Last week was marked by a multitude of macroeconomic indicators that were not to investors' taste. For the third month running, US inflation showed signs of rising. CPI Core was up by 0.40% on a monthly basis, against an estimate of 0.30%. On an annual basis, the rise was +3.80% vs. 3.7% anticipated. From the outside, these figures may seem only mildly disappointing. However, CPI including food and energy jumped from 3.2% in February to +3.5% in March.

American households are feeling the "real" cost of inflation when it comes to shopping and filling up their car tanks. And with oil rising from under $70 to over $85 a barrel in the space of a few months, the pain isn't about to ease any time soon. The fight against inflation has also led to a sharp rise in credit costs, to the point of making it much more difficult to buy a property.

As for SME bosses, they say they are more pessimistic than at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. It has to be said that Joe Biden's fiscal program is unprecedented, as he intends to raise taxes to pay the heavy bill for government spending (and the growing cost of the public debt).

Against this backdrop, it comes as no surprise to see yields tighten to the point of taking the US 10-year yield to the key long-term zone of 4.60%. Will it or won't it? The answer will not be long in coming.