How DeepStack settles a question · Part 07
Why did the long end climb after the hike: growth, debt, or a missing buyer?
From Part 07: The Fed Hiked. The Long End Still Climbed.. 21 voices on 3 sides, attributed and dated; the DeepStack Call with its history; 4 dated tests that settle it; the results as they come in.
The DeepStack callSkeptical
The bond market is pricing the AI bill, not a recession. The Fed cannot hike its way to a lower 10-year.
Call history
- v1Supply sets the long endConviction High (4/5)First call, as published with the story. The conviction, the actions and the flips were set down for the site on October 7, 2026.
6 voices
Growth: yields are catching up
The current bond market cycle is behaving like a normal cycle, and a major buying opportunity for fixed income is approaching as yields near a peak.
The risk-return balance for bonds is improving: a further 50bp yield rise would still give bonds a positive annual return, while a subsequent 100bp yield fall would generate a more than 12% annual return.
Contrary to what many officials expected, inflation stopped decelerating in 2023, which is especially visible in underlying measures that exclude volatile and idiosyncratic components.
The 'supercore' version of the PCE price index was rising about 1 percentage point faster than in the years immediately preceding the pandemic even before the surprises of 2025-2026, and is now rising about 2 percentage points faster.
Interest rate hikes are not currently a problem for the economy or investing, because if the economy and company profits grow faster than the interest rate, value is created, and the estimated Q3 GDP growth of 5.1% plus inflation gives nominal…
The main reason for higher inflation is probably the more expensive oil, and a higher interest rate will not cure that; the Fed just wants to ensure inflation doesn't get out of hand.
9 voices
Debt: 99% of GDP, up from 35%
The Federal Reserve faces a trap: if it hikes rates it loses control of the long end because it feeds an annual interest bill approaching $1 trillion, but if it cuts despite 3.4% inflation it also loses the long end, creating a frustrating setup…
The creator argues governments and central banks do not want long yields higher and will go a long way to stop it, which means that if they succeed real yields fall and today's 2.65% over inflation won't be on offer for long, and if the way they…
Bond investors are rejecting the government-set price for Treasuries because of large, unaddressed budget deficits that may grow rather than shrink over the next 10 years, and because budget deficits imply inflation; the creator says they…
In mid-August 2026 the 30-year Treasury yield reached its highest level in 19 years, above 5.3% (last seen in 2007), and the 10-year yield hit 4.75%; these are important because 30-year mortgage rates are set from them and about two-thirds of US…
Treasury Secretary Bessent's $4 billion to $6 billion effort to buy long Treasuries and push rates down failed, as rates went up anyway, and his speaking at a partisan political convention undermined his credibility with the bond market.
Ten-year Treasury yields have broken through 4.8% and then 4.9%, the highest level since November 2023, driven by the Iran war pushing oil prices above $100.
George Noble
No secretary talks down $40T of debt.
The creator states they would maintain a near-zero weight in US Treasuries, other than those trading at a near-50% discount to nominal value which they see as an asymmetric bet, a position they say they have covered in recent weeks.
A rise in short rates would be a problem given the government funds around 85% of its financing needs (the flow) with short-term bills, though on a stock basis bonds of over 5 years duration are only about 30% of the total, still a fairly…
6 voices
A missing buyer
The structural buyer base for long-duration Treasury debt has been withdrawing in stages for years—the Japanese hedged bid was damaged by the 2022 rate shock, Russia and China ceased buying in summer 2022, corporate pensions largely finished their…
What markets are showing is not a shortage of safe assets but a shortage of buyers willing to own duration, with sovereigns and corporates both saying the same thing: the corporate safe-asset factory is becoming ordinary risky debt and the…
The creator argues that persistent inflation concerns have pushed the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield near the closely watched 5% level for only the second time since the 2007-2008 financial crisis, and notes long-term Treasurys have returned -2%…
Canada's public pension funds are the third-largest pool of retirement savings in the world, and Canadian institutional managers are cooling on US investments: this past July Canadians sold $22 billion in US stocks, the biggest monthly sell-off…
Oil explains the day-to-day wiggles in yields but not the trend, since Brent is cheaper today than at its spring peak while the 10-year is 70bp higher, even though since the war a $10 Brent move has come with about 5bp on the 10-year (roughly 3…
The creator argues the front end cannot cap the long end: a hike is only about 4/10 of a percent of receipts and mostly lands as income with people who spend it, Treasury buybacks manage volatility rather than level, and the buyers who used to…
2 voices
Voices that cross sides
Kevin Warsh is a pretend hawk rather than a constrained one, meaning he talks tough on inflation while avoiding costly action, and this position can be falsified by a rate hike on 16 September.
The creator's forward view is that oil and long yields keep rising until stocks fall, because the S&P is the only release valve left: the bond-market valve that worked in April 2025 is the one the buybacks are designed to keep shut.
Where they cross
Who answers whom.
The specific points where one voice meets another: the same evidence read two ways, or the same mechanism with a different sign.
Michael Howell qualifies Michael W. Green on mechanism
Michael Howell qualifies Michael W. Green on mechanism.
TSCS refutes Steve Eisman on evidence
TSCS refutes Steve Eisman on evidence.
Vitaliy Katsenelson contradicts TSCS on mechanism
Vitaliy Katsenelson contradicts TSCS on mechanism.
Michael W. Green contradicts Michael Howell on mechanism
Michael W. Green contradicts Michael Howell on mechanism.
Michael Howell contradicts TSCS on premise
Michael Howell contradicts TSCS on premise.
Michael Howell qualifies Michael W. Green on evidence
Michael Howell qualifies Michael W. Green on evidence.
Stephen Clapham qualifies Michael Howell on mechanism
Stephen Clapham qualifies Michael Howell on mechanism.
Vitaliy Katsenelson refutes Michael W. Green on mechanism
Vitaliy Katsenelson refutes Michael W. Green on mechanism.
Michael Howell qualifies TSCS on evidence
Michael Howell qualifies TSCS on evidence.
Michael Howell contradicts Michael W. Green on mechanism
Michael Howell contradicts Michael W. Green on mechanism.
Michael W. Green contradicts Michael Howell on evidence
Michael W. Green contradicts Michael Howell on evidence.
Michael Howell refutes Michael W. Green on mechanism
Michael Howell refutes Michael W. Green on mechanism.
Michael Howell contradicts Michael W. Green on evidence
Michael Howell contradicts Michael W. Green on evidence.
Matthew C. Klein qualifies Michael W. Green on condition
Matthew C. Klein qualifies Michael W. Green on condition.
Michael Howell qualifies Matthew C. Klein on evidence
Michael Howell qualifies Matthew C. Klein on evidence.
Michael W. Green qualifies Michael Howell on mechanism
Michael W. Green qualifies Michael Howell on mechanism.
Michael Howell refutes TSCS on mechanism
Michael Howell refutes TSCS on mechanism.
Michael Howell qualifies Michael W. Green on condition
Michael Howell qualifies Michael W. Green on condition.
Michael Howell qualifies Vitaliy Katsenelson on mechanism
Michael Howell qualifies Vitaliy Katsenelson on mechanism.
Vitaliy Katsenelson qualifies TSCS on premise
Vitaliy Katsenelson qualifies TSCS on premise.
Vitaliy Katsenelson qualifies Stephen Clapham on mechanism
Vitaliy Katsenelson qualifies Stephen Clapham on mechanism.
Vitaliy Katsenelson contradicts Michael Howell on evidence
Vitaliy Katsenelson contradicts Michael Howell on evidence.
Michael W. Green qualifies Michael Howell on condition
Michael W. Green qualifies Michael Howell on condition.
Michael Howell contradicts Mia Silverio on evidence
Michael Howell contradicts Mia Silverio on evidence.
What settles it
The dated tests.
The tests the story set, each with its specification where the owner has written one; on the Docket, resolved on the Results page.
The Fed meets; another hike would support Klein’s inflation reading, while no move would strengthen Paulson’s case that September was a mistake.
Part 07: The Fed Hiked. The Long End Still Climbed. Pendingp07-t01
- Question
- Does the Fed funds target, upper bound (FRED series DFEDTARU) read higher on its first observation after October 28, 2026 than on its last observation before it?
- Source
- FRED, Fed funds target, upper bound (DFEDTARU)
- Rule
- value after date > value before date => hike
- If the source is late, revised or silent
- FRED dates a change at its effective date, so the first observation after the date is the reading; a reading not in yet waits for the next run. A series that is late, revised or silent is inconclusive, reviewed by the owner.
Treasury publishes August foreign holdings; renewed Japanese buying despite poor hedged returns would undercut the missing-buyer thesis behind the long-end selloff.
Part 07: The Fed Hiked. The Long End Still Climbed. Pendingp07-t02
- Question
- Did Japan's holdings of U.S. Treasury securities at the end of August 2026, in the Treasury International Capital table of major foreign holders published in mid-October, read higher than at the end of July 2026?
- Source
- U.S. Treasury, TIC Table 5: Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities (monthly text table)
- Rule
- Compare Japan's August 2026 line with its July 2026 line in the same table; a higher August figure resolves confirmed, an equal or lower figure resolves refuted.
- If the source is late, revised or silent
- A table published after November 30, 2026, or a July figure revised in the same table so that the comparison changes sign, is inconclusive, reviewed by the owner.
- 10-year at 5.5%
Howell expects a major bond opportunity; failure to turn would keep the growth brake unproven.
Part 07: The Fed Hiked. The Long End Still Climbed. Pendingp07-t03
Specification pending
Leveraged-loan and corporate maturities arrive; stress would show today’s rates are reaching AI’s borrowers.
Part 07: The Fed Hiked. The Long End Still Climbed. Pendingp07-t04
Specification pending
Sources (8)
- Federal Reserve - September 16 policy statement
- Federal Reserve - September 16 press-conference transcript
- FRED - 10-year Treasury constant-maturity series
- The Overshoot - rising bond yields analysis
- Potential Multibaggers - growth and the Fed hike
- JunkBondInvestor - who the hike hits
- HyperTech Investor - AI rally math
- Variant Perception - inflation and energy
Market data are as of the dates cited. Voices are paraphrased from public writing and attributed by name.
Analysis and opinion, not investment advice. Voices are paraphrased from public writing and attributed by name; DeepStack shows no score, ranking or accuracy for any person. Every question, one page each.