Yield Curve Spikes As Trump Unveils Infrastructure Plan

Treasuries are seeing one of the biggest curve steepenings of the year following news that President Trump plans to keep pushing his legislative agenda in 2018 by releasing his long-promised infrastructure plan in early January, a senior administration official said.

As Bloomberg reports, Trump promised during his campaign to introduce a $1 trillion proposal within his first 100 days in office, then the administration said there’d be a plan by the third quarter.

The president aims to release his proposal to upgrade roads, bridges, airports and other public works before the Jan. 30 State of the Union address, said the administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the details aren’t public.

 

Naysayers should wait until they see the details and how the legislative process unfolds, the official said.

Infrastructure advocates question whether a Republican-led Congress will be able to pass a spending plan with enough federal funding if it’s already approved a tax measure that official estimates say would bloat the budget deficit.

Some say the administration missed its best opportunity to deliver a meaningful public works initiative by not incorporating it into the tax bill, which is nearing approval.

 

“If they’d taken up infrastructure, we’d have a bill today and have the money to fund it,” said Ray LaHood, a Republican and former U.S. transportation secretary under President Barack Obama.

 

“Nothing happened this year, so the prospects of anything happening next year I think are pretty slim,” said LaHood, who is a co-chairman of Building America’s Future, a bipartisan coalition that promotes infrastructure.

In addition to the spike the long-end treasury yields, building materials stocks gained on the news. Martin Marietta jumped 5.1 percent, a session high, and was up 4.4 percent to $210.32 at 2:23 p.m. in New York. Vulcan Materials Co. climbed 3 percent to $124.78. Eagle Materials Inc. rose 1.9 percent to $113.79.