Good News, Bad News! US New Home Sales Rise 2.3% In December, But DOWN -23% YoY (Median Price UP 7.8% YoY While M2 Money Growth Goes Negative)

The December new home sales report is good news and bad news.

The good news? US new home sales rose by 2.3% in December from November to 616k units sold SAAR. That is the good news.

The bad news? Since December of 2021, new home sales fell -23% year-over-year (YoY).

The median price of new home sales rose 7.8% YoY, but the trend as The Fed withdraws monetary stimulus (orange line) is not good.

Perhaps there is a communications breakdown between the Biden Administration and The Federal Reserve.

Is That All There Is? US GDP Expands At Only 2.9% Pace While Slowdown Signs Mount (Like M2 Money Slowing To -1.31% YoY And PCE Growth Less Than Forecast)

Today’s GDP report from the BEA reminds me of the Peggy Lee song “Is That All There Is?” Between the massive Fed monetary stimulus since late 2008 (and particularly since Covid in 2020) and all the Federal spending (Covid relief, Inflation reduction, Omnipork spending bill, etc.), US real GDP rose by only 2.9% in Q4 from Q3.

But signs of slowing underlying demand mounted as the steepest interest-rate hikes in decades threaten growth this year.

Gross domestic product increased at a 2.9% annualized rate in final three months of 2022 after a 3.2% gain in the third quarter, the Commerce Department’s initial estimate showed Thursday.

Personal consumption, the biggest part of the economy, climbed at a below-forecast 2.1% pace (forecast was for 2.9%). Again,

The report also showed some signs of stress for American consumers whose wages have failed to keep up with inflation and continued to encourage them to draw down savings accumulated from government pandemic-relief programs. The burden of elevated prices and higher borrowing costs is mounting, pointing to a tenuous outlook for the economy.

A key gauge of underlying demand that strips out the trade and inventories components — inflation-adjusted final sales to domestic purchasers — rose an annualized 0.8% in the fourth quarter after a 1.5% gain.

Core PCE growth grew at 3.9%, but is slowing already as M2 Money growth dies.

Stock-index futures and Treasury yields remained higher and the dollar was little changed after the GDP report and better-than-expected weekly jobless claims. Applications for unemployment insurance dropped to 186,000 last week, the lowest since April.

Recent data show cracks are developing more broadly. Retail and motor vehicle sales data showed households are starting to retrench, the housing market continues to weaken and some businesses are reconsidering capital spending plans.

As the Federal Reserve continues to hike interest rates to ensure inflation is extinguished, housing and manufacturing have deteriorated quickly while industries including banking and technology are carrying out mass layoffs.

The GDP report showed the personal consumption expenditures price index, a key inflation metric for the Fed, rose at an annualized 3.2% rate in the fourth quarter, down from a 4.3% pace in the prior three months. The core index that excludes food and energy climbed at a 3.9% rate compared with 4.7% paces in the prior two quarters. Monthly data for December will be released Friday.

The moderation in price pressures is consistent with forecasts that the Fed will further scale back its tightening campaign next week, when it’s expected to raise rates by 25 basis points. Policymakers boosted the benchmark rate by 50 points in December after 75 basis-point hikes at their previous four meetings.

The world’s largest economy expanded 2.1% last year. In 2021, when demand snapped back from pandemic-related shutdowns, the economy grew 5.9% — the best performance since 1984.

The GDP data showed services spending increased at 2.6% annualized rate in the October-December period, the slowest since last year’s first quarter. Outlays on goods rose at a 1.1% pace, the first advance since 2021.

Business investment slowed sharply after a third-quarter surge. Spending on equipment declined an annualized 3.7%, the most since the second quarter of 2020. Outlays for structures rose at a 0.4% pace.

Let’s hope the BEA isn’t padding the numbers like the BLS was caught doing in the first half of 2022.

Lastly, US Real GDP growth YoY FELL to only 0.95925% as M2 Money growth disappears.

MBA Purchase Applications Drop -.58% Since Last Week, Refi Apps Rise 3.15% WoW As Mortgage Rates Declined 3rd Straight Week (Purchase Apps Down -39% Since Same Week Last Year, Refi Apps Down 77%)

Falling mortgage rates are having a predictible effect on mortgage refinancing applications, but not so much for mortgage purchase applications.

Mortgage applications increased 7.0 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending January 20, 2023. This week’s results include an adjustment for the observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

The Refinance Index increased 3.15 percent from the previous week and was 77 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The unadjusted Purchase Index decreased 1 percent compared with the previous week and was 39 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

Generally speaking, declining mortgage rates are due to declining 10-year Treasury yields. And 10-year Treasury yields decline as the economy weakens. Of course, M2 Money growth YoY is now 0% as The Fed tightens.

On a humerous note, US Treasury Secretary Janet “The Evil Gnome” Yellen is visiting Africa and lecturing them on prudcnt sovereigh debt management. Seriously. China responded with “Fix the US debt problems before you lecture anyone else.”

US Leading Indicator More Like Bleeding Indicator After 10 Straight Months Of Declines, Down -1% As M2 Money Growth Dies (Mortgage Rate Rises To 6.47%)

The Conference Board’s Leading Indicator should be called The Bleeding Indicator given that the leading index has declined to 10 straight months. This is happening as The Fed tightens monetary policy to combat inflation.

Leading indicators include economic variables that tend to move before changes in the overall economy. These indicators give a sense of the future state of an economy.

How about mortgage rates? Settling in a 6.47%.

The Secret Panel? US Yield Curve Inversion, CDS Default Price, SOFR Signals More Rate Increases Then Rate Cuts

Ah, the start of a new week with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen arguing (with a straight face) that there is no room in the Federal budget for cuts. Apparenly, Yellen never read any of the massive, pork-laden spending bills signed by Biden (no one else did in Congress either, nor did Biden).

Let’s start with the US credit default swap (1 year). It remains high at 68.72 (the price of insuring against a US default). And the US Treasury yield curve (10Y-3M)? It remains deeply inverted at -114 basis points this morning signaling an impending US recession.

Then we have SOFR (Secured Overnight Financing Rate). SOFR futures are pricing for the Federal Reserve to hike rates a few more times and to start cutting before the end of this year. The pricing for the 2023 rate path is little changed from a month ago, but this year the market has priced in deeper cuts in 2024, with SOFR now seen below 3% by early 2025 before stabilizing. The implication is that hedging recession and significant rate cuts in 2024 now seems to be fully priced in, yet there’s a risk that the Fed cuts even deeper than the market is factoring in.

We think the market is partially preparing for the risk of even deeper rate cuts than linear instruments are pricing. To see how dramatic those are, we can look at options on SOFR futures and model what’s being priced by the volatility surface.

We are seeing the same story if we look at Fed Funds Futures data. Fed rate hikes until June, then rate cuts to follow.

How did Biden’s lawyers and now the DOJ figure out that Biden has classified documents all over the place? Probably from reading “The Hardy Boys.” Except that Biden didn’t cleverly hide classifed documents. Rather, he carelessly left them lying around at The Penn Biden Center and his home in Wilmington Delaware that he shared with his son, Hunter. And probably on the Amtrak train he would take from Wilmington to Union Station in DC. And probably at Chinatown Garden, a short walk from The White House.

Markets Are Strange! Mortgage Applications Rise 27.9% Since Previous Week, But Purchase Applications Remain 35% Lower Than Last Year (Refi Apps 81% Lower Than Last Year)

Markets are strange.

Mortgage applications increased 27.9 percent from one week earlier, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending January 13, 2023. But mortgage applications are 60% lower than the same week last year.

The Refinance Index increased 34 percent from the previous week and was 81 percent lower than the same week one year ago. The seasonally adjusted Purchase Index increased 25 percent from one week earlier. The unadjusted Purchase Index increased 32 percent compared with the previous week and was 35 percent lower than the same week one year ago.

Here are the stats.

One lender in particular, Wells Fargo, smells blood in the economic waters, and has cut back mortgage originations.

Just remember, mortgage applications generally rise in the first part of the year until May, then start slowing until the last week of the year. This is called seasonality. But despite the fast growth this year, purchase applications are still down -35% compared to last year at this time.

Trouble In Potomac City! US Treasury 10Y-2Y Yield Curve Now Inverted For 135 Straight Days, Real Wage Growth Now Negative For 21 Straight Months

We got trouble in Potomac City! No, I’m not talking about the numerous Top Secret documents that Biden carelessly left in his garage in Delaware and the UPenn Biden Center. And they found more over the weekend. I’m talking about the US Treasury 10Y-2Y yield curve being inverted for 135 straight days. And thanks to inflation, REAL wage growth has been negative for 21 straight months.

All this is happening while M2 Money growth (green line) stalls to 0% YoY.

Swaps 5Y are rising as The Fed withdraws monetary stimulus.

US Default? Since 2008, Net Interest Costs UP 192%, Social Security And Health Entitlements UP 140%, Nondefense Discretionary Spending UP 76% Based On 2032 Federal Budget

Newly-minted US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces a daunting task: trying to avoid a US debt default. As I have discussed many times before, nothing has been the same since the US housing bubble and near-collapse of the banking system that produced an expensive bailout of seemingly all financial institutions. After 2008, Federal spending has gone out of control. The budgetary hawks (or pigeons) in the US House of Representatives (with Pelosi, Boehner, Ryan then Pelosi again) went on Federal spending sprees of epic proportions.

The Manhattan Institute has a nice chart showing the explosion in the Federal budget since 2008. Of particular note, interest payments on the Federal debt has increased by a staggering 192%. On the non-interest spending front, Social Security and Health Entitlements have increased by 140% while Nondefense Discretionary Spending has increased 76%.

The massive increase in Federal debt interest is due to both increased Federal spending and rising interest rates thanks to The Federal Reserve raising rates to fight inflation.

But what will McCarthy and House Republicans recommend cuts in? Tighter restrictions on who qualifies for Social Security and particularly Social Security Disability payments?

The odd factoid is that Defense and Wars budget is up less than 1% from 2008 to 2032. So, Ukraine military aid is coming from somewhere, but not from the Defense budget. Is Ukraine another entitlement program?

Rest assured that after debate, the House will pass a budget and, provided that virtually nothing was cut, the Senate will gleefully agree to more spending and “Top Secret Documents” Biden will sign it.

After he parks his gorgeous Corvette Sting Ray, that is.

Small Business Optimism Index Plunges Below 90 As Fed Tightens Money With M2 Money Growth YoY Hitting 0% (Baltic Dry Index Continues Downward Descent)

The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index is plunging and just fell below 90. The index was above 100 before the Wuhan virus outbreak in 2020, but has only been at 100 or above for only two months under Biden. And the trend is definitely looking bleak as The Federal Reserve fights inflation with M2 Money growth having collapsed to 0% YoY growth.

And the Baltic Dry shipping index is falling with M2 Money growth YoY.

I wonder what Fed Chair Jerome Powell is thinking?

Zoltan! Fed Will Restart QE to Stabilize Treasury Market During Summer 2023, Credit Suisse Group’s Pozsar Says

Zoltan!

The Federal Reserve will be the backstop of the Treasury market this year to alleviate dysfunction resulting from its increasing size and the retreat of regular buyers.

That’s the view of Credit Suisse Group AG analyst Zoltan Pozsar, who in a note to clients Friday predicted the Fed will restart asset purchases during the summer of 2023.

In Pozsar’s analysis, relative-value funds won’t buy Treasuries unless they cheapen a lot relative to overnight index swaps, and banks with sagging reserves are more likely to tap the funding markets than to buy Treasuries. FX-hedged buyers have been “priced out,” and geopolitical events have reduced large reserve managers’ appetite for US debt, he said.

Flagging demand from marginal buyers will depress demand for Treasury auctions, sparking selloffs in equities, credit and emerging markets, according to Pozsar.

“This is a ‘checkmate-like’ situation,” he wrote. “The Fed won’t be a pivot and the terminal rate may have to go higher still, neither of which augurs well for either risk assets or Treasuries.”

As The Fed started to raise rates (yellow line) to fight inflation (blue dashed line), the S&P 500 index started to fall. Note that The Fed’s balance sheet (purple line) is mirroring the inflation rate.