Structural Breaks In The Term Spread-GDP Growth Relationship

The term spread is not currently a great predictor of growth (although it may become so again in the future).

Following up on the examination of what the term spread predicts, here’s the slope coefficients for the term spread, in regressions augmented with short rate, from 1946-2023Q3 (GDP growth 1947-2024Q3).

Figure 1: Regression coefficient of GDP growth lead 4 quarters on 10yr-3mo spread for subsamples. + (***) indicates significance at 11% (1%) msl, using Newey-West standard errors. Source: Author’s calculations.


The overall least-squares break regression result (Bai-Perron) is:


If one runs a simple OLS regression on the last subsample (1984Q2-2023Q3), the adjusted-R2 is only 0.04. The prediction looks like the following:

Figure 2: Year-on-Year GDP growth rate (blue) and predicted (tan). NBER defined peak-to-trough recession dates shaded gray.


Clearly, the term spread Compare with the middle period identified by the Bai-Perron method:

Figure 3: Year-on-Year GDP growth rate (blue) and predicted (tan). NBER defined peak-to-trough recession dates shaded gray.

These results suggest that the term spread is not currently a great predictor of growth (although it may become so again in the future).


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