exactly a Goldilocks economy anymore — not with growth at such a sizzling pace — but last week’s economic numbers couldn’t provide a tastier porridge for the bond bulls. Indeed, the new benchmarked gross domestic product (GDP) data combined with the third quarter employment cost index (ECI) came just in the nick of time, as the bears had been rampaging over the fixed income landscape virtually unchallenged. Make no mistake, the bond market has been in the grips of a bear cycle for the past twelve months; even with the rally inspired by last week’s numbers, the losses have been substantial.